Canada's Teck Resources pleads guilty to Fisheries Act violations

(Reuters) - Canadian miner Teck Resources on Friday pleaded guilty to two charges of violation under the country's Fisheries Act and said will pay a penalty of C$60 million.

Teck Coal, a subsidiary of Teck Resources, resolved the charges relating to 2012 discharges of selenium and calcite to a mine settling pond and Fording River from its steelmaking coal operations in the Elk Valley region of British Columbia.

"We sincerely apologize and take responsibility for the impacts of these discharges," Chief Executive Officer Don Lindsay said.

Lindsay also said the company plans to further invest up to C$655 million over the next four years alone on work to protect the watershed.

Teck said under the direction of the government of British Columbia it developed the Elk Valley Water Quality Plan in 2013, with the goal of stabilizing and reversing the trend of selenium, calcite and other constituents, while improving the health of the watershed. (This story corrects to remove last paragraph containing erroneous reference to earlier charges)

(Reporting by Arundhati Sarkar in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)