Society

Zijin execs detained after acid spill

By Song Wei (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2010-07-16 10:13

Zijin, the largest gold producer on the mainland, was ordered to suspend their production to deal with the July 3 acid spill that polluted a river and poisoned tons of fish in Shanghang county, East China's Fujian province, the local government said in an early morning press conference Friday, people.com.cn reported.

Related readings:  Gold company 'responded quickly to contamination'  Water contamination cases  Villagers protest metal plant for pollution  Copper plant closed after waste leakage

Three top officials of Zijin Mining Group Co. are in custody, and the environment chief of Shanghang county has resigned. Other officials responsible for the spill have been suspended from their positions.

The plant can only reopen after checks by environment authorities, according to authorities.

About 1.89 million kilograms of fish in the Mianhuatan reservoir were found dead or poisoned, Xinhua News Agency said on July 12.