Red Clouds

Corpus Christi, Texas, USA

In the aluminum refining process, bauxite ore is mixed with a very strong alkalai (sodium hydroxide) to separate the alumina from impurities, which include dirt, silica, mercury, and other trace metals. This is the toxic residue from that process. Roughly 5 parts of this waste are produced in the making of 1 part alumina.
This refinery reported releasing almost 1,300 lbs of mercury and 315,000 lbs of lead into the environment annually up till its closure. A combination of weak demand, and oversupply of aluminum from China reduced the sales from this refinery, which was then purchased by a Swiss multinational metals company. When the labor contract expired in 2014, workers and management could not agree on a renewal, and the plant was closed.

So many thanks to SouthWings for flight support!