Spanish Mine Will Reopen after Toxic Spill
1/26/99
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RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:
Title: Spanish Mine Will Reopen after Toxic Spill
Source: Environment News Service
Status: Copyrighted, contact source to reprint
Date: 1/26/99
SEVILLE, Spain, January 26, 1999 (ENS) - The Spanish authorities have
given the go ahead for Boliden Ltd. to reopen its Las Frailes zinc
mine at Apirsa in southern Spain. This mine was closed in April 1998
when a dam containing toxic mining effluents burst, releasing five
million cubic metres (6.5 million cubic yards) of contaminated sludge
and water over a 45 square kilometre (17.3 square mile) area.
The sludge spread 40 kilometres (65 miles) downstream from the broken
dam, into the Guadalquivir River system, seriously damaging the Doana
National Park and the protected wetland of Coto Doana in southern
Spain. Doana is Europe's largest nature reserve. Located on the
Atlantic coast of Spain, in the Gulf of Cadiz, it borders the estuary
of the Guadalquivir River.
Boliden executives presented a report to Spanish authorities that
claimed the mine is now safe and can be restarted using an old quarry
as a waste depository. The firm rejected a recent recommendation by
the Doana National Park's management board that the mine remain
closed.
Doana received legal protection as a biological reserve in 1965, and
as a national park in 1969. The site was accepted in 1982 as an
internationally important wetland under the Ramsar Convention. It was
internationally recognised as a Biosphere Reserve under UNESCO's Man
and the Biosphere Programme in 1980 and inscribed on the World
Heritage List in 1994.
Doana lies on the west Europe to west Africa migration route and is
home to five threatened bird species. It is one of the biggest
heronries in the Mediterranean region and is the wintering site for
more than 500,000 water birds each year. About 15 breeding pairs of
Adalbert's eagle have been seen, about one-tenth of the world's
population.
The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has raised the alarm that the re-opening
of the Boliden mine risks a new environmental disaster in the already
seriously contaminated area of Doana. The environmental group has
called on the European Union to freeze any further funding to the
mine's owners, the Swedish-Canadian company Boliden-Apirsa.
Although the Spanish authorities and Boliden claim that the clean-up
of the area is complete, Doana is still contaminated with toxic
sludge, WWF says. Hunting and fishing of some species are still banned
in three Spanish provinces. The toxic sludge coming from the
contaminated land is again being stored in the old pit.
On January 11, WWF, together with other environmental non-governmental
organisations, presented their comments on the re-opening project to
the Spanish regional authorities. Four main criticisms of the project
were raised:
1. A general risk assessment on the mining process has not been
presented;
2. Boliden has not tackled the issue of the toxic waste stored in the
old pit;
3. Boliden's risk assessment has not satisfactorily demonstrated the
safety of the old pit in terms of a new use for toxic waste when
mining recommences;
4. The monitoring programme and period of the old pit that Boliden
proposes is insufficient.
Boliden urgently needs the mine start-up to start creating income
again for the troubled company. Its parent company, Sweden's
Trelleborg AB, the Swedish metals and industrial rubber giant, shocked
the stock market Monday with a decision to dump its common shares in
Boliden. The Trelleborg shares, just under 43 percent of Boliden, will
be transferred as a special dividend to Trelleborg's shareholders.
That maneuver forced Boliden to go ahead with a major refinancing to
raise $223 million. The company's stock took a 30 percent drop on
Toronto Stock Exchange Monday. Trelleborg will continue to hold its
preferred shares in Boliden.
Last July, WWF presented a full report to the Spanish authorities, the
EU, and Boliden, including recommendations for risk assessment and
management. To date, Boliden has not implemented these
recommendations, the group reports.
The European Union is keeping a low profile in the discussions over
the re-opening of the mine. No European technical standards for
tailings containment exist.
This gap in legislation and technical guidance means that the European
Commission structural funds allocated to Boliden - which were frozen
after the April 1998 incident - will re-start, the WWF warns, without
satisfactory guarantees on safety for the workers, the local
population or the environment.
c [19]Environment News Service (ENS) 1999
References
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2. http://www.ens-news.com/