Xstrata faces Australian law suit on lead levels

By James Grubel and James Regan

CANBERRA (Reuters) - Mining company Xstrata Plc is set to face legal action over its Mount Isa operations, which produce about 4 percent of the world's lead, from a young girl suffering lead poisoning, the girl's lawyer said on Friday.

But the case could widen, with reports that health authorities have identified 45 children with dangerously high levels of lead in their blood in Mount Isa, a remote mining town about 800 miles north west of the Queensland city of Brisbane.

"I think there is an environmental catastrophe in Mount Isa," said lawyer Damian Scattini, who is preparing a test case on behalf of 6-year-old Stella Hare.

Xstrata Copper North Queensland chief operating officer Steve de Kruijff said the company was unaware of any legal action, but took the health of its workers and the nearby community seriously.

"Xstrata is committed to environmental management and improving its environmental performance in Mount Isa," he said on Friday, adding the company had 15 monitoring stations around Mount Isa.

"Often in these situations, the really tricky issue is causation. That is, establishing a convincing causal connection between the exposure and the alleged illnesses," said Peter Cane, professor of law at the Australian National University and a specialist in injuries and compensation,

"This has really become the big major legal issue around what has become known as toxic tort cases," he said.

The town of Mt Isa sits directly adjacent to the zinc, lead, copper and silver mining operation.