"The Woman Holding Chinese Mining Giants Accountable" Inside Climate News, 24 August 2025

[...] 50 million liters of waste had surged from a Chinese copper mine in sub-Saharan Africa, flooding farms and wiping out crops. Dead fish floated on the surface of rivers, including Zambia’s main artery, the Kafue. Downstream, crocodiles and hippos fled the poisoned water, now laced with acid and heavy metals.

[...] tainted rivers they rely on for fishing and irrigation. Residents living below the mine whose sustenance and income depends on the crops they grow and sell at market lost this year’s entire yield. Some people, unaware their water had become toxic, drank from it or bathed in it. Others ate the floating, dangerous fish.

Sino-Metals Chairman [...] said at a press conference that the company acted quickly [...] water supply in the local city had “returned to normal.”

The assessment, a legal requirement for any proposed project that could harm the environment [...] “They are supposed to be public documents,” [...] “But they’re under lock and key.”

[...] public information about the cleanup remained scarce. […] when civil-society groups pressed for details [...] officials either declined to elaborate or ignored the requests.

Sino-Metals also did not respond to multiple requests for comment from Inside Climate News. Nor did Zambia’s environmental ministry. […] “the experts in the ministry are usually unwilling to release information.”

The Chinese embassy in Lusaka, asked about the spill, said in a three-page written statement to Inside Climate News that the company acted swiftly to contain it.

“Once the Ministry of Agriculture and other relevant government departments complete their assessment of the incident’s impact and confirm the compensation plan, Sino-Metals will immediately initiate formal compensation procedures,” the embassy said, adding that water quality in the region was “stabilized” with pH levels brought back to normal and citing Kafue National Park authorities as saying “the river water quality was not adversely affected.”

“Before the collapse, I had three fish ponds,” [...] “Sugarcane, cabbage, grapes, everything. Now, two seasons—everything is gone.”

Before she could respond, a white pickup truck pulled up behind them. Two Chinese men stepped out. […] “Someone must have told them foreigners were coming,” [...] “This is a message. They’re watching. They want the community to know it too.”

One woman […] said mine pollution had turned the people of her community into “walking coffins.”

[...] the Zambian government announced that Sino-Metals and Rongxing would pay a combined 16.2 million kwacha […] about $1,000 in U.S. dollars per person [...]. There was no indication anyone would receive new farmland or compensation for medical harm.

Civil society workers […] said [payments] ranged from a high of around $2,000 to $17. There was no explanation about the logic behind the differences.