Collapse Of Vanadium Mining Slurry Pit Turns Chinese River Black With Sludge - AFP

[hatrack]

A large spill of toxic slurry from a mine has turned part of a northern Chinese river black and fouled it with dangerous chemicals, state media said Monday. The accident occurred Friday in Shaanxi province when the sides of a catchment basin for toxic tailings, or mining debris, at a vanadium mine collapsed after heavy rain, the Shaanxi-based Chinese Business View reported.

The collapse sent a deluge of black toxic mine tailings and slurry flooding into the Xiangdang river near the town of Yinghua in Shanyang county, it said. The report gave no information on any casualties or residents being hospitalised. Yinghua has a population of about 14,000 people, according to the local government website.

The accident covered more than two kilometres (1.2 miles) of the river bank in a toxic black sludge that caused local residents to experience difficulty breathing, the report added.

Although the spill was quickly contained, several more kilometres experienced dangerous levels of nitrogen and chemical oxygen demand, key measures of water pollution.

EDIT

http://www.terradaily.com/2007/080414054325.pp92iiqr.html

[GodlessBiker]

1. It's a shame that a country with such a great heritage is being turned into a cesspool.

[GliderGuider]

3. One could say the same thing about the planet.

[GodlessBiker]

4. Very true.

[phantom power]

2. externalized cost of Vanadium flow cells

[tom_paine]

5. Hooray for the Chinese! They are beating us in the Sludge Race and we must not have a Sludge Gap!

Not to worry, though, the Bushies have already turned us into the Sister Nation of Russia and China, politically.

Can the rest of our transformation be far behind?