Teck shuts Trail lead refinery after leak to river

TORONTO (Reuters) - Teck Cominco said on Thursday it had closed its Trail lead refinery temporarily after an acidic solution containing lead leaked into the Columbia River.

The company said in a statement that its environmental monitoring system had detected the leak, which followed the failure of a head exchanger in the lead refinery at its Trail operations in British Columbia.

"Environmental control procedures were immediately activated and the lead refinery was temporarily shut down to prevent further release of the solution," it said.

Teck said some 950 kg of lead in solution had been discharged into the river and it was testing the water downstream of the refinery to assess quality.

Teck's website said its Trail's facilities include one of the world's largest fully integrated zinc and lead smelting and refining complexes, as well as the Waneta hydroelectric dam and transmission system.