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The shipment was deposited near the town of Sica Sica in Arica, where social housing was later built.
Between 1984 and 1985, the Swedish mining company Boliden shipped more than 20,000 tons of toxic waste, labeled as “sludge with metallic content,” to Chile for reprocessing by the company Promel.
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The shipment was deposited near the town of Sica Sica in Arica, where social housing was later built, exposing thousands of people to metals such as lead, zinc, and arsenic.
The crisis erupted in 1996 as the Polimetales case, with the declaration of a health and environmental emergency, partial removal of waste, relocation of families, and lawsuits, including in Swedish courts.
In 2012, the Polimetales Law was passed, which provides health monitoring, educational support, and relocation to safe areas, although organizations denounce shortcomings in the care provided to those affected.
La empresa de minerales sueca Boliden envío al norte de Chile “barro mineral” en los años 80. 20 mil toneladas de desechos toxicos. Se extraía el oro en Suecia y los desechos minerales los mandaban para Chile. Arsénico, cadmio, mercurio y plomo. pic.twitter.com/YnmpyYQVFH
— 🅿️🅰️🅿️🆄®️®️1️⃣🅿️🅾️🅿️ (@p4purrip0p) March 12, 2026
The text reads, “In the 1980s, the Swedish mining company Boliden shipped 20,000 tons of toxic waste to northern Chile. Gold was extracted in Sweden, and the resulting mineral waste, containing arsenic, cadmium, mercury, and lead, was sent to Chile.”
Environmental chemist Diego Ayala, who grew up in Arica, conducted research published in the journal CLEAN. His exploratory study included 17 soil samples and seeks to reopen the debate on the effectiveness of the efforts carried out in 2009, when the government analyzed more than 300 samples.
Academic Carlos Manzano pointed out that the geographic distribution of lead, zinc, and arsenic coincides with the areas where the waste was deposited three decades ago, despite modern sources of contamination.
In Cerro Chuño, built directly on the waste, the homes were declared uninhabitable, although between 2020 and 2025 they were illegally occupied by undocumented immigrants, with evictions beginning in 2026.
#FromTheSouth News Bits | In Chile, the Mapuche people paid tribute to the 171 members of their community who were executed, detained, or forcibly disappeared during Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship. pic.twitter.com/qahn5ltbsy
— teleSUR English (@telesurenglish) September 18, 2026
teleSUR: JP
Source: EFE
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