Lost Radioactive Capsule Recovered in Australia After Six-Day Search

The capsule fell off a Rio Tinto contractor's truck between January 10 and 16. The loss was only discovered while inspecting the cargo in Perth. Rio Tinto notified emergency officials on January 25.

Authorities have found a tiny radioactive cesium 137 capsule that mining firm Rio Tinto lost in mid-January while transporting it to the city of Perth, Australia.

The 6-mm by 8-mm capsule was searched for along a 1,400-kilometer road and was discovered near the town of Newman two meters from the curb. Authorities used detection equipment to assist their efforts.

A 20-meter exclusion zone had been set up around the capsule before it was taken to a security facility in Newman inside a lead container. Transportation of the capsule to the health department facility in Perth will begin on Thursday.

In the announcement, state Emergency Services Secretary Stephen Dawson compared it to finding a needle in a haystack and praised the ability of searchers from different organizations to work as a team.

"Locating this object was a monumental challenge – the search groups have quite literally found the needle in the haystack," Dawson said in a news conference on Wednesday.

Rio Tinto's Chief Executive Simon Trott said the company was "incredibly grateful" for the work undertaken to find the capsule and once again apologized to the community for its loss.

"While the recovery of the capsule is a great testament to the skill and tenacity of the search team, the fact is it should never have been lost in the first place," he said. "We are taking this incident very seriously and are undertaking a full and thorough investigation into how it happened."

Such capsules are used in the mining industry for measurements. This particular capsule was used at Rio Tinto's Gudai-Darri mine, where the company mines iron ore.

Rio Tinto is engaged in the exploration, extraction and processing of mineral resources. The company operates around the world, but most of its operations are concentrated in Australia and North America. In the history of the company, this is the first such case involving the loss of radioactive equipment.