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Peru declares 90 days of emergency
Wed, 07 Jul 2010 01:48:08 GMT
Peru has declared a 90-day state of emergency in the country’s southeast following the collapse of a mine’s tailings which polluted surrounding rivers and fields.
The country’s environmental ministry said on Tuesday that animals and wildlife as far away from the mine as 70 kilometers (43 miles), in the Andean region of Huancavelica, had been affected by outpouring of toxic metallic waste, prompting officials to issue the alert.
According to AFP, hundreds of trout in the Opamayo and Escalera rivers have been found poisoned with lead and other toxic metals from the Caudalosa Grande metal mining complex, after the tailings dam collapsed on June 26.
Over 700 miners have begun clean-up efforts, as the Environmental Ministry said the government would investigate the collapse and assess whether those responsible needed to face punishments.
Tailings are the materials left over after the process of separating the valuable fraction from the worthless fraction of an ore.
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