ACAPMA News
Massive fuel leak at Rio's NT mine
From: AAP June 14, 2010 11:27AM
UP to 70,000 litres of unleaded fuel that leaked from a tank at a Rio Tinto Alcan mine in the Northern Territory has been contained within the spill area.
The department's executive director of minerals and energy, Alister Trier, said that at this stage the contamination had not spread beyond the area that surrounds the tank farm.
"We are comforted at this stage that the fuel hasn't reached the harbour and is contained within the burn area surrounding the tank farm,'' Mr Trier said from Darwin.
"The concern is if the fuel leaks down through the gravel below and gets into the water table and the water table spreads it, it gets far more serious than it is now.''
A burn area is an area surrounded by an impermeable concrete wall.
The department was informed about the spill on Friday and has begun an investigation into what caused the fuel to leak, as the mine operators try to clean up the site.
"We are comforted at this stage that the fuel hasn't reached the harbour and is contained within the burn area surrounding the tank farm,'' Mr Trier said from Darwin.
"The concern is if the fuel leaks down through the gravel below and gets into the water table and the water table spreads it, it gets far more serious than it is now.''
A burn area is an area surrounded by an impermeable concrete wall.
The department was informed about the spill on Friday and has begun an investigation into what caused the fuel to leak, as the mine operators try to clean up the site.
Mr Trier said the leak was highly likely to have been caused by "infrastructure failure'' such as a burst pipe.
The Rio Tinto Alcan bauxite and alumina mine is located at Nhulunbuy on the Gove Peninsula, about 1000 kilometres east of Darwin.
The stored unleaded fuel was about to be disposed of, Mr Trier said, given the company had some time ago moved to using Opal fuel developed to combat the high incidence of petrol sniffing in indigenous Australian communities.
"They realised that the fuel had leaked out when they went to check the tank and the tank was empty,'' Mr Trier said.
He said penalties under the Mining Management Act included fines, adding that it was going to cost the company "a significant amount of money'' to pay for the clean-up.
A Rio Tinto Alcan spokesperson on Sunday said the company informed authorities as soon as it discovered the leak and "very quickly took action to contain the spill''.
The spokesperson said Rio Tinto Alcan would conduct its own internal investigation into the matter.
The mine produced 6.245 million tonnes of bauxite and 2.325 million tonnes of alumina in 2008, according to figures on Rio Tinto Alcan website.
Extracted in full from: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/business/massive-fuel-leak-at-rios-nt-mine/story-e6frfh4f-1225879401453?from=public_rss
