Toxicity of nickel ores to marine organisms

Queensland Nickel proposes to import New Caledonian (Ballande) and Indonesian (Gebe) nickel ores, one option being ship-to-barge transfer in Halifax Bay, North Queensland. Because small amounts of ore may be split during the unloading and transfer operations, it was important to investigate the potential impact of the spilt ore on the ecological health of the Bay. Long-term leaching of the ores with seawater showed that only nickel and chromium (VI) were released from the ores in sufficient concentrations to cause toxicity to a range of marine organisms. The soluble fractions of nickel and chromium (VI) were released from the ores within a few days. Nickel, chromium (VI) and the ore leachates showed similar toxicity to the juvenile banana prawn Penaeus merguiensis, the amphipod Allorchestes compressa and both temperature (22 degrees C) and tropical (27 degrees C) strains of the unicellular marine alga Nitzschia closterium. In a series of 30-day sub-chronic microcosm experiments, juvenile leader prawns Penaeus monodon, polychaete worms Galeolaria caespitosa and the tropical gastropod Nerita chamaeleon were all very resistant to the nickel ores, with mortality unaffected by 700 g ore per 50 l seawater. The growth rate of the leader prawns was, however, lower than that of the controls. From these data, a conservative maximum safe concentration of the nickel ores in seawater is 0.1 g l-1. The nickel ore was not highly toxic and if spilt in the quantities predicted, would not have a significant impact on the ecological health of the Bay.