A river in Siberia has turned red after a mine tailings pond failed this week. The Daldykan River in the north of the Krasnoyarsk Krai (Republic) in Siberia was effected by runoff from the Nornickel operated Nadezhda Metallurgical Plant, which is a deep red colour due to a high iron salt content.
The River Daldykan in northern Krasnoyarsk, turned red by iron salts from a nickel plant tailings pond. Siberian Times.
The Nadezhda Metallurgical Plant is a Soviet era installation, which were largely constructed without consideration of environmental issues in a drive to industrialise rapidly. The plant was fined an undisclosed amount by environmental watchdog Rosprirodnadzor in 2016 following a similar incident, and has reportedly undergone some environmental remediation work since. However, while the size of the fine has not been revealed, the maximum fine that could have been imposed would have been 40 000 roubles (US$650), a fine of limited consequence to a company such as Nornickel, which has estimated about US$16 500 000 000, and it is unclear to what extent the environmental watchdog could genuinely sanction the company, which is 28% owned by Russian president Vladamir Putin.
See also...
Follow Sciency Thoughts on Facebook.
