The world's biggest nickel producer is admitting that a spill from one of its plants turned a river in the Siberian Arctic a deep blood red.  The images of the Daldykan River in the Taymyr Peninsula in far northern Krasnoyarsk have been burning up Russian social media.

Norilsk Nickel said heavy rain earlier this month caused a "filtration dam" to overflow, causing a "short-term discoloration of the water" which somehow "does not present a danger for people or fauna in the river".  Which seems to bely the shocking pictures of a solid, opaque red river flowing through an autumn landscape.  Environmentalists say the company released a premature statement, at best.

"You can't just say that it's no big deal.  Right now there is a ministry of environment commission there," said Greenpeace Russia official Alexei Kiselyov who says independent investigation of the spill is difficult at best because Norilsk Nickel controls access to the entire peninsula.

Meanwhile, local residents say the media helped the government and company in their initial attempts to lie about the environmental disaster.  "They don't care about polluting, because they all have homes on the mainland," said indigenous activist Sidor Chuprinhe, referring to central Russia.  "We had a report after it happened that claimed the river colour came (naturally) from clay.  That is just laughable to local people," he lamented.