Catalytic converters use Palladium as a catalyst to remove pollution out of car exhaust. But in this BBC report we are taken to a city in a remote region of Siberia which is one of the major producers of Palladium, producing almost half of the worlds supply.
The city was built by the Soviet Union to mine ores and produce metals from the ores. A rich mix of metals is produced there, including nickel, copper, palladium, platinum, gold and silver. But the ore also contains a large amount of sulphur. When the ore is smelted to extract the metals, the sulfur is released along with other toxic chemicals, into the environment.
This is acid rain.. and there is a dead zone around this city for 30 kilometers (or more) radius.
This one city produces almost two million tons of sulfur dioxide a year.
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