Jewellery turns black overnight after gas wafts over Brisbane
A foul smell wafting over north Brisbane is believed to be so thick it is tarnishing silver jewellery overnight costing a business thousands of dollars.
North
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The strong smell of ‘rotten eggs’ has bothered some residents and business owners around the Nundah and Northgate area in recent days with many wanting to know where the offensive odour is coming from.
The smell is believed to be hydrogen sulphide and Northgate jeweller Nikki Kelly says when a thick blanket of it wafts over her business, it turns countless pieces of sterling silver jewellery black.
Ms Kelly arrived at her workshop Monday morning to find that every silver piece of jewellery left out on work benches had severely tarnished over the weekend.
“We came into work on Monday morning and all of our silver was completely back,” Ms Kelly said.
She said the pieces were unsalvageable because it was not possible to buff out the tarnish from within fine engravings and on delicate chains.
“We’ve had to ditch all of that... we’ve lost thousands of dollars of stock and labour,” she said.
“Usually, silver will tarnish (over time to a yellow colour) but it will not go black.
“That pendant (photographed) was like a perfect silver pendant and next minute it’s black.
“Something just isn't right.”
She said the smell was worse of a morning and night time but would peak every so often.
“The exact same thing happened in April,” she said.
“It’s all through the street.
“Businesses a couple of doors down had to install extraction fans because everybody was getting too sick.
“I almost feel like I’m sacrificing my team (by exposing them to the toxic gas)... we can’t just up and leave because we don’t have another building to go to.”
She said she, along with other residents in the area had contacted Brisbane City Council about the strong smell.
A council spokesman said it the council had received three reports in the past month of an odour in Nundah.
“An Environment Health Officer attended a location at Cannery Creek on Monday,” he said. “Observations and testing were done and no source of pollution, sewerage and no impacts on marine life were found.
“Mangroves that drop seeds between July and October and water that is not flowing can at times create waterway smells.
“Council will continue to monitor the waterway as required.”
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