Kazakhstan: Metals Spill Into River Sowing Alarm

An accident at a metals mining-and-processing complex in a northern Kazakhstan town is sparking alarm about a possible unfolding environmental disaster.

Residents in the town of Ridder spoke of their shock when they saw that a nearby, previously pristine river had turned a dirty grey as a result of a spill whose causes have yet to be fully explained.

One eyewitness, Konstantin Pimenov, posted pictures of the results of the accident on his Facebook page.

“Shock — that’s what I felt when I saw the river in Ridder. The water isn’t just cloudy. It looks like what is flowing past is thick cement. We all get mad when somebody throws a cigarette stub out of a passing car, and that is indubitably swinish behaviour that should be condemned. But here we are seeing how every second, tons are polluting the river and soil,” Pimenov wrote on May 25.

State broadcaster Khabar reported that a spill from a dump for ore residues overflowed into the nearby Filippovka River.

Officials have said environmental experts are now assessing the scale of the damage caused by the incident. Prosecutors dealing with environmental protection are also investigating the cause of the spill.

The processing plant owned by Kazzinc, which is in turn controlled by Swiss-based commodity trading and mining monolith Glencore, has for the time being halted operations.

Kazzinc has said that it will provide compensation for the damage caused by the accident in full accordance with the law. Company spokesman Andrei Lazarev was adamant that the accident posed no risk.

“We are working on fully cleaning up the consequences of the incident. As soon as we complete work on halting the spill, we will see what needs to be done. But at the moment, as far as concerns the water that poured into the river, we do not predict any negative impact on people or animals. The tailings pond contained tailings from the processing stage of production and that have low non-ferrous metals content. Most of what was in the tailings was rock that was ground down during the enrichment process. So there is no threat to the life or health of worker and the general public,” Lazarev told Khabar.

source: eurasianet.org