The president of the company involved in the Mount Polley environmental disaster that poured millions of cubic metres of mine tailings into B.C. waterways 10 years ago says the material spilled wasn鈥檛 toxic.

Imperial Metals Corp. and two other firms were charged last month with 15 alleged Fisheries Act breaches, accused of allowing a 鈥渄eleterious substance鈥� from the mine鈥檚 tailings pond into several bodies of water.

But Imperial Metals president Brian Kynoch says the mine tailings were 鈥渂enign,鈥� and the breach released traces of elements like copper and arsenic that are naturally occurring.

Kynoch says no waters were poisoned by the spill, and testing showed that drinking water guidelines were not exceeded and fish numbers bounced back in the years following the spill.

He says the company鈥檚 lawyers have advised him not to speak publicly about the charges that Imperial is facing under the Fisheries Act, and Imperial Metals previously said after being charged that it did not intend to make public statements.

The Fisheries Act indictment says the companies鈥� work 鈥渞esulted in serious harm to fish that are part of a commercial, recreational or Aboriginal fishery.鈥�

The catastrophic collapse of the tailings dam in the B.C. Interior sent about 17 million cubic metres of water and 8 milliong cubic metres of tailings from the copper and gold mine surging into waterways including Polley and Quesnel lakes on Aug. 4, 2014.

Some scientists say there have been years of environmental impact at the site.

Greg Pyle, an aquatic eco-toxicologist and professor emeritus at the University of Lethbridge, has published research showing tiny invertebrates that form the basis of the aquatic food chain displayed elevated metal accumulation at sites affected by the spill, and he has called it one of the 鈥渕ost contaminated sites in the country.鈥�

Kynoch said in an interview that the physical damage caused by the tailings pond failure isn鈥檛 in question, but he said water and fish testing data collected in the aftermath showed fears of toxicity didn鈥檛 come to pass.

鈥淲e鈥檝e spent millions of dollars on testing and it鈥檚 kind of like it鈥檚 ignored,鈥� Kynoch said. 鈥淲e haven鈥檛 had a fish sample that didn鈥檛 pass the test for it being edible.鈥�

He said the company recognizes the cultural importance of fish to nearby First Nations, and 鈥渨orked diligently鈥� to keep them informed as they worked to remediate and reopen the mine.

He said mining companies around the world, and particularly in B.C., are aware of the importance of relationships with local First Nations and local residents and to keep them 鈥渕ore involved in the process.鈥�

鈥淣o matter what we do, accidents can still happen,鈥� Kynoch said. 鈥淎 lot of effort was put into tailings. 鈥� Anything we engineer, anything we design, no matter how much you do it, there鈥檚 still risk and so we need to do all we can to mitigate the risk.鈥�

Since the dam failure, Kynoch said the company successfully did a trial of 鈥渄ry stacking鈥� tailings at the mine, which means they鈥檙e not subject to flowing away like those stored in liquid.

He said the dry stacking method is an 鈥渆volution鈥� of tailings storage.

鈥淭hey鈥檒l be more solid, I think, and lots of mines in the world are headed that way,鈥� he said.

While he鈥檚 constrained from speaking on the charges for alleged fisheries violations, Kynoch said the company didn鈥檛 鈥渞un away鈥� after the tailings pond failure.

鈥淲e stayed. We fixed the creek. We spent our money,鈥� he said. 鈥淚鈥檓 actually proud of that part of it. The fish are back there in the creeks and spawning.鈥�

鈥淲e faced the music and fixed up the creek from my perspective,鈥� he said.