Lusaka, Zambia (AP) -Tojia’s mining company was accused of covering the extent of disastrous toxic spill in Zambia, contaminated by a large river, which millions relieve cyanide and arsen.
The spill occurred in February, when part of the dam that detained the waste from Sino-Metals, the Leach Zambia Copper mine collapsed, allowing it to flow into the Kafue River passing through the heart of the Zambia. The Sine-Metals Leach Zambia is a subsidiary of the National National Metal Mining Group of China.
The environmental cleaning company says it was agreed with Leach Zambia to investigate the accident. He said a two-month investigation found that the disaster had released 1.5 million tons of toxic substances-30 times more than Chinese metals at the time.
In South Africa, the environmental firm Drizit said it had submitted preliminary reports for the SINA-year-olds “specifying the severity of pollution”, but Chinese-metal terminated its contract one day before the final report.
Chinese metals in the report said the Associated Press that it had terminated the contract for the “contractual violations” of the Drizit and the Zambian government and the Zambian government was looking for a new company that could carry out a new investigation. Chinese metals challenged the accuracy of the drizite’s findings.
What happened
The accident occurred on February 18th. In the mine near the northern city of Kitwe, the second largest city in Zambia and has about 700,000 people. The city water supply was temporarily closed due to spill.
Toxic waste flowed into water roads connecting to the Kafue River, killing fish at least 100 kilometers (62 miles) downstream. More than half of the 21 million people in Zambia rely on Kafue drinking water or by moisturizing crops.
Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema urged expert help and described the accident as a crisis. South African authorities said the “devastating consequences” included river pollution, crop destruction along its shores and groundwater contamination.
Answer
Chinese metals Leach Zambia apologized and said they would help cleaning. The Zambian government deployed the Air Force and Highways to drop hundreds of tons of lime into the river, trying to neutralize acid waste and demolish damage.
The government later said the situation was controlled, the water quality became normal again and there was no cause of anxiety.
However, the US Embassy in Zambia announced last month that she had ordered all US government staff from the area near the mine due to new information that revealed “dangerous and carcinogenic substances” in the environment.
New suspicions
Drizite states that toxic spill was much worse than Sino-Metal Leach Zambia and authorities.
Drizite said in a statement that its researchers had taken more than 3,500 samples to analyze and showed dangerous cyanide, arsenic, copper, zinc, lead, chromium, cadmium and other pollutants “high long -term health risks, including organ lesions, and cancer.”
It states that the environment still contained 900,000 cubic meters of toxic substances, so proper cleaning was needed to ensure that people do not risk decades. The entire Drizit report was not made public.
China’s dominance
China is a dominant copper mining player in Zambia, one of the top 10 countries in the world. Chinese investment is very important for Zambia’s goal to increase its production to three million tonnes a year to 2031 to meet the new copper demand for use in electric car technology and batteries.
Copper prices have reached a record this year, while China is the largest importer of vital metal.
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Imray reported from Cape Town, South Africa.
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AP Africa News: https://apnews.com/hub/africa