Alaska News

Another leak discovered at Arctic mine in eastern Finland

Yet another leak has been discovered at the Talvivaara nickel mine near Kajaani in east Finland. Local authorities in the Kainuu region announced on Thursday that a new leak was detected in the Kortelampi dam, which the company built to block a leak from a gypsum pond that began in early November.

Kainuu officials say that as of yesterday the leak was quite small at less than 5 litres per second, a small fraction of the volumes of poisonous waste water that have spewed out in recent weeks.

So far it remains unclear how the discovery will affect the beleaguered company's plans to re-open the mine by Sunday. The firm has come under increasing public and official pressure due to a string of environmental problems.

This story is posted on Alaska Dispatch as part of Eye on the Arctic, a collaborative partnership between public and private circumpolar media organizations.

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