A gold mine north of Katherine has started deliberately discharging contaminated water into a river due to the heavy rainfall in the area.
Mount Todd mine, 45 kilometres north of the town, has not been active since 2000 after its original owner went into voluntary administration.
It was sold to Vista Gold in 2006 but the site remained in care and maintenance, with a tailings dam on the site containing copper, aluminium and cadmium.
The mine has 11 gigalitres – or the equivalent of more than 4,000 Olympic swimming pools – of contaminated water from its historic mining activities, which can only be legally discharged when the nearby Edith River is f…
Read the full article at: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-01-25/wet-weather-mount-todd-gold-mine-discharging-contaminated-nt/8210388