Australian girl, 6, in case against miner: lawyer

Australian girl, 6, in case against miner: lawyer
AFP - 55 minutes ago

SYDNEY (AFP) - A six-year-old Australian girl with high levels of lead in her body will be part of a law suit against Anglo-Swiss mining giant Xstrata over alleged pollution, her lawyer said Friday.

Damian Scattini said he expected to lodge pre-litigation documents in court for Daphne Hare, on behalf of her daughter Stella, against Xstrata, and/or the Queensland state government, next week.

Blood tests conducted on the child, who suffers learning and behavioural problems and has had a melanoma on her leg removed, revealed dangerously high levels of lead and more than 10 other metals in her body, he said.

Stella grew up in the central Queensland town of Mount Isa, known as the state's mining capital and where Xstrata has operated two copper mines and a copper smelter since 2003.

"We've just received in the last week this toxicology report, and that's irrefutable proof of the awful truth, and that is that this girl, and no doubt many, many others have toxic levels of waste in their body from this mine," Scattini, from the firm Slater & Gordon, said.

"It's not only lead, it's a whole raft of chemicals and heavy metals."

Scattini said lawyers were unsure of whether Stella would be a test case or if more alleged victims would be incorporated into the case.

"But we certainly will be taking action for individuals," he told AFP.

The mining company said it took lead management very seriously and monitored its emissions 24-hours-a-day and reported its findings regularly.

"We are working closely with key community stakeholders, especially the Mount Isa City Council and the Queensland state government, to manage lead levels in Mount Isa," Xstrata Copper North Queensland chief operating officer Steve de Kruijff said.

"Naturally we are very concerned to hear about individual cases of high lead levels in local children, however it is not appropriate for us to comment on specific cases which are being managed through Queensland Health."

A study by the government's Queensland Health to be released next month reportedly shows more than 10 percent of children living near Xstrata's operations in Mount Isa have high levels of lead in their blood.

The study showed that at least 45 children have lead levels which could harm their intellectual and behavioural development, The Australian newspaper said.

In 2006, Queensland ordered the blood screening of some 400 Mount Isa children over concerns about lead poisoning from the town's copper and lead smelters, it said.