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A natural disaster has happened on the 4th of October, 2010 at 12:10 PM, when the red mud broke out from the reservoir No 10 at the MAL Alumina Plant in Ajka. This case is without precedent in the history of the alumina production by Bayer process.

MAL Hungarian Aluminium release said “The management testifies the deepest regret to the inhabitants who are personally affected and please, receive our honest condolence those families who suffered the most serious tragedy, lost a member of their family. We express our acknowledgements to all of the organizations who directly contributed and contribute to obviate the disaster.”

It added “According to our current knowledge, not to go before the investigation of the experts of the authorities, the corner of reservoir No.10 slipped on the clay-base. At the same time it can be seen on the bird-view photos that the red mud has serious self supporting effect, so according to the first estimations, the 96% to 98 % of the red mud remained in the reservoir.”

The company started to avert the damage without losing time, together with its greatest strategic partners, after conciliation with professional authorities and with organizations with country wide jurisdiction. The partial cleaning of the road lead to the reservoir is done; the backfilling of reservoir wall has been started to prevent further leakage.

Dissecting the situation, the management figures that it would not be able to detect the signs of the natural catastrophe or could be able to do anything to avert it. The last physical daily inspection and laboratory analyses of last the water sample from monitoring system did not show any sign of the disaster.

The release added that “It is important to know that red mud is not a dangerous waste according to the European Waste Catalogue and Hazardous Waste List (code: EWC-010309), the presence of its components is stable and bounded; they are not soluble by water. The composition of red mud:

-Fe2O3 (iron-oxide) 40-45 % this gives the red colour of the mud

-Al2O3 (aluminium oxide) 10-15 %

-SiO2 (silicon-dioxide) 10-15 % it is present as sodium or calcium-alumino-silicate

-CaO (calcium-oxide) 6-10 %

-Tio2 (titanium-dioxide) 4-5 %

-Na2 O bounded sodium-oxide 5-6 %”