The Conversation

Gold rush-era rules to stop mining pollution are still in use – but they’re failing

Author: Susan Lawrence, Professor, Department of Archaeology and History, La Trobe University

This is an edited extract from SLUDGE: disaster on Victoria’s goldmines.

Bento Rodrigues, Brazil, 6 November 2015

Wet, orange mud covers everything: streets, houses, cars, animals, trees, fields. The violent force of a torrent of mud has overturned cars and left them hovering on top of buildings. It has torn the roofs off houses and pushed...

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