SANTIAGO (Reuters) – Chile’s environmental regulator has filed four charges against the major Los Bronces copper mine, controlled by Anglo American (JO:AGLJ), for non-compliance with environmental permits, the agency said on Monday.
The charges could carry a fine of nearly 17 billion pesos ($17.17 million), according to the Superintendency of the Environment, or SMA.
Los Bronces is one of Chile’s biggest copper mines with output of 255,000 metric tons last year, as well as a key project for Anglo American, which has been a takeover target of larger rival BHP.
Anglo American did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
One charge was deemed “very serious,” the highest of three offense levels, for non-compliance dating back to a 2014 sanction.
At the time, the SMA found that Anglo American Sur, the local unit that operates Los Bronces, failed to resolved acid drainage at the Esteriles Donoso tailings deposit, designed to hold mine waste.
“The company has not implemented a definitive solution … it constitutes a repetition of acts previously sanctioned,” the SMA said in a statement.
The regulator also filed two charges in the mid-level “serious” category.
The miner has 15 days to present a mitigation program, and 22 days to contest the charges.
($1 = 989.9000 Chilean pesos)
