In 2014, a collapse of the Mount Polley copper/gold mine tailings pond unleashed 24 million cubic meters of wastewater into British Columbia waterways, becoming one of the worst mining environmental disasters in history. Subsequently, a myriad of new regulations were imposed, but a 2021 audit by the Ministry of Energy, Mines and Low Carbon Innovation cites numerous ongoing shortcomings in data, ambiguous regulations, enforcement challenges and outright violations.