Aug 22 (Reuters) - The Alberta Energy Regulator said on

Thursday it has imposed an administrative penalty of C$50,000

($36,764.71) on Imperial Oil ( IMO ) over a months-long toxic

tailings leak at the oil and gas producer's Kearl oil sands

mine.

The AER has also asked the Canadian energy firm to submit

two reports to raise awareness about the leaks - the first on

seepage mitigation and monitoring and the other on the potential

impacts of the release of industrial wastewater.

The toxic tailings water had been seeping for months from

the Kearl mine of Imperial - which is majority owned by Exxon

Mobil - from May 2022, but it only came to light after the

company reported a separate leak in February last year.

The seepage of tailings, a toxic mining by-product

containing water, silt, residual bitumen and metals, had angered

local indigenous communities, who hunt and fish on the lands

downstream from Canada's oil sands mines.

The AER also revealed the first findings of an investigation

on the leakage on Thursday and said a shallow subsurface route

from on-lease industrial wastewater sources bypassed existing

deep groundwater seepage prevention system, which caused the

tailings release.

The regulator said no impacts to fish, amphibians or other

wildlife have been reported so far and the investigation on the

leakage would continue.

($1 = 1.3600 Canadian dollars)