Coal company accidentally turns a creek into concrete path

Global mining giant Xstrata sent contractors with truckloads of grout to repair gaping cracks and chasms it created on a hilly ridge in an Australian conservation area while mining for coal.

You’re probably wondering to yourself, “How could this possibly go wrong?”

When the contractors got there, they made a blunder that would be hilarious were it not so devastating.

Darren Pateman

Sugarloaf’s concrete creek. Reproduced with permission of The Newcastle Herald © Copyright 2013

As grout was being poured into a crack at the top of the cliff, it was gushing out of another crack at the bottom. An estimated 200 tons of grout — enough to fill 12 cement trucks — flowed into a creek. There it hardened, turning what had been a tranquil waterway in the Sugarloaf State Conservation Area into a 370-yard concrete pathway. From the Newcastle Herald:

To make its descent [the grout] had swamped smaller trees, flooding around rocks and logs along its path.

Cascading down the hill like a miniature glacier, the set overflow looks pretty similar to a thick coating of marzipan on the forest floor.

It’s impossible to know how many plants, holes, gaps and even animals may lay beneath the stony substance. … In places, it’s barely the width of a narrow garden path. At others, it could pass for a single-car garage slab that nobody bothered to level.

Being a coal company, Switzerland-based Xstrata decided to keep its little accident a secret from the public. Nearly three months later, after the debacle was exposed by the Herald, the state government ordered a cleanup. But how do you remove hundreds of yards of grout from a creek? The company has until September to come up with a plan, but it won’t be easy.

“I have no idea how it can be cleaned up,” said an unnamed worker involved in the restoration effort. “The problem is just too massive.”

SOURCE: John Upton and GristMill

John Upton is a science fan and green news boffin who tweets, posts articles to Facebook, and blogs about ecology. He welcomes reader questions, tips, and incoherent rants: johnupton@gmail.com.