Cyanide leak kills outback animals

More than 400 birds, kangaroos and other animals have died from cyanide poisoning near a gold mine in Australia’s Outback, police said today.

Northern Territory officials are investigating how the drainage area near The Granites gold mine, about 370 miles north west of Alice Springs in the desert of central Australia, became contaminated.

A police spokeswoman said the chemical, used for extracting gold from ore, had the greatest impact on bird life, but several kangaroos and a dingo - a wild dog - had also died.

The fire and rescue service was overseeing the clean-up today.

Analysis of the contamination found that the cyanide was in 2,000 parts per one million.

‘‘It is extremely toxic for birds and animals and would certainly be lethal for human ingestion,’’ Leigh Taylor, the mine’s general manager, told Australian Broadcasting radio.

The Environment Centre of the Northern Territory blamed poor regulation of the mining industry.

‘‘The fact that accidents like this occur proves the mining industry is not tightly regulated enough,’’ said centre co-ordinator Kirsten Blair.