A massive acid leak from a Chinese-owned mine in Zambia contaminated the country’s most important waterway, threatening the livelihood and health of more than half the country’s population and forcing the Chinese company to apologize, according to reports.
A tailings dam — a large embankment dam that stores mining waste — owned by Sino-Metals Leach Zambia failed Feb. 18, spilling “acidic effluent with high heavy metal content” and leach residue from copper extraction into a tributary of the Kafue River, Zambia’s Minister of Water Development and Sanitation Collins Nzovu told the country’s Senate.
Some 50 million liters of the effluent — liquid waste or sewage — was spilled, the Associated Press reported Saturday, citing investigators from the Engineering Institution of Zambia. The country’s president, Hakainde Hichilema, reportedly called for expert assistance.
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