Yarloop Aerial Video
Yarloop Aerial Video taken from helicopter showing the scale of operations at Wagerup refinery.
The Yarloop Aerial Video
Mudlake Area
Current: 607 ha (1500 acres) height approximately 40 m Expansion: 1214 ha (3000 acres) height approximately 80 m
Current: waste produced approximately 5 MTPA Expansion: approximately 10 MTPA
Mudlakes are leaking and contaminating the groundwater.
Lime Usage
Current: 110,000 TPA Expansion: 200,000 TPA
Caustic Usage
Current: 141,000 TPA
Expansion: 282,000 TPA
Water Usage
Current: approximately 10 gig litres Expansion: approximately 20 gig litres
Industrial Toxic Waste Land
An entire lifestyle has been degraded and destroyed by the activities of a multinational mining company. The environment and the fresh country air is contaminated with industrial noise, health degrading dust and toxic fumes.
Fumes belch into the country air from huge industrial stacks that are eyesores in the pastoral scene. Precious clean water that should be used for human consumption, the environment and the food bowl, is being fouled to make profits for Alcoa as it is used for alumina processing and dust suppression. Bauxite mining and refining are not compatible with food production.
Chemical laden Toxic Dust carried on the wind from open stockpiles and from the drying mud-lakes impacts on both community health and the environment, as it settles on pastures affecting animal and environmental health/well-being.
Heavy industrial noise from both the refinery and associated rail traffic, carrying caustic in and alumina out to feed the multinational industrial machine, brings sleep deprivation for residents, causing a range of serious health effects, including psychological problems for those effected. This Industrial toxic wasteland in the heart of the countryside breaks the hearts of country folk.
Yarloop has lost most of its businesses (90%), and half of its population. A once thriving country community has been divided and destroyed through illness, devaluation of property and corporate greed. Alcoa now own over half the town and have destroyed its social fabric.
BAUXITE MINING
The logical place to start is with bauxite mining. In my experience, the most significant exposure in bauxite mining is noise. Dust exposures may or may not be a concern, depending upon whether conditions, material handling equipment and proximity of employees to dusty operations. Bauxite is a mixture of Gibbsite and other minerals, and as with any all, the bauxite contains various elements and minor impurities. Exposure to crystalline silica could be a concern, but for most bauxite’s, quartz is not present at significant levels. Among the minor elements are the radioactive isotopes of radium, thorium and uranium. In general, the concentrations of these isotopes in most forms of bauxite are insignificant.
BAUXITE REFINING
Similar to mining, noise is generally the most significant health risk in refining. Exposure to bauxite dust can also be a concern, again depending upon weather and operating equipment. The large quantities of concentrated hot caustic used to extract the alumina from bauxite are serious safety concern, but airborne concentrations of caustic mist are seldom present at significant levels. Other significant exposures in bauxite refining include asbestos and mineral fibres used the in the thermal insulation, and crystalline silica refractories used in calciners. The structural steel and some process equipment are frequently coated with paints containing lead and exposures to lead occurring; in conjunction with maintenance activities can be significant.
Most Bayer, plants process very large quantities of bauxite, and we should not overlook the possibility that some of the trace elements in bauxite could concentrate and create identifiable exposures. For example, we have looked at mercury vapour exposures in our refineries, and they are generally insignificant. Similarly, the naturally occurring radioactive materials present in bauxite will concentrate in the Bayer process, and our investigations have shown that these elements petition to the bauxite residue rather than the alumina product.
Reference: Managing Health in the Aluminum Industry, 2. WHAT DO WE NEED TO MONITOR IN THE WORKPLACE? Joe Damiano Alcoa, 1501 Alcoa Building,, Pittsburgh,, Pennsylvania, 15219, USA, OCTOBER 26-29 1997.
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