Smelter city of Port Pirie has its lead in the air

New data has raised concern among environmental regulators and toxicology experts.

The Nyrstar smelter at Port Pirie is undergoing a redevelopment. Picture: Karen Seindanis

The amount of lead in the air within the industrial South Australian city of Port Pirie is at a four-year high, with new data raising concern among environmental regulators and toxicology experts.

One Environmental Protection Agency testing site had exceeded the above-ground level concentration limit since mid-June, while at two key compliance points, lead in air levels were at their highest point since January 2014.

The findings come a month after SA Health found the average blood-lead level for Port Pirie children tested at two years old had increased.

Port Pirie, 230km north of Adelaide, is home to one of the world’s largest primary lead smelters and a silver producer that has been in continuous ­operation since 1889.

The smelter, run by Belgian metals giant Nyrstar, directly employs more than 700 people and is undergoing a $660 million transformation.

EPA director Keith Baldry said the latest results were dis­appointing; he called on Nyrstar to take immediate action.

“We are monitoring the situation very carefully because it’s obviously an important problem for us … significant actions are going to be required and that’s likely to take several weeks and months,” he said.

Mr Baldry said a key contributor to the results was a larger than usual Nyrstar workforce as both the old and new plant were operating concurrently at present: “It makes controlling the movements and emissions from the various parts of the site more difficult but it’s something Nyrstar will have to address.”

Nyrstar conducts daily tests and while the latest results at two compliance points fall below the level at which the company loses its license to operate, the readings — 0.42 and 0.43 micrograms per cubic metre — were cause for concern, Mr Baldry said.

The EPA conducts tests every six days and one site had exceeded the 0.5 micrograms per cubic metre limit since June 13.

“Certainly we’ll be expecting Nyrstar to address the situation,” Mr Baldry said.

A Nyrstar spokeswoman said the company expected a reduction of lead in the air when its old plant was decommissioned at the end of next year.

“In parallel with the commissioning process (of the new plant), Nyrstar is implementing a dust reduction plan which has already driven a reduction in lead in air,” the spokeswoman said.

“We expect our lead in air performance to continue to improve going forward.”

Childhood exposure to lead has been linked to lower IQ and academic achievement.

Ian Musgrave, a toxicologist at the University of Adelaide, said the brain development of children aged under 10 was ­particularly susceptible to lead exposure.