SHANGHAI - The Zijin Mining Group, one of China's biggest gold producers, has been ordered to pay 30 million yuan ($4.62 million) by a local court in Fujian province for a toxic spill last year that caused severe environmental pollution.

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The local court in the city of Longyan has also issued prison terms ranging between three years to 42 months to five of Zijin's staff who were found to be involved in the incident, Zijin said in a statement on Wednesday.

The leak of wastewater containing acidic copper from its Zijinshan Copper Mine spilled into the Ting river last July and killed or poisoned thousands of fish, affecting water supplies for some 60,000 people.