Work stopped at Trail smelter

Vancouver — Newly formed mining giant Teck-Cominco (TEK-T) is trying to determine how 65 workers at its Trail lead-zinc smelter in B.C. were contaminated by thallium, a highly toxic metal linked to nerve damage.

The contamination was revealed Aug. 23. Biological monitoring showed that the contract employees had varying degrees of elevated thallium levels. Teck-Cominco immediately suspended work in the area.

“We have carried out this type of work in the past with no reported incidents and, therefore, we were taken by surprise by these results,” says Bill Van Beek, a company spokesman.

The workers were doing maintenance work on the furnace area of the smelting facility. They began complaining of flu-like symptoms — chills, sore muscles and cold sweats.

During the month-long job, the employees twice exercised their right under the Workers Compensation Board’s (WCB) rules to stop work. Both times, the WCB found that the work site was safe.

However, tests taken late last week found traces of thallium, a chemical byproduct of smelting, in their urine. The levels of contamination were higher than the “concern level”. This prompted the shutdown of the job site.

The affected workers were wearing protective equipment consistent with WCB guidelines for exposure in this type of work.

“We are reviewing the situation at the affected area within the smelter and are managing the investigation,” says Van Beek. “Our primary concerns are the health and safety of all workers at our operations and determining the cause of the exposure.”

The major diversified miner is asking other employees to undergo tests. Some 35 workers were bused from Trail to the Royal Columbian Hospital in New Westminster, while 10 headed south to a hospital in Spokane, Washington.

Thallium is a byproduct of the lead-zinc smelting process. High-level exposure to the toxin can cause nerve problems such as numbness in fingers and toes. It is potentially fatal. Since 1935, nearly 800 people have been diagnosed with thallium poisoning. Some 50 of them have died.

Located in southern British Columbia, the smelter has become engulfed in controversy.

The facility is currently idle so that Teck-Cominco can sell the electricity it would normally use to the energy-starved United States.

With zinc prices set an eight-year low, the company recently announced that, effective mid-November, 91 workers would be laid off from the site. The cuts from the facility’s nearly 1,500 workforce come as Teck-Cominco is pushing the United Steelworkers Union to accept a contract, which, the company says, will increase productivity and protect it from low zinc prices.

The workers’ last contract expired at the end of May. Union official say that they have no plans to launch a strike.