Major Mining Leak Contaminates Brazil's Doce River and Kills Off the Fish - Polidicks

[url="http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/nov/26/brazil-dam-arsenic-mercury-rio-doce-river"]Guardian[/url] [url="http://uk.reuters.com/article/2015/11/27/brazil-damburst-vale-sa-idUKL1N13M1K620151127"]Reuters UK - Mine Owner Recently Admits Contamination[/url] [url="http://www.wsj.com/articles/vale-says-samarco-dam-break-contained-toxic-elements-1448643187"]Wallstreet Journal[/url] [media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDIYs2jg0ZE[/media] [t]https://cdn.rt.com/files/2015.11/original/56549dd5c36188c0718b45b3.jpg[/t] [quote]Illegal levels of arsenic and mercury polluted the Rio Doce river in the days after a dam burst at an iron ore mine in early November in Brazil’s worst ever environmental disaster, according to tests by a state water agency.[/quote] RIP anything that depends on that river.

Aresenic spilling out into water because of dam failure. Seems like 2015s fad of the year. Keep up the good work mining companies.

I guess those dams could have used some of that football World Cup money.

I feel like in the long term their biofuel industry is still a greater threat than this

another reason why asteroid mining needs to be a thing.

[QUOTE=Deathtrooper2;49202189]another reason why asteroid mining needs to be a thing.[/QUOTE] Its going to be a long wait til we begin asteroid mining operations. In the mean time, we need to quit fucking up our planet.

[QUOTE=Richard Simmons;49202212]Its going to be a long wait til we begin asteroid mining operations. In the mean time, we need to quit fucking up our planet.[/QUOTE] Aren't we supposed to use all the planet's resources in some sense though, but as efficiently as possible? Well anyhow, let's hope this mess is contained and cleaned as quickly as possible.

[QUOTE=Bat-shit;49202258]Aren't we supposed to use all the planet's resources in some sense though, but as efficiently as possible? Well anyhow, let's hope the mess is contained as efficiently as possible.[/QUOTE] No. We should perserve what nature we have on the planet, not indefinitely but for as long as we can. We should also understand that we, physically, will die, or suffer serious long term health defects from the results of us polluting and damaging the world and ecosystem. An example of this would be how we polluted the air with lead in gasoline in the 50's and 60's. Presumably tiny and insignificant amounts of lead caused an unknowable amount of long term damage to the world as of how effective lead is as a neuro toxin. Imagining, for instance, we raised our global temperature too high and pumped up our carbon PPM to past 400 globally, we will see forever unlivable conditions we can't just "technology" our way out of. Our biology is fragile, and we're not really capable of "evolving" in a meaningful way to accommodate or adapt for these horrific circumstances.

[QUOTE=Bat-shit;49202258]Aren't we supposed to use all the planet's resources in some sense though, but as efficiently as possible? Well anyhow, let's hope this mess is contained and cleaned as quickly as possible.[/QUOTE] Well yes, and there is going to be some errors along the way. The earth will likely be fine from all this. Its ecosystems, eh.. maybe not. And the chances are is that we're going to use up all, if not most, of the planets resources. We will come to a point where we will be choked out of precious metals and other resources and we will have to find alternative sources or abandon whatever requires these materials.

[QUOTE=AntonioR;49202023]I guess those dams could have used some of that football World Cup money.[/QUOTE] except it's not a government owned company that's at fault for the disaster

[QUOTE]billion reais ($5.20 billion) in damages and clean up costs.[/QUOTE] They give you a measely little sum and leave you a bum. Seems like its the same everywhere. Ontario, Louisiana, Brazil.

[QUOTE=Rangergxi;49202615]They give you a measely little sum and leave you a bum. Seems like its the same everywhere. Ontario, Louisiana, Brazil.[/QUOTE] Apparently, they're giving the money to the state government not the people directly :v: The little sum is gonna be even smaller now.

I see they chose a picture that tried to make this look like as big a fuckup as possibly by implying the rover is that brown colour because of the accident. It's normally that brown colour. Here is a picture of the river from 2000: [t]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/67/Rio_Doce_Delta.jpg[/t] [editline]28th November 2015[/editline] Has anyone got any hard numbers on the heavy metal levels before and after?

[QUOTE=Deathtrooper2;49202189]another reason why asteroid mining needs to be a thing.[/QUOTE] Asteroid mining is only going to be a thing for countries like USA, Russia, China, Japan, and the EU. Developing countries will still mine the earth.

[QUOTE=download;49202653]I see they chose a picture that tried to make this look like as big a fuckup as possibly by implying the rover is that brown colour because of the accident. It's normally that brown colour. Here is a picture of the river from 2000: [t]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/67/Rio_Doce_Delta.jpg[/t] [editline]28th November 2015[/editline] Has anyone got any hard numbers on the heavy metal levels before and after?[/QUOTE] it is a HUGE fuck up though, more than 800.000 people were left without water for instance, and a small city near the dam was completely destroyed(and quite a few people died).

[QUOTE=Zenreon117;49201914]RIP anything that depends on that river.[/QUOTE] Canada has the same problem actually just not as large, Anyway. They have lakes of this stuff contaminating rivers people source water from theses rivers down stream and as a result fish are getting tumors and dying along with the people who drink it. Naturally the mining company's denied this, but before the mining was done no one had tumors in their fish and didn't see a 90% rise in tumors in towns either. Hopefully they clean up this mess in Brazil before its to late.

[QUOTE=Wizards Court;49202708]it is a HUGE fuck up though, more than 800.000 people were left without water for instance, and a small city near the dam was completely destroyed(and quite a few people died).[/QUOTE] I was commenting solely on the use of an image to imply they made the river that colour, nothing more.

[QUOTE=download;49202805]I was commenting solely on the use of an image to imply they made the river that colour, nothing more.[/QUOTE] People just see a picture of sediment coming out of a river, and boom they think pollution. If click bait titles werent bad enough, they spice it up further with pictures that "look bad".

guess it isn`t so sweet anymore

[QUOTE=Richard Simmons;49202837]People just see a picture of sediment coming out of a river, and boom they think pollution. If click bait titles werent bad enough, they spice it up further with pictures that "look bad".[/QUOTE] It IS a massive disaster though. very very far from clickbait bs

As someome who lives on the Estate this happened I am scared for what the future holds.Apparently the company cut costs in maintenance and they only hired engineers for the dam construction.They are also going to rebuild the affected towns but no one is going to live there because it is probably flooded with toxic shit and a lot of people were fishermen.

[QUOTE=Zukriuchen;49202938]It IS a massive disaster though. very very far from clickbait bs[/QUOTE] I am aware that this is a massive environmental disaster. This is a prominent scenario that is unfolding so very often, and its becoming more problematic than ever. If it isn't busting dams, its leaking into ground water or contaminating the adjacent watersheds. [editline]28th November 2015[/editline] [QUOTE=Vaegir Guard;49202972]As someome who lives on the Estate this happened I am scared for what the future holds.Apparently the company cut costs in maintenance and they only hired engineers for the dam construction.They are also going to rebuild the affected towns but no one is going to live there because it is probably flooded with toxic shit and a lot of people were fishermen.[/QUOTE] Well, the future looks like its not going to hold any more waste water :v: Honestly, that is abhorrent behavior. I understand that you're trying to cut back costs and boost profits, but right they totally fucked themselves in the ass. Hopefully they get a massive fine.

[QUOTE=Richard Simmons;49202990]I am aware that this is a massive environmental disaster. This is a prominent scenario that is unfolding so very often, and its becoming more problematic than ever. If it isn't busting dams, its leaking into ground water or contaminating the adjacent watersheds. [editline]28th November 2015[/editline] Honestly, that is abhorrent behavior. I understand that you're trying to cut back costs and boost profits, but right they totally fucked themselves in the ass. Hopefully they get a massive fine.[/QUOTE] They already got fined and they are helping but the river is ruined,the mud is going to stay in the bottom of the lake and removing it will take a lot of money and time.Maybe companies shouldn't own dams and other important structures since it will always come to down to cut costs and boost profits,especially in the middle of an "economical crisis".

Fun fact, if you were to dump a shitload of acetic acid in the contaminated water it would taste a little sweet if you drank it. Thanks, mercury! [editline]28th November 2015[/editline] Might taste a little bit like dead fish and arsenic though.

[QUOTE=Richard Simmons;49202837]People just see a picture of sediment coming out of a river, and boom they think pollution. If click bait titles werent bad enough, they spice it up further with pictures that "look bad".[/QUOTE] If that's how the river normally looks, then what picture would you suggest they use? Do they specifically state in the articles that the river looks like this as a result of the spill, or have you just come to your own conclusion?