A Different Kind of Mine Disaster
Monday, April 12, 2010 - 10:56
in Earth & Climate
The world's largest antimony mine has become the world's largest laboratory for studying the environmental consequences of escaped antimony -- an element whose environmental and biological properties are still largely a mystery. Scientists have found the waters around Xikuangshan mine in southwest China contain antimony at levels two to four orders of magnitude higher than normal (0.33 - 11.4 parts per million).