Free Republic

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...

KOLWEZI, Democratic Republic of Congo — Little about Kolwezi, a small city in southern Democratic Republic of Congo, hints at its global importance. Nondescript and ringed by slag heaps, pits and quarry lakes, the city is home to some of the largest copper and cobalt mines in the world. Now, Kolwezi is at the center of U.S.-Chinese competition over critical minerals. Earlier this year, mining firms began shipping ore along a U.S.-backed railway that terminates in Angola's Atlantic port of Lobito. A massive infrastructure project is focused on this rail line -- which is viewed as a bid to counter...

President Joe Biden on his visit to sub-Saharan Africa pledged another $600 million for a cross-continent rail corridor project Wednesday, telling regional leaders that “Africa has been left behind for much too long. But not anymore. Africa is the future.” Biden used the third and final day of his visit to Angola to showcase the Lobito Corridor railway, where the U.S. and allies are investing heavily to refurbish 800 miles (1,300 kilometers) of train lines in Zambia, Congo and Angola. The project aims to advance the U.S. presence in a region rich in cobalt, copper and other critical minerals used...

China, Tanzania and Zambia signed an initial agreement to rehabilitate a decades-old railway aimed at improving the rail-sea transportation in resource-rich East Africa, Chinese state media said on Wednesday. President Xi Jinping witnessed the signing of the memorandum of understanding on refurbishing the 1,860 kms (1,156 mile) Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority (TAZARA) railway with the Tanzanian and Zambian presidents, who were in Beijing attending the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation... The single-track TAZARA railway was built between 1970 and 1975 through an interest-free loan from China, offering a cargo transport route from Zambia's copper and cobalt mines to the sea on Tanzania's...

China expanding African arms sales By Andrei Chang Hong Kong, China — Increasing quantities of China-made military equipment have been finding their way to Africa, traded for oil, mineral resources and even fishing rights. Zambia has used its copper resources to pay China in a number of military deals, for instance, and Kenya has been negotiating with China to trade fishing rights for arms. Among the most popular Chinese military exports to Africa are the J-7, K-8 and Y-12 aircraft, which are relatively inexpensive and easy to operate. China sees those countries already armed with the K-8 and J-7 aircraft...

Mr Li is the face of the world's fastest growing power, China. He clinches oil deals, builds hospitals and motorways, sells merchandise, takes over companies and lays oil pipelines. Over the next few months, as part of the series Looking for Mr Li, four journalists from Radio Netherlands Worldwide and Dutch broadcaster VPRO will be reporting on the upside and the downside of globalisation, with China's expansion being the common theme in all the pieces. This report is the last to come from Zambia. The iron gates to the Chinese NFC-A company's industrial estate in Zambia's Copper Belt are shut...

Zambia Hit by Nationwide Power Blackout Monday January 21, 2008 10:31 PM By JOSEPH J. SCHATZ Associated Press Writer LUSAKA, Zambia (AP) - Zambia was plunged into darkness Monday night in what appeared to be the second nationwide power outage in three days. The electricity network went down at about 7:30 p.m. and was restored about four hours later. There was no immediate explanation for the blackout. On Saturday, Zambia was without electricity for about eight hours, leaving more than 300 miners temporarily trapped underground in the country's Copperbelt province. It was not immediately known if any miners had been...

LUSAKA, Zambia (AP) -- Chinese President Hu Jintao on Saturday offered copper-rich Zambia a multimillion dollar investment package aimed at boosting ties with a longtime African ally. Facing mounting accusations of Chinese exploitation of African labor and resources -- an issue during last year's Zambian presidential elections -- Hu stressed that Beijing was motivated by partnership rather than purely profit. "China is happy to have Zambia as a good friend, good partner and a good brother," Hu said at a joint news conference with President Levy Mwanawasa. Speaking through an interpreter, Hu said that China's relationship with Zambia "represents a...

Africa discovers dark side of Chinese master By Colin Freeman in Chambishi, Sunday Telegraph Last Updated: 1:05am GMT 04/02/2007 The smooth red carpet rolled out across Africa last week for Hu Jintao, the Chinese president, did not quite reach the gates of Zambia's Chambishi copper mine. A young street child outside a Chinese-run business centre His plans to make an official visit yesterday to the plant, which re-opened under Chinese state ownership eight years ago, fell victim to a hitch he rarely encounters at home: the not-so-grateful worker. Tipped off that miners were threatening protests about poor pay and conditions,...

Ndola is one of the most prominent towns in Zambia's Copperbelt province. Today, the numerous copper mines in the region provide the region's wealth. But in the past, a darker industry spurred the settlement. Still standing near the center of town, the Slave Tree was the central location where Swahili slave traders met to discuss their gruesome transactions. Under its shade, Swahili traders such as Chipembere, Mwalabu, and Chiwala held councils of war and sold enslaved people to the Mambundu from Angola. Much of central and southern Africa, including modern-day Zambia, was crisscrossed by slave traders transporting human captives...

Lusaka, Zambia (CNN)The trail of blood outside the warehouse door was the only immediate sign that a murder had taken place. But CCTV footage seized by police, and seen by CNN, revealed a brutal afternoon of carnage. At midday on Sunday, May 24, three Zambian attackers with iron bars entered the grounds of a Chinese-owned textile warehouse in Lusaka. Police said they were pretending to be potential customers. But the trio did not want to do business. Over the next 17 minutes, the CCTV footage shows, they beat two men and one woman to death in the courtyard, before dragging...