In February 2006, Port Pirie, together with key South Australian stakeholders including the Environment Protection Authority (EPA), Department of Health (DH), and Port Pirie Regional Council, launched the tenby10 project.
The aim of the project is to ensure that the Port Pirie community meets the Australian government’s national health goal of at least 95 per cent of all children 0 to 4 years of age having a blood-lead level of less than 10 micrograms per decilitre (µg/dl). The project aims to achieve this goal by the end of 2010.
Every effort is being made on site to continue to identify the sources that contribute to lead dust entering the environment with Nyrstar committing AUD$56m of expenditure over the life of the project. A number of significant capital projects have been undertaken to date to address emission sources at the blast furnace, sinter plant and slag fuming plant. These have included the blast furnace enclosure, and the replacement of the slag fumer coal injection system. Work is also progressing on undercover storage of intermediate materials to ensure the crushing and mixing activities that occur on site do not contribute to exposure in the community.
The expansion of the community lead-in-air monitoring network has also allowed for more accurate and timely data to be provided back to site operations to allow ongoing evaluation of the impact of improvement projects.
The tenby10 project also has a crucial community aspect to it. Much has already been done to collate information about the way lead dust in the community can result in elevated blood lead in children and numerous community initiatives have commenced to assist in reducing exposure.
To date, these initiatives have included the commissioning of a community study to help gain a clearer understanding of broader social issues that may impact on the project achieving its objectives. The initiatives include: support for breakfast and snack programmes in a number of Port Pirie pre-schools, kindergartens and primary schools; tenby10 presentations to school, sporting and community groups; regular tenby10 updates in the local media, including radio commercials offering tips on what people can do in their own home environments to reduce exposure, and production and distribution of printed information to community members.
While many things still need to be done to for the tenby10 project to meet its goals, momentum is certainly building and results to date in terms of lead-in-air levels in the community and children’s blood-lead levels are encouraging.
Nyrstar is committed to building a sustainable future for the smelter within the Port Pirie community. A sustainable future means a safe, productive and efficient operation. But a sustainable future also means a community and a company with a positive profile with respect to lead.
More information on the tenby10 project can be found at www.tenby10.com
