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Events/Environment · 2000

Baia Mare cyanide spill

Environment, 30 January 2000, Romania.

What happened

A breach about 25 metres long and 2.5 metres deep in the Aurul tailings dam released about 100,000 cubic metres of tailings water containing cyanide. The spill reached the Lapus river and travelled on to the Somes, Tisza and Danube.1,2

Why it matters

A UNEP and OCHA mission reviewed it in February and March 2000.1,2

Story cards

Around the same time

  1. Nixon ends dollar convertibility into gold

    Gold ceased to have a fixed dollar price.3,4

  2. Panguna mine: inception

    Panguna mine: inception.5

  3. Panguna mine halted

    The closure became tied to the Bougainville conflict.6,7

  4. Summitville mine environmental crisis

    It became a test case for cleanup law.8,9

  5. Giant Mine passes to the federal government

    The stored arsenic dust is the reason for the long-running remediation project.10,11,12

  6. Baia Mare cyanide spill

    A UNEP and OCHA mission reviewed it in February and March 2000.1,2

  7. Copiapo mining accident (33 miners trapped)

    Copiapo mining accident (33 miners trapped). Wikidata records 0 deaths.13

  8. Tr'ondek-Klondike inscribed

    UNESCO World Heritage listing event.14

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Where next

Mines

An example ofRosia Montana gold districtA tailings dam breach in 2000 released 100,000 cubic metres of cyanide-laden water in Romania.1

Events

An example ofCyanide process for gold developed in ScotlandCyanide came into gold mining in 1887. In 2000 a dam breach at Baia Mare released cyanide.1

Sources

  1. Cyanide Spill at Baia Mare, Romania: UNEP/OCHA Assessment Mission report UNEP / UN OCHA via ReliefWeb
  2. Baia Mare (item Q185280), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  3. Nixon and the End of the Bretton Woods System, 1971-1973 US Department of State, Office of the Historian
  4. Washington, D.C. (item Q61), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  5. Wikidata item Q17060798 (Panguna mine: inception)
  6. History: Panguna Mine Bougainville Copper Limited
  7. Panguna mine (item Q17060798), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  8. The Summitville Mine and its downstream effects (OFR 95-23) US Geological Survey
  9. Summitville mine (item Q7637913), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  10. Giant Mine Historical Timeline Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada
  11. History of Giant Mine Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada
  12. Giant Mine (item Q1423887), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  13. Wikidata item Q214790 (Copiapo mining accident (33 miners trapped))
  14. Tr'ondek-Klondike UNESCO World Heritage Centre

From the Prospector Trails mining history dataset: each fact links to the source it was checked against. Figures are as the source gives them, in the money of their day. Not investment advice.

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Cover photos from Wikimedia Commons: Super Pit, Kalgoorlie by Kgbo, CC BY-SA 4.0.