The subsidiary company, Bulga Coal Management, was also ordered to pay New South Wales Land and Environment’s investigation and prosecution costs, as well as the $287,000 spent cleaning up the spill.

Justice Nicola Pain took the company to task over the incident, even though it pleaded guilty. Bulga Coal Management had a clean record on environmental pollution and it had acted to ensure a similar incident did not occur again.

She said the incident had caused actual harm to the environment, which was minor, given the non-toxic discharge in a limited area within the mine site.

“A clear message needs to be sent to other companies engaging in similar operations that positive steps must be taken to ensure water pollution does not occur,” Justice Pain said.

The dirty water leaked from a faulty pipe on October 9, 2011, before running into a dam that overflowed into nearby Nine Mile Creek, The creek was dry at the time but the tailings flowed 250m along the creek bed.