Finland Times

The authority is ready to take immediate measures, if necessary to minimise environmental or other hazards caused by the leak, said a government press release on Tuesday.

The top ranking officials of the respective ministries also kept watch on the situation and the authority would meet to make decision in this regard, if needed.

The authority, however, said that as per the information provided by the factory authority the  waste water had not leaked out from the mining area.

News agency STT reported that the Talvivaara authority claimed the adverse impact due to the leakage was lower than it was feared but the authority took measures to control the water of the mining area.

The authority, however, yet to control the water completely.

The Environment minister, Ville Niinistö  visited the spot to see the company activities, the STT reported on Tuesday.

The minister said the water should be controlled immediately as the spring is beginning and the ice will be melted from the coming weeks.

If the reservoirs are not brought to normal , the wastage could turn into worsen for a long, Niinistö told STT. 

The Talvivaara water management director, Maija Vidqvist, however was not worried about the spring, because the problems in the mining areas could be overcome during the winter.

The director told STT that the new leakage water is being removed quickly, because they are exceptionally pumped extra outflow from the mining area to the south. 

YLE reported that Talvivaara commissioned a report from by the Technical Research Centre of Finland VTT on a gypsum pond leak that occurred last autumn. 

The company, however, neither make the report public nor submitted to the local authorities for renewal of its environmental permit.

According to the YLE report, Chief executive Pekka Perä indicated that the report had been completed but that the company did not want to release it. But said that the report would be disclosed in Spring.

The Kainuu centre for economic development, transport and the environment (ELY Centre) is responsible for monitoring environmental and dam safety at the Talvivaara mine. The Centre has inspected the mining site and it will provide situation awareness information to the government, said the government press release. 

The Kainuu ELY Centre will be allocated all necessary support required to monitor the situation. For the present, the Centre is also responsible for public authority communications about the accident.

The mining operator is responsible for ensuring that its activities comply with the permit conditions as granted by relevant authorities. In November 2012, the Kainuu ELY Centre required that, within the next few months, Talvivaara's hydrologic balance and pond capacity was to reach a level that would enable the company to manage the spring 2013 run-off and exceptional hydrologic circumstances. It was also required that measures were to be taken with regard to pond safety and handling and management of waste water from the gypsum pond.

 

The leak developed again in a gypsum pond of a Talvivaara nickel mine in eastern Finland early Monday, forcing the company to shut down mining operations to prevent water pollution by the leakage.

A similar leak had appeared in November last year at a metal factory of the company. An environment official said the amount of wastage being released through the leak was much higher than they had estimated initially.

Talvivaara sources said at least 7,000 cubic metres of waste water was oozing out of the leak an hour, although in the morning they estimated that the leakage would be only 2,000-3,000 cubic metres per hour.