16 December 2009 - The
international conference “Marine and lake
disposal of mine tailings and waste rock”,
Egersund, Norway, 7-10 September 2009 addressed
disposal of mine tailings and waste rock
in lakes and in the sea, which has previously
taken place at several mine
sites around the world, and still do.
Operating, closed and
planned mines in Norway, Greenland, Indonesia,
Canada, and Papua New Guinea were described
in three key notes papers and 22 technical
papers. Cases with both satisfactory and
unsatisfactory environmental impacts were
presented. Many papers focused on methods
to predict the environmental effects of
mine waste disposal in fresh and marine
water. Based on the conclusions, it seems
that there now exists reliable methods to
determine the environmental effect of mine
waste disposal in lakes and in the sea,
thus making it possible for decision-makers
to decide whether a given mine waste disposal
project is acceptable. At the end of the
conference, the participants listed several
important conclusions as well as cases where
more research is needed and where better
practice should be conducted.
The conference was organized
by NIVA (Norwegian Institute of Water Research),
NERI (National Environmental Research Institute,
Aarhus University) and University of British
Colombia.
From NERI Gert Asmund,
Poul Johansen and Jens Søndergaard
participated in organizing and holding the
conference and also presented two cases
from Greenland.
Contacts: Senior scientist
Gert Asmund
+ More
Marine and lake disposal
of mine tailings and waste rock (conference
summary, programme, presentations and list
of participants)
Satisfactory results
for all examined pesticide formulations
- 22 December 2009 - At the analytical chemical
authority control of pesticide products
on the Danish market in 2008 samples of
selected groups of pesticides were collected
from the market and analysed to verify whether
the actual contents of the respective active
ingredients and selected additives
in the products comply with the labelled
content.
The tolerance of deviation
from the labelled content of active ingredient
is set by the Danish Statutory Order on
pesticides. In addition to the examination
of the content of active ingredients, most
of the collected samples were examined for
the content of octylphenol ethoxylates (OPEO)
and nonylphenol ethoxylates (NPEO). The
industry and the Danish authorities have
agreed on removing these compounds from
all Danish-sold pesticide formulations produced
after June 2000.
Four different groups
of products covered by the pesticide regulation
were included in the 2008 analytical chemical
authority control:
13 samples of herbicides
containing aclonifen, bromoxynil, ioxynil,
fluazifop-P-butyl, fenoxaprop-P-ethyl and
mesotrione.
10 samples of fungicides containing cyazofamid,
fluazinam, pencycuron, prothioconazole,
tebuconazole and terbuthylazine.
4 samples of insecticides containing alpha-cypermethrin
and permethrin.
2 samples of plant growth regulators containing
paclobutrazol.
Satisfactory results were found for all
the 29 examined pesticide formulations.
Thus, the analysed samples of these formulations
complied with the accepted tolerance limits
with respect to the content of the active
ingredients as specified in Danish Statutory
Order on pesticides.
None of the examined
samples contained OPEO but one contained
NPEO. The manufacturer of the product informed
the Danish EPA in 2005 about this specific
case so no further action was taken.
On five labels, the
content of active ingredient was declared
only in g/L, but not in % (w/w) as required
by the Statutory Order. On two labels the
declared content given in g/L was correct,
but the content given in percentage was
incorrect.
