Questions raised over waste leak

SHANGHANG, Fujian - The Tingjiang River may have been polluted a month before waste leaked from a copper mine in Shanghang, Fujian province, as fish farmers were already struggling, local residents said.

Residents of the Huangxi village of Shanghang on Wednesday distributed two test reports, which show excessive copper content had contaminated water in the Tingjiang River in June.

The Zijin Mining Group Co, one of China's major producers of copper and gold, admitted that a toxic spill occurred at one of its copper mines on July 3 due to heavy rain, though the pollution was not exposed until July 12.