Mining firm fined over water contamination

Under environmental legislation, one mining firm has been ordered to pay almost £40,000 after it admitted to polluting a river.

Glebe Mines pleaded guilty to causing poisonous, noxious or polluting matter to enter the River Derwent and River Trent in January 2007.

The incident also flooded the Peak District Village of Stoney Middleton with water and mud.

After being fined £16,000 for the breach, Glebe was also order by Chesterfield magistrates to pay £6,000 for another pollution incident between August and September of the same year.

Court costs took Glebe's total bill to £38,937 in total.

The case against the mining firm was brought under the Water Resources Act by the Environment Agency.

Anna Bligh, the premier of Queensland, recently stated that contamination of rivers is unacceptable after an overflow of wastewater from ten contaminated mines seeped into nearby waterways.