Sino Metals Spill: A Disaster Too Big to Bury (Part I)

• Waist-deep sludge, poisoned wells, and fields scorched to ash—yet officials insisted “no cause for panic”.
• One embassy email pulled Washington out of Kitwe, exposing just how deep the contamination runs.
• An audit says 30 times more waste spilled than admitted—threatening Zambia’s mining ambitions and its ties to Beijing.

By Linda Soko in Chambishi, Kennedy Mbewe & Charles Mafa in Lusaka

Independent audit points to one of mining’s worst spills

The U.S. Embassy says “get out now”. In Chambishi, where a Chinese state-owned copper mine’s waste dam failed in February, independent findings point to one of mining’s biggest spills—and a community still living with the fallout.

When MakanDay visited the site shortly after the collapse, the scale of the damage was already clear. The breach at Sino Metals had flooded nearby homes with waist-deep toxic effluent and wiped out surrounding maize fields.

Yet the government and the company maintained that only 50,000 tons of waste had spilled. Video evidence and field data tell a different story. In a June 03 letter seen by MakanDay and verified by a well-placed source, Drizit Zambia Ltd.—the firm hired by Sino-Metals to audit the accident—called that figure “grossly inaccurate”.

The toxic sludge polluted the Mwambashi stream, which flows into the Kafue River—one of Zambia’s lifelines. The river cuts through Kafue National Park and supplies much of the capital, Lusaka, with drinking water.

Over the past six months, a MakanDay investigative team has been piecing together the true scale of the damage in Chambishi, a small town near Kitwe. Experts now warn that this may rank among the world’s worst environmental disasters. Our latest findings reveal a deliberate cover-up of the disaster’s full extent.

In early August, the U.S. Embassy raised the alarm over the scale of the pollution, which may have released as much as 30 times more toxic sludge than initially reported. In an email sent to more than 400 U.S. Embassy staff and relevant Washington officials, the mission cited the contamination data and directed an immediate pullback from Kitwe and nearby districts.

It said the officers will only be allowed to these areas for day trips if they are not dependent on local water or foods cooked in it. The decision followed a mid-June health advisory issued by the embassy alerting embassy staff about the health threats related to heavy metal poisoning.

“Newer information and an on-the-ground assessment reveal the threat is much greater than previously understood, and promised actions to protect the public are not occurring,” the Embassy said.

The email referred to 20 cm of dried tailings deposited across farms and the wider landscape, which have since become airborne, worsening the risk of inhaling toxic heavy metals. Water sampling showed contamination levels hundreds of times above safe limits.

“Despite the government’s assurances that affected communities are being provided with safe, clean water-including the parliamentary testimony to that effect by Minister of Green Economy and the Environment Mike Mposha on July 10-we have learned that the claimed trucking/bowsering in of “safe” water only occurred for about 5-7 days after the spill, but has not happened since,” the Embassy added.

The U.S. Embassy’s decision was soon followed by a government statement reassuring the public that, from the time the incident occurred, authorities had mounted a “vigorous response” which had since normalised the situation and ensured the safety of affected communities.

“Laboratory results show that the pH levels have returned to normal and concentrations of heavy metals are steadily decreasing, which means that the immediate danger to human, animal and plant life has been averted as we speak today,” said Cornelius Mweetwa, Minister of Information and Media and Chief Government Spokesperson.

Both the Ministry of Water Development and Sanitation and the Ministry of Green Economy and Environment referred MakanDay to an earlier statement issued by the chief government spokesperson.

Sino Metals also directed MakanDay to the government.