ImperialMetals Corp. filed a lawsuit in British Columbia's Supreme Courtagainst Knight Piesold Consulting and AMEC, now known as Amec Foster Wheeler,for negligence and breach of contract which resulted in the collapse of thetailings dam at the MountPolley gold-copper mine two years ago, The Vancouver Sun reported July 9.

The lawsuit alleges that Knight Piesold designed andmonitored a flawed tailings facility at the Mount Polley mine from the late1980s until 2011, and then by AMEC when it took over until the dam collapsed in2014, spilling 24 million cubic meters of waste and water into nearby lakes andrivers and forcing the mine to close.

"Each of the defendants failed to undertake necessary,proper and reasonable investigation of the subsurface conditions underlying the(tailings storage facility) prior to and during its phased construction andoperation," the lawsuit stated.

Imperial Metals did not specify how much it is seeking forthe lawsuit but said it continues to incur losses to date, including lostprofits, the costs of laying off employees and reduced share values.

Mount Polley recently received approval to to normal operations.