Rio Tinto Fer et Titane will pay $600,000 after pleading guilty to two counts of violating the Fisheries Act.
The offenses occurred in 2020, more specifically in June and December, at the complex located in Sorel-Tracy, in Montérégie. They concern a spill of caustic soda, a chemical, and another of hydrochloric acid.
These spills eventually reached the waters of the St. Lawrence River, frequented by several species of fish, including bass, walleye, minnows and yellow perch.
More than 1300 liters of caustic soda were spilled during the first event. The second concerned 7000 liters of hydrochloric acid.
The conviction means that the name of Rio Tinto Fer et Titane will be entered in the Register of Environmental Offenders.