Romania’s Cyanide Spill

Jana Ghandour
11930192
ENVR200
Dr. Mona Karnib
Background
Did you know that a deadly weapon could be made just by the use of a natural
source of polyatomic ion? Cyanide is a naturally occurring toxic chemical that
comes in many forms. It is found in complexes with heavy metals, in many plants
and natural products including lethal foods to humans and other species. Also it is
formed in chemical industries that has been used in conventional warfare and was
used as poisoning of living organisms for millennia. The use of cyanide in warfare
dates back to Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871) during which Napoleon III urged
his troops to dip their bayonet tips in the poison. Roman Emperor Nero (37-68)
also used cyanide-containing cherry laurel water as a poison.1 In addition, Cyanide
became a worldwide issue which cannot be solved by the effort of one individual
alone as this poisonous chemical affected the environment in our lives physically,
socially, and economically after the Romania’s Cyanide Spill accident in 2000
caused by the gold mining company Aurul which is a joint venture of Australian
company Esmeralda Exploration and the Romanian government.

The Accident
On January 30th 2000 at 22:00, a bad weather and a combination of design defects
at the operations of the Aurul SA Company in Baia Mare, northwest Romania
caused a broken dam that resulted in a 100,000m3 liquid spill and suspended waste
containing about 50 to 100tones of cyanide as well as copper and other heavy
metals. On February 1st, just two days later from the accident, the spill plume
reached the Romanian-Hungarian borders. Afterwards, on February 9, the spill
reached the city Szolnok in Hungary which then on the 11th crossed the Hungarian-
Yugoslavian border. The pollutant passed through the rivers of Sasar, Lapus,
Somes, Tisza and Danube and then after 4 weeks reached the Black sea. The
director and regional representative at the UN Environment Programme Fritz
Schlingemann said “The Baia Mare region and the river systems in the region are
being classified as toxic, at least medium to high toxic” which caused rapid death
of aquatic organisms and animals living close to the poisoned rivers. In addition,
Romania reported that the spill caused
interruptions to the water supply of 24
municipalities and costs to sanitation plants and
industries, because of interruptions in their
production processes. Therefore, 62 species of
fish were affected, of which 20 are protected.
In Hungary, volunteers removed about 1,240
tons of dead fish from the water to prevent the
toxins spreading across the food chain
Causes of accident
1
https://www.centerforhealthsecurity.org/our-work/publications/cyanide-fact-sheet
The breakage in the Aurul dam was due to a combination of two factors. First, it
was partially caused by poor weather conditions of heavy rainfalls “30l/m² of
precipitation” and melting of a 60cm thick snow layer that made the water level in
the pond rise adding more immediate meteorological conditions were responsible
for a sizable rise in sedimentation basin water level and diminished their strength.
This rise was quicker than the rise of the dam which was intended to grow
gradually over time as additional tailings accumulated. Second, the design of the
flaws had been built using mining waste that was supposed to contain coarse
blocks and fine materials according to a very specific composition pattern. During
the expert evaluation, it was observed that the proportion of blocks was sizably
below the values indicated in the initial set of specifications. As a result, the dam
could not offer the required level of strength. Hence, the newly engineered dam
system failed under the circumstances so there were no plans to deal with such a
rise in overflow wastewater, or the fact that the operation was actually open at two
points, at the old and the new ponds, which allowed unmonitored amounts of
cyanide to be regularly lost into the air and/or groundwater. At the same time, the
Romanian law states that the plants and ponds are categorized under regular risk
therefore emergency monitoring to detect dangerous situations was not required.

Effects of the accident

The accident is described as Europe’s second Chernobyl in terms of environmental
effects. Effects were negative on the river system and the population living in the
area by destroying the wildlife, fish stock and threatening water supplies of
2.5million humans in parts of Eastern Europe. Besides, heavy metals do not break
down and are bio-accumulative in plants, animals and the environment which
means that the level of toxins builds up in an organism over time, increasing its
toxicity and threat to local ecosystems. Toxins may also be passed on to other
species if ingested, absorbed or inhaled which results in living organisms face high
risks with long-term and chronic exposure to heavy metals and cyanide. The
accident also generated indirect consequences; restaurants stopped serving fish,
agricultural cooperatives refused to buy produce from vegetable growers located
along the Tisza, hotels reported a sizable jump in cancelled stays.

 Environmental Impacts:
Cyanide being in a river are distributed directly into waterways, thus polluting
water sources then imbedded in soil which presents environmental challenges due
to the inherent digging of soil and artisanal mining, also mining operations take
place around the forest that are home to vast amounts of biodiversity. However,
since the incident the heavy metals have accumulated in the sediments are
collecting 6-10km downstream of Baia Mare and will continue to be washed
downstream and spread throughout the river system.
 Impact on Humans:
Exposure to environmental pollution remain a major source of risk health
throughout the world because they can be mutagens, tetragons and carcinogens that
targets different kinds of cells. Low levels of cyanide for a long period causes
breathing difficulties, heart pains, vomiting, changes in the blood, headaches and
enlargement of the thyroid gland. It also causes acute effects as a result of short-
term exposure to high levels of cyanide in the air damages the brain, heart and may
cause coma or sudden death within hours. In addition, the acute and chronic effects
of copper to humans include stomach and intestinal distress, liver and kidney
damage and anemia. Heavy metals on the other hand, do not have any biological
role but, remain present in some forms that are harmful for the body. Metal toxicity
can lower energy levels and damage functions of some organs and long-term
exposure can lead to gradually progressing physical, muscular, and neurological
degenerative processes that imitate diseases and eventually causes cancer.

 Impact on Marine Life:

Marine life are about 1,000 times more sensitive to cyanide than humans. If fish
don’t die from the exposure of cyanide they will have reduced swimming ability,
compromised reproduction, respiration difficulties and abnormal growth patterns.
However, a lot of living organisms were killed due to contaminated water in Tisza
River, on the Serbian section of the river 80% of all aquatic life was also killed.
Together, the contaminated waters killed approximately 200 tons of fish and
affected 62 species of fish only 20 were protected. Some volunteers participated in
removing the dead fish to prevent other wildlife from eating the fish and spreading
the contamination throughout the food chain and they found some fish to contain
2.6mg of cyanide.

 Impact on Wildlife:
When mammals are exposed to cyanide they exhibit symptoms such as muscle
tremors, uncontrollable urination and defecation, as well as, trouble breathing,
gasping for air, and convulsions. However, when birds are exposed salivating,
panting and lethargy often occur within 30 minutes or less before their death.
Exposures to high doses resulted in deep, labored breathing followed by gasping
and shallow intermittent breathing in all species however birds that survived for
one hour frequently recovered, possibly due to the rapid metabolism of cyanide to
thiocyanate and its subsequent excretion.

Government Response
Ten hours were lost between the time the Baia Mare Environmental Protection
Agency received notification of the spill from Aurul and the time the local
Romanian Waters Authority was informed. As a result, local residents near the
source of the spill were not informed as early as possible, however, authorities
immediately ordered Aurul to stop activities and close the breakage. Hungarian
authorities confirmed that they were informed daily by the degree of pollution so it
allowed them to alert all regional and local authorities to take measures to
minimize the impact as soon as possible. Thus, Hungarian methods included
promoting awareness and open debates at the local, regional and global levels,
operations at dams to protect aquifers and side branches, the temporary closure of
the Kiskore dam to increase the water level and temporary closure of the water
intake from the Tisza River to the town of Szolnok. Also, World Wildlife Fund,
Inc. (WWF) suggested clean-up of contamination near the mine in Romania, long-
term monitoring program along the whole river system as well as, improvement of
the water quality situation, conservation and restoration of areas spared by the spill
that can contribute to the re-colonization of the river and institution of a river basin
management plan. Accordingly, the mine was reopened in May 2000 and a new
management team, appointed in September 2001. They installed a cyanide effluent
treatment plant along with a 250,000m³ storm water basin designed to handle
overflow from the sedimentation basin prior to treatment and discharge into the
natural environment. However, It takes about 10 years for the ecosystem to fully
bounce back long after all stopped operating the site in 2006. The site was
subsequently be taken by the largest gold producer in Russia and they tried to ban
gold cyanidation.

Other solutions
In general, there is no easy way to solve water pollution but some measures can be
taken such as reducing nutrient/pesticides in water and urban/suburban runoff of
lawn fertilizers and pesticides. Supporting the fund of smart agricultural projects
like the upper stretch of the Tisza, prevent further destruction wetlands, and
reestablish them wherever possible. Moreover, improving sewage treatments to
reduce sewage pollution and eliminating straight pipes to conserve water are some
of the most important actions to take.

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