How to resolve AdBlock issue? Mining company 'sorry' about lost Caesium-137 capsule
Update: The capsule has now been found on the Highway near the town of Newman, and will be taken to a secure facility in Perth.
Mining giant Rio Tinto is working with authorities to try to find a radioactive capsule that went missing in Western Australia this month.
Rio Tinto said the device involved was a density gauge, which was being used at its Gudai-Darri mine site in Western Australia to measure the density of iron ore feed. The silver capsule from the gauge is a mere is just 6mm (0.24 inches) in diameter and 8mm long.
The capsule was confirmed present by a geiger counter after the density gauge was packaged for transportation on January 12th. However, on January 25th it was reported missing. It is believed to have been lost between Newman and the city of Perth, a distance of roughly 1,400km (870 miles).
State officials have issued a radiation alert across a vast area of Western Australia, and authorities are searching for the capsule on the route from Newman to a storage facility in the northeast suburbs of Perth.