Following nine charges filed against Victoria Gold Corp. (TSX: VGCX) by Yukon’s government on May 4, the company has now been fined $95,000.
On Friday, local media reported that the Eagle gold mine operator had received the fine and the company now has three months to pay it.
Victoria pleaded guilty to six charges, which were brought forward over a 17,000-litre cyanide processing solution spill in 2021, quartz mining license infringements, water license violations at its heap leach facility and failure to adhere to other regulations — all of which occurred between May, 2021 and July last year.
In an interview with Victoria’s CEO John McConnell in June, he told Mugglehead that the spill at the Eagle mine had been dealt with in a responsible manner with no long-term environmental damage and that the company violated water storage regulations there for environmental reasons.
He had hoped that the matter could be resolved out of court and said that Victoria Gold had never dealt with charges of this variety in its history.
According to local media, the Crown and defence made a joint submission recommending the fine amount, which is significantly lower than the maximum fine for those charges. They did so because Victoria acted promptly to contain the spill to the best of its ability and entered a guilty plea early.
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Victoria recently acquired three new properties in Yukon through its $13.5 million acquisition of Golden Predator Mining, a former subsidiary of Sabre Gold Mines Corp. (TSX: SGLD).
During H1 this year, the company produced 83,188 ounces of gold, a 47 per cent increase from production in the first half of 2022.
In the past six months Victoria’s shares have steadily declined by 38.5 per cent and they are currently trading for $5.74 on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
rowan@mugglehead.com
