"Rio Tinto-owned mine is polluting Malagasy water with uranium and lead, NGOs say"

Activists have accused British-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto of contaminating water sources around its ilmenite mine in Madagascar. At some sites, uranium and lead levels have been recorded at 52 and 40 times respectively the World Health Organization’s safe limits for drinking water. Some 15,000 people in southeastern Madagascar depend on these water sources, a report by Publish What You Pay (PWYP) Madagascar said. A coalition of NGOs based in the U.K. and Madagascar is demanding that Rio Tinto provide safe drinking water to these communities immediately.