Vale Inco slurry spill reported to Ministry of Environment

 A spill of concentrated ore slurry at Clarabelle Mill, which occurred overnight Nov. 10, has been reported to the Ministry of the Environment.

The slurry, which is cold, was being transferred from a thickener machine  - where water is decanted and the ore is thickened - to a storage tank, when an old pipe carrying the slurry split and the substance spilled.

Vale Inco spokesperson Steve Ball said there is no danger to the public or to employees. A citizen had phoned Northern Life to report the spill.

“It's not anything out of the ordinary. It happens in normal operations. We have pipes fail because they're old pipes. We're cleaning it (the slurry) up and repairing it (the pipe). In a normal situation, you wouldn't even hear about it.”

The spill was reported to the Ministry of the Environment because “we are required to report spills of that nature,” said Ball.