The following story appeared in an online trade magazine today. It raises yet again the vexed question that the aluminium industry has yet to be able to answer comprehensively, namely, what to do with the red mud?
More after the article.
NANNING - About 67 hectares of farmland were submerged in south China’s Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region as of Tuesday after a sludge dump of an aluminum company began leaking Saturday.
Mud measuring over one meter in depth from the sludge dump of the Guangxi Huayin Aluminum Co., Ltd. entered the houses of some farmers in Jingxi county, according to a Xinhua reporter at the scene.
The sea of mud as well as red, polluted water have inundated the village. A total of 43 families have been affected, and they were relocated to tents set up on a mountain slope.
The county government has given out water and food to affected farmers, who will also receive a daily stipend of 30 yuan ($4.7) each from the company.
Heavy metal pollution has yet to be found in the mud, according to the regional environmental monitoring center. The cause of the incident is under investigation.
Guangxi Huayin Aluminum Co. Ltd, which mainly produces aluminum oxide at an annual production rate of 1.6 million tonnes, was established in 2003 and put into operation in 2007.
From memory, this is not the first time that a red mud incident has occurred in this area. In this case, it appears that no lives have been lost, which is a blessing, but it is yet another incident at a time when memories of the Hungary incident a couple of years ago are still fresh.
The problem is compounded by the fact that this is a problem that doesn’t go away when the company goes bankrupt or closes its doors for some reason. Around the world today, there must be many red mud ponds where the company who created the problem has now long since disappeared. But who maintains the ponds in this case? Who monitors the walls to check for seepage or deterioration of wall strength? Who alerts authorities if there is an incident at one of these “dead” ponds?
Individual producers, among them some of the world’s biggest mining and resources companies, may well take the high moral ground and defend their own measures. But this is an industry problem. The industry as a whole, inside China and outside China, needs to take responsibility, and take concrete steps for all the world’s operating and dis-used ponds. If the industry does not, it won’t take long before society and government does, and once the issue is out of the hands of the aluminium industry, there’s no controlling what the outcomes might be.
The accident involving a bauxite residue storage facility in Guangxi, China is a matter of grave concern to the International Aluminium Institute (IAI)
The Institute has been focused on the issue of bauxite residue management for a number of years; even more intensely following the Ajka, Hungary spill in October 2010. Since the Hungarian accident, the IAI has encouraged the industry to:
• Re-assess the integrity of all residue facilities including closed/legacy sites – and ensure adequate monitoring, management and control to avoid future incidents
• Reduce pH levels at bauxite residue outflow, where technically/economically feasible
• Store bauxite residue according to industry best practices
• Develop innovative solutions for remediation, rehabilitation and re-use of bauxite residue.
A number of opportunities have been seized to promote industry awareness of and commitment to bauxite residue management best practice, including the ICSOBA Bauxite Residue Management Workshop (Goa Oct 2011), MB Asian Bauxite and Alumina Conference (Singapore Oct 2011), TMS Conference (Orlando March 2012) and the AQW – Alumina Quality Workshop (Perth March 2012).
Together with the China Non-Ferrous Metals Industry Association (CNIA), the IAI is holding a Bauxite Residue Management Workshop in Nanning, China during the week 3 - 7 September 2012, to explore the application of industry best practice in a Chinese context.
A new Bauxite & Alumina Website has been launched (April 2012) to provide an efficient and effective medium for information dissemination including current bauxite residue management practices/activities:
https://bauxite.world-aluminium.org/refining/bauxite-residue-management.html
A Bauxite Residue Management Guide is being developed as a dynamic document, to be updated regularly, that will bring together:
• industry knowledge/experience and current bauxite residue disposal and storage practices applicable to the wide range of geographic, physical, climatic and regulatory conditions faced by facilities around the world;
• case studies on different aspects of residue management;
• research on remediation of closed and legacy bauxite residue disposal areas.
The Guide will be published in late 2012.
Following the tragic accident in Hungary, the IAI adopted five voluntary global industry objectives with respect to bauxite residue management, focused on:
• Assured integrity of current residue storage facilities;
• Provision of industry based support;
• Best practice sharing;
• Conclusion of bauxite residue solids disposal to marine and aquatic environments;
• Improved technology.
Further details on the objectives can be found at https://bauxite.world-aluminium.org. A series of metrics for measuring industry performance against these objectives are currently under development.
I would like to thank both Paul Adkins and Ron Knapp of the International Aluminum Institute for promptly contacting me regarding my June 8, 2012 8:32 AM comment.
Regards,
Lorenzo D’Alesio