Zijin spill controversy deepens

Enviromine

Publishing Date: 30 Jul 2010 3:30pm GMT
Author: Mining Environmental Management

Pollution & Waste management

The controversy of China’s worst mining-waste spill in two years continues as the vice-president of Zijin Mining Group, the company responsible for the accident, is detained by police.

Zijin has been accused of poisoning almost 2,000t of fish in the Ting River after acid waste leaked from its Zijinshan copper plant on July 3.

The company failed to report the incident for nine days, blaming heavy rains, and is under investigation by the securities regulator.

Zijin has restricted gold production from the mine by about 1Mt this year to aid efforts to reduce environmental risks.

Copper content is still above safety limits in parts of the Ting river, according to the Meizhou government, which is in the Fujian province. Fishing in the river has been stopped until the end of July.

Meanwhile, Chen Jiahong has been detained “as a suspect in relation to the major pollution incident,” the company said.