No lead leak for Magellan, says Marmion

No lead contamination has been found on Magellan Metals shipping containers, the Environment Mininster Bill Marmion announced late yesterday.

But more samples will need to be tested before a decision can be made about restarting Magellan's lead shipments.

After three days of intensive on-site testing, no loead carbonate dust has been detected on the exterior of Magellan Metals shipping containers or on the ground where containers have been stored.

Mr Marmion said the Department of Environment and Conservation's Pollution Response Unit had tested a representative sample of Magellan containers and found no evidence of lead leakage from the containers.

"The sophisticated X-ray fluorescence equipment used by DEC did not detect the presence of lead above normal background levels," Mr Marmion said.

"These tests appear to confirm that Magellan lead has not entered the environment and has remained confined within the shipping containers.

DEC gas also taken 63 samples from the exterior and interior of containers, as well as container air vents and soil and drains near the container site.

"These samples are being tested by the ChemCentre, with results expected next week," Mr Marmion said.

"If any elevated lead levels are detected, an isotopic analysis will be carried out to 'fingerprint' the lead to determine if it is from Magellan's mine."

Yesterday, Magellan announced a shut-down of operations at the mine while it waited for the government's stop order to be lifted.