Cyanide will be used to separate the metals, and the waste treated, then stored in a mud pond where the concentration will be reduced to 5-7 milligrams, below the EU's legal limit.
The pond, one of the most contested issues in the project, would wipe out Corna village. This patch of chemical waste will be contained by a dam the company says can withstand massive earthquakes and rainfall.
Memories of the potential for broken dam disasters are fresh after Hungary's 2010 red sludge spill. Romania has a poor track record of its own after a dam broke in 2000 at a gold processing plant and cyanide poured into the river Tisza, affecting much of eastern Europe, including Hungary.
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