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MADRID, July 4 (AP) – Spanish authorities are seeking 90 million euros ($98 million) in damages from a Swedish mining company for a major toxic explosion in 1998 near the famed Donana National Park. loss due to leakage.
The civil trial, which began Tuesday, is hearing the case against Boliden Corporation, which operates the Los Frailes Aznalcollar mine, where walls of the mine’s wastewater reservoir ruptured and an estimated 1.3 billion gallons of acid flowed into the Guardiamar River in the southern province of Seville. , resulting in one of Spain’s worst environmental disasters.
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Temporary dikes stopped liquids and mud from flowing into the nearby Donana National Park, but large areas near the mine were flooded with toxic sludge containing traces of zinc, iron and other heavy metals. Thousands of fish and birds were killed.
The regional government of southern Andalusia is taking up the case against Boliden.
The trial, which will hear 12 witnesses and three experts, is expected to conclude on July 13, court officials said.
In 2001, a Seville court set aside a criminal trial that ruled that Boliden was not criminally responsible for the spill.
Boliden claims it had been authorized to expand the size of the Aznar Corral reservoir before it burst and later voluntarily cleaned it up, spending around 80 million euros.
“Boliden took a lot of responsibility when the accident happened and brought our area back to a better level than it was before,” Boliden spokesman Claes Nielsen told The Associated Press on Tuesday.
“Furthermore, Donana was not affected at all by the accident, which is of course very important. The financial differences between Boliden and the district will now be resolved, which we welcome, especially since the accident 25 years ago .”
One of the most valuable protected areas in Europe, the Donana Reserve covers 75,000 hectares on the southwestern coast of Spain and provides sanctuary for millions of migratory birds and threatened species such as lynx and eagle eagles.
Environmentalists and politicians say the park is now under serious threat due to Spain’s prolonged drought and plans by local right-wing lawmakers to expand water rights to farmland surrounding the wetlands.
The mine closed in 2001, but a Mexican group recently applied to reopen it. (Associated Press)
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a syndicated news feed, the latest staff may not have modified or edited the body of content)
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