Angola's Catoca Diamond Mine Leaked Red-Colored Waste Into Waterways

(IDEX Online) - Angola's major diamond mine, Catoca, leaked a red-colored waste last month, causing waterways to fill with sediment before the leak was repaired, Catoca Mining Company said in a statement seen by Reuters.

Congolese researchers on Friday said pollution caused by a leak from a tailings dam, used to store waste mining material, had turned rivers red and caused fish to die in Congo's southern Kasai province, Reuters reported.

The researchers did not link the pollution to a specific mine.

Catoca said in a statement seen by Reuters that tailings were seen to have leaked into the Lova river on July 27 following a breach in a spillway for the mine waste dam, the agency reported.

Catoca said it immediately sought to repair it and built two dykes to filter sediment out of the water. The breach was sealed by August 9, according to the report, which added that Catoca has given local residents baskets of basic goods to lessen the impact of the leak on waterways.

Catoca is jointly held by Russia's Alrosa and Angolan state diamond company Endiama. It is by far Angola's top diamond producing operation, responsible for approximately three-quarters of the country's output, and one of the biggest diamond mines in the world.

There was no information or comment on the leak on the websites of Catoca, Alrosa or Endiama. The latter two firms each own 41% of the operation.