Posted on 04/16/2025 4:36:46 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
A 50-million-litre acid spill from a Chinese-owned copper mine in Zambia is now threatening to kill ties with Beijing, experts say.
A massive acid spill from a Chinese-owned copper mine in Zambia, which has caused severe environmental damage along a major river, could also cause severe diplomatic damage between the two countries, according to observers.
On February 18, a tailings dam containing acid waste from the Sino-Metals Leach Zambia copper mine – which is majority-owned by China Nonferrous Metals Industry Group – collapsed, sending 50 million litres of concentrated acid waste into a stream that connects to the Kafue River.
The river is a vital 1,576km (979-mile) waterway which is relied on by about 12 million people and provides drinking water to around five million – including residents in capital Lusaka. The spill has also been devastating for wildlife, with reports of dead fish found floating up to 100km from the spill site.
Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema appealed for help from experts, calling the disaster "a crisis that threatens people and wildlife along the Kafue".
For decades, Lusaka has maintained strong political and economic ties with Beijing, with frequent high-level visits on either side. But now, observers say the acid spill will test the friendship to the extreme, and could potentially set relations back, though a complete severing of ties is unlikely.
Emmanuel Matambo, a research director at the University of Johannesburg's Centre for Africa-China Studies, said the environmental catastrophe was certain to harm ties.
(Excerpt) Read more at scmp.com ...
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China is having a rough time. I feel bad for them. [/s]
:^)
On 20 December 2024, two people were arrested on suspicion of plotting to hex Hichilema after being hired by a brother of politician Jay Emmanuel Banda.
The ChiComs don’t care.
What kind of acid?
The Chinese are where they are because they make the right people in the host government rich. Those people don’t have to deal with a ruined water table of live with a destroyed environment.
These spills are not accidents.
Is this as bad as Bopal?
This is the absolute first I’ve heard about the acid spill.
Terrible. The environmental damage is discussed, but I’m not seeing anything about the human destruction. Maybe one needs to ‘click in’ to read the entire report. Something I didn’t do.
Sorry..I should have just googled. Sulfuric. Thats bad stuff. Was hoping it was HCL which is much easier broken down into basically salt water. H2SO4...not so much. Lotta dead...ugh...the stench is gonna be toxic.
Screaming Jay Hawkins - I Put a Spell on You
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82cdnAUvsw8
Sorry to read this. China has some real environmental issues. First COVID-19 now this.
True. My guess is that Zambia’s president is causing an international stink because he wants a bigger kickback from the Chinese.
That's a shame.
Chicoms regard Africans as animals. Maybe lower.
Suckers.
L
Communist regimes are much worse for the environment than Capitalist regimes.
This is because Capitalist regimes tend to be much richer.
They can afford to pay for a clean environment.
Same here. A vid popped up in the YT feed, turned out to be a pretty crappy video within a pretty crappy channel. So I checked here for “zambia”, nothing much new, and nothing about this. So I did that search I linked up there (at least, I think I did...) and found this one. “Foreign Policy” started its op-ed with a bash of DJT, so, pllllt.
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