Lead exporter says exposure concerns unsupported

<p>Concerns about transportation methods in place to handle lead exported from the port of Esperance were unfounded, the port’s major exporter said this morning (Monday, March 19).</p> <p>Reports that thousands of bird deaths recorded since 2005 had been caused by lead exposure prompted the Esperance Port Authority to suspend all lead shipments last week.</p> <p>But Magellan Metals, whose lead product must travel almost 1,000 km between Wilyna and Esperance, denies that its $125m a year business is to blame. </p> <p>Magellan’s managing director Pat Scott told the ABC that while the situation was disturbing, the fears about lead dust during transportation to the port were off the mark.</p> <p>&#8220We seal up kibbles of lead concentrate at the mine and they’re actually trucked to Laverton and then transferred onto rail at Laverton," he told the ABC.</p> <p>"But the concentrate actually remains in the sealed kibbles all the way from the mine down to the port."</p> <p>The Esperance Port Authority is understood to be waiting to see if its handling methods are called into question.</p> <p>EPA operations and shipping director Ian Harrod was unable to be contacted this morning. </p> <p>The Western Australian Department for the Environment is investigating the source of the problem.</p> <br />