Engineer Fined $5,000 for Environmental Protection Act Violation

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Convicted - Michael Wereszczynsky

Court Location -Parry SoundDescription of Offence -The conviction is for submitting false or misleading information to the ministry.Date of Offences -During the period beginning on or about February 9, 2018, and ending on or about May 9, 2018.

Date of Conviction - February 7, 2024

Penalties Imposed -

• Michael Wereszczynsky was convicted of one violation under the Environmental Protection Act, fined $5,000 plus a victim fine surcharge of $1,250 and given 12 months to pay.

Background -

• The Kearney Graphite Mine is located in Kearney, Ontario, and was formerly owned by Ontario Graphite Ltd. (OGL). The graphite mine operated from 1988 to 1994 and a total of almost 1 million tonnes of ore was processed over that time period. The mine was closed in 1994.

• In December 2011, OGL submitted a closure plan to the ministry detailing work that was required to rehabilitate the site once it was closed including repairs to the "Tailings Dam."

• Tailings generated from the on-site milling process were deposited in an on-site pond which was designed to have a capacity of 29 million dry tonnes of tailings accounting for over 34 years of milling operations at the expected milling rate. The Tailings Dam was constructed to prevent contaminated flow from entering a tributary to the Magnetawan River.

• In September 2017, an engineering consulting firm retained by OGL observed the Tailings Dam to be in poor geotechnical condition. In November 2017, the firm recommended that repairs to its embankment be prioritized.

• In January 2018, the ministry issued an Order to OGL due to concerns regarding delays to repair the Tailings Dam. In part, the Order required OGL to ensure that a qualified person prepare and submit a monthly written report detailing the status of completed and ongoing work at the site, including work to repair the Tailings Dam.

• OGL retained Michael Wereszczynsky as a qualified person to complete the work as required. At the time, Mr. Wereszczynsky was a professional mining engineer who had been formerly employed by OGL.

• Between February 2018 and May of 2018, Mr. Wereszczynsky and OGL submitted monthly reports to the ministry indicating that work had been completed to repair the embankment to the Tailings Dam. Further, the reports indicated that various equipment had been installed and was operational at the site including a continuous pH meter, a pressure transducer, an aerator and a sparger system.

• Ministry staff attended the site between March 2018 and May 2018 and discovered that the equipment was either non-operational or had not been installed as stated in the monthly reports.

• Further, it was discovered that repairs to the embankment of the Tailings Dam had not been completed as communicated in the monthly reports.

• The ministry's Environmental Investigations and Enforcement Branch investigated and laid charges which resulted in the conviction.

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