Aughinish denies any risk from bauxite

AUGHINISH Alumina has denied claims by farmers living near its facility on the Shannon Estuary that bauxite residue, similar to that which has caused the Hungarian environment disaster, poses a risk here.

Local farmers claim the bauxite, which is piled on a 200-acre site at the facility, is hazardous. Aughinish Alumina, which employs 440 people at its bauxite extraction plant near Foynes, said there is no danger of any spillage from its bauxite residue pile as they treat it in a totally different manner to the method used at the disaster facility in Hungary.

The spillage of bauxite residue in Hungary has claimed seven lives, destroyed towns and villages and caused heavy pollution along the Danube.