Russian Nickel Mining Company Causing Mass Pollution in the Arctic

Once again, the Russian Nornickel mining company has caused another environmental disaster from a nickel plant that it operates at the Arctic Tundra and has admitted to it. Nornickel is among the largest producers of nickel in the world. It has been involved in a past incident of environmental pollution in the Arctic region.

Nornickel reported that it had pumped an adjacent territory with industrial water so that it can supposedly prevent potential contingencies in a pond for tailings, violating rules.

The mining company has since said that the water has been "cleared," meaning there was no more threat of leaking waste. However, Novaya Gazeta, an independent newspaper, has made a contrary report. According to it, the water was found to be laden with heavy metals that came from the disposed tailings of Nornickel's Talnakh nickel processing plant located nearby.

For its part, Nornickel announced that it has already "suspended" those employees who were responsible for the gross violation. Its statement said that these employees allowed the flagrant breach of Nornickel's operational rules regarding its tailings reservoir.

This disaster comes on the heels of an earlier fuel spill, also committed by Nornickel more than a month ago. Last May, a reservoir from one of Nornickel's power plants collapsed and leaked diesel fuel. Approximately 21,000 tons spilled, and some of it flowed into a nearby lake, which drains into one of Arctic Sea's tributaries.

Both of the facilities involved in these incidents are owned and operated by the company and are located near the city of Norilsk north from the Arctic Circle, 2,900 kilometers away from Moscow. Now, Russian officials are currently investigating the latest incident.

The foamy water that was being pumped from the Talnakh enrichment plant's reservoir to the Arctic Tundra was filmed by Novaya Gazeta's reporters and an ecologist from the area. Security guards, apparently employed by the mining company, attempted to prevent the filming.

According to the reporters, the wastewater is thought to be loaded with heavy metals such as copper, nickel, and cobalt, as well as sulfuric acid. The mining company denied the allegation.

According to the paper, the mining company has initiated an investigation on the incident and is currently working with the emergencies ministry and the natural resources ministry. Meanwhile, the SK or Russia's Investigative Committee, also known as Sledkom, also launched an independent investigation. The Committee is in charge of probing serious crimes.

The city of Norilsk is notorious for its pollution. According to satellite data and a study from NASA, it is considered the world's top SO2 polluter, which released sulfur dioxide at a volume of 1.9 million tons from its chimneys in 2018 and blown them to the Arctic tundra at the Taymyr Peninsula. Nornickel also operates a copper smelter in Norilsk and also produces palladium and platinum.

Despite reducing emissions by 200,000 tons in 2017, the pollution in Norilsk is still almost thrice the volume compared to the second biggest SO2 (sulfur dioxide) pollution hotspot in the world, which is the city of Kriel, located in South Africa. A large coal-fired power plant in Kriel spewed 714,000 tons of emissions last 2018.