Authorities and environmentalists in Zambia fear the long -term impact of an acid shower at a Chinese -owned mine that could pollute a large river and possibly affect millions of people after signs of pollution have been detected at least 100 kilometers downstream.
The dumping took place on February 18 when a dam collapsing acid waste from a copper mine in the north of the country, according to the investigators of the Zambia engineering institution.
The collapse has caused about 50 million liters of waste containing concentrated acid, dissolved solids and heavy metals into a stream related to the Kafue River, the main waterway of Zambia, the engineering institution said.
“It’s an environmental disaster that is really catastrophic consequences,” says Chilekwa Mumba, an environmental activist working in the Copperbelt province in Zambia.
China is the dominant player in copper mining in Zambia, a South African nation that is one of the world’s top 10 copper producers, a key component in smartphones and other technology.
The Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema asked experts and said the leak is a crisis that threatens people and wildlife along the Kafue, which runs more than 1500 kilometers through the heart of Zambia.
The authorities are still investigating the extent of environmental damage.
A river is dead overnight
A Associated Press reporter visited parts of the Kafue River, where dead fish could be seen about 100 kilometers downstream on the shore, of the mine owned by Sino-Metals Leach Zambia, which is owned by state-owned China-not-ferrous metal operating group.
The Ministry of Water Development and Sanitation said that the ‘devastating consequences’ also include the destruction of crops along the banks of the river. Authorities are concerned that groundwater will be polluted as the mining waste is in the earth or transported to other areas.
“Before February 18, it was a vibrant and lively river,” says Sean Cornelius, who lives near the Kafue, saying fish and bird life near him disappeared almost immediately. “Now everything is dead, it’s like a totally dead river. Unbelievable. Overnight this river is dead. “
About 60% of the 20 million people of Zambia live in the Kafue River Basin and somehow depend on it as a source of fishing, irrigation for agriculture and water for the industry. The river delivers drinking water to about five million people, including in the capital, Lusaka.
The acid leak at the mine caused a complete closure of the water supply to the nearby city of Kitwe, home to an estimated 700,000 people.
Attempts to roll back the damage
The Zambian government has deployed the air force to drop hundreds of tons of lime into the river in an attempt to counteract the acid and return the damage. Speedboats were also used to drive up and down the river and apply lime.
Government’s spokesman, Cornelius Mweetwa, said the situation was very serious and that Sino-metals Leach Zambia would bear the cost of the cleanup operation.
Zhang Peiwen, chairman of Sino-Metals Leach Zambia, met with government meetings this week and apologized for the sour shower, according to a transcript of his speech at the meeting released by his company.
“This disaster has a big alarm for Sino-Metals Leach and the mining industry,” he said. He said it would “go to restore the environment in question as quickly as possible.”
Dissatisfaction with Chinese presence
The environmental impact of China’s major mining interests in mineral rich parts of Africa, which includes the neighbors of Zambia, has often been criticized, even if the minerals are of utmost importance to the countries’ economies.
Chinese copper mines have been accused of ignoring safety, labor and other regulations in Zambia because they strive to control the offer of the critical mineral, leading to some dissatisfaction with their presence. Zambia was also taxed with more than $ 4 billion in debt to China and had to restructure some of its loans from China and other countries after paying repayment in 2020.
A smaller sour acidic from another Chinese-owned mine in the copper belt of Zambia was discovered days after the Sino metal accident, and the authorities accused the smaller mine of trying to hide it.
Local police said a miner died at the second mine after he fell into acid and claimed that the mine had continued to work after being instructed to stop its operations by the authorities. Two Chinese miners were arrested, police said.
Both mines have now stopped their operations after orders from the Zambian authorities, while many Zambians are angry.
“It really only brings about the negligence that some investors actually have when it comes to environmental protection,” says Mweeene Himwinga, an environmental engineer who attended the meeting involving Zhang, government ministers and others. “It seems they are not worried at all. And I think it’s really worrying, because at the end of the day we as Zambian people (it) are the only country we have. “
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Zimba reports of Lusaka, Zambia.
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AP Africa News: https://apnews.com/hub/africa
