A Chinese-owned Copper Mines in Luanshya, CNMC Luanshya Mine also known as 28 shaft has been accused of releasing contaminated water into the Kafue River.
The dewatering process at the flooded 28 Shaft has raised concerns about water contamination and the risk to both aquatic life and human health being discharged from the mine flowing into Nkurumashiba & Milyashi streams and consequently ends into the Kafue river.
Concerned stakeholders and NGOs have howevet called for comprehensive biological and chemical tests to assess the presence of harmful substances, particularly heavy metals, which could pose risks to aquatic life and human health.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with the Zambian Business Times – ZBT, CNMC Luanshya Copper Mines Corporate Affairs Manager, Sydney Chileya however denied the allegations adding that the company conducts internal water tests and holds discharge certificates issued by the Zambia Environmental Management Agency (ZEMA) and the Water Resources Management Authority (WARMA).
The Company however admitted that although the discharged water may contain some levels of Manganese and iron, but only within permissible limits.
Chileya explained that the water pumped from the mine, having been underground for 20 years, may naturally contain trace amounts of manganese and iron. He however said that these minerals are within permissible limits and indicated that ZEMA conducts regular testing to ensure compliance.
“So the water that we pump first of all we test it ourselves before anything else we have the devise then secondly, ZEMA also tests so we have two discharge certificates we are sitting on, one is issued by ZEMA and the other one is issued by WARMA. The thing with water is that when you pump up from the mine the water passes through other places just like the rain water.”
“The water that we are pumping from the mine is water that has been underground for 20 years and because of other things maybe there may be iron there but these minerals found in water they have limits so you find the water we are pumping from the underground may have manganese, iron but the question is when ZEMA test are those alarming levels, the answer is no.”
“But we can’t be the Jury and the judge ourselves so when you get concerns about the water we are pumping I would encourage that you also get in touch with ZEMA because ZEMA has been coming here almost every week.” He remarked.
