Alaska's Red Dog mine tops Toxics Release Inventory

Red Dog's unenviable position at the top of the Environmental Protection Agency's national Toxics Release Inventory doesn't mean that the world's largest zinc mine is a dangerous polluter, according to the state of Alaska. The Teck Cominco-operated mine in the Arctic, near Kotzebue, released 487.4 million pounds of toxic chemicals in 2003, the newly published TRI reported. The TRI does not indicate whether, or to what degree, the public has been exposed to toxic chemicals, the EPA points out.

Greens Creek polymetallic mine near Juneau, operated by a subsidiary of Rio Tinto, comes in at number five in the TRI, with 43.9 million pounds released.

"Alaskans need to understand what this really means in terms of what's actually been discharged into the air, land and water," Alaska's Environmental Conservation Commissioner Kurt Fredriksson said.

"The total pounds of 'releases' do not at all reflect an accurate picture of Alaska's environmental quality.

The waste rock from Alaska mines is well engineered, contained and regulated by state and federal agencies.

Alaska's TRI releases are permitted discharges, regulated under state and federal laws.

Alaska's environment continues to be clean, healthy and productive."

The releases from Red Dog consist mainly of waste rock containing small quantities of lead and zinc. "What they do is a simple add-up of materials moved, essentially," Teck Cominco spokesman Greg Waller told Mining News, in response to the TRI. "When we strip waste and move that rock to another location on the mine site, all of that uneconomic rock has some content of lead and zinc in it. In our view that's a meaningless number."

DEC: Risks 'well within acceptable limits'

Much more detail about Red Dog's impacts on the environment and humans can be found in the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation's draft fugitive dust risk assessment for the mine, which was published in April. The assessment is the culmination of more than two years' work examining the elevated metals concentrations in the area. DEC concludes that risks to humans are "well within acceptable limits," with, for example, a less than 0.0005 percent chance for children using the land for subsistence exceeding the acceptable blood lead level.

Wildlife and plants in the vicinity of Red Dog have suffered some adverse effects, according to DEC. In port facility areas, the presence of stressed and dead vegetation appears to be primarily related to fugitive dust deposition, but it may also be due to disturbance from the construction of a concentrate storage building. "No adverse effects are predicted for the vast majority of caribou that only pass through the site during migration," the risk assessment went on to say. "There is a low likelihood that individual caribou over-wintering in the mine area may experience adverse effects (reduced growth) from exposure to aluminum."

After a public comment and response period, the risk assessment will be finalized and Teck Cominco will develop a proposed risk management plan, in consultation with DEC and other stakeholders. The risk management plan will identify actions needed and will define a long-term program to monitor changes in conditions. It will be developed in parallel with the completion of the risk assessment, through the remainder of 2005. "Action levels were not calculated at this time because risks are not significantly elevated," the risk assessment said.

Teck Cominco estimates that it has spent approximately $11 million on facilities upgrades to improve fugitive dust control at Red Dog, and another $4 million on fugitive dust studies and the risk assessment, between 2001 and spring 2004. In February 2005 the company agreed to pay $33,000 in civil penalties to settle a complaint by the Environmental Protection Agency alleging ore was discharged into Alaska's northwest coast in 2002. A mine worker had reported that ore was pushed by winds off a conveyor belt into the Chukchi Sea. Teck Cominco spent $2.6 million on a conveyor belt containment system in 2003, and another $1.3 million to upgrade containment equipment on two barges.