In a new article published in Anthropocene, environmental scientists have detailed the impacts from the 2009 Lady Annie Copper Mine spill, a massive event which resulted in a record fine of $500,000 for causing serious environmental harm.
The spill released at least 447 megalitres (178 Olympic-sized swimming pools) of metal-contaminated water into the Saga and Inca creeks that rise in the upper Lake Eyre catchment of NW Queensland. The rivers form part of the massive 1.2 million kilometre square catchment (a sixth of the Australian continent), which contain one of the world's last and largest unregulated wild river systems.
Environmental scientist Professor Mark P. Taylor and postgraduate student Jessica Little analysed more than 100 channel and floodplain sediments to measure the legacy of the spill and associated flooding on grazing lands. The principal aim of their study was to ascertain if the channel and floodplain grasslands contained safe levels of contaminants for cattle.
“The spill released water contaminated with a range of metals including cobalt, copper, aluminium, sulphate, zinc, chromium, manganese and nickel - all at levels higher than livestock drinking water guidelines,” said Little. “This resulted in landowners having to move their stock to alternative grazing lands.”
The study showed the flood left a legacy of some 41,300 metres cubed of copper contaminated sediment spread over a 47 kilometres of floodplain down the Saga and Inca creek systems, with the greatest impact within 5 kilometres of the mine.
“This was arguably the most significant metal contaminated water pollution spill event known to have ever occurred in the Lake Eyre basin” said Taylor. “Unlike many other Australian catchments with a long history of mining, however, the geochemical footprint left by the spill was not complicated by long-term historic patterns of contamination.”
The flooding caused short–term effects that were toxic to aquatic fauna, but the study revealed that there was no serious contaminated legacy left in channel or floodplain sediments from the massive spill.
However, because the researchers were able to examine the effects of a contaminated spill in a pristine catchment they were able to decipher the impacts of a single event versus the more typical situation where studies examines the long-term, cumulative impacts of metal pollution. The study concluded that small, but frequent depositions of contaminants over extended historical timeframes are likely pose the greatest long-term risk to environmental quality and protection.
As a result of the findings, the impacted landowners at Yelvertoft Station were able to continue with their cattle grazing confident that the land its produce were not at risk.
“The message from the study is clear,” says Taylor. “As mining moves into more remote locations, it is essential to have better monitoring and protection in order to ensure the last vestiges of wilderness such as the Lake Eyre are not irrecoverably damaged by human activities.”
Environmental impact of a major copper mine spill on a river and floodplain system, 2014, Mark Patrick Taylor, Jessica A. Little, http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S221330541400006X
The spill released at least 447 megalitres (178 Olympic-sized swimming pools) of metal-contaminated water into the Saga and Inca creeks that rise in the upper Lake Eyre catchment of NW Queensland. The rivers form part of the massive 1.2 million kilometre square catchment (a sixth of the Australian continent), which contain one of the world's last and largest unregulated wild river systems.
Environmental scientist Professor Mark P. Taylor and postgraduate student Jessica Little analysed more than 100 channel and floodplain sediments to measure the legacy of the spill and associated flooding on grazing lands. The principal aim of their study was to ascertain if the channel and floodplain grasslands contained safe levels of contaminants for cattle.
“The spill released water contaminated with a range of metals including cobalt, copper, aluminium, sulphate, zinc, chromium, manganese and nickel - all at levels higher than livestock drinking water guidelines,” said Little. “This resulted in landowners having to move their stock to alternative grazing lands.”
The study showed the flood left a legacy of some 41,300 metres cubed of copper contaminated sediment spread over a 47 kilometres of floodplain down the Saga and Inca creek systems, with the greatest impact within 5 kilometres of the mine.
“This was arguably the most significant metal contaminated water pollution spill event known to have ever occurred in the Lake Eyre basin” said Taylor. “Unlike many other Australian catchments with a long history of mining, however, the geochemical footprint left by the spill was not complicated by long-term historic patterns of contamination.”
The flooding caused short–term effects that were toxic to aquatic fauna, but the study revealed that there was no serious contaminated legacy left in channel or floodplain sediments from the massive spill.
However, because the researchers were able to examine the effects of a contaminated spill in a pristine catchment they were able to decipher the impacts of a single event versus the more typical situation where studies examines the long-term, cumulative impacts of metal pollution. The study concluded that small, but frequent depositions of contaminants over extended historical timeframes are likely pose the greatest long-term risk to environmental quality and protection.
As a result of the findings, the impacted landowners at Yelvertoft Station were able to continue with their cattle grazing confident that the land its produce were not at risk.
“The message from the study is clear,” says Taylor. “As mining moves into more remote locations, it is essential to have better monitoring and protection in order to ensure the last vestiges of wilderness such as the Lake Eyre are not irrecoverably damaged by human activities.”
Environmental impact of a major copper mine spill on a river and floodplain system, 2014, Mark Patrick Taylor, Jessica A. Little, http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S221330541400006X
