Several Tailings dams which government has leased to some developers in Kitwe have started polluting the environment leading to trees and grass drying up due to leakage of mineral deposits such as red oxide to the environment.
A check at some Tailings dams in the Nkana Tailings Complex found some grass dry and some trees drying up.
This follows the washing away of the walls that hold the Tailings dams due to heavy rains.
Mines Permanent Secretary Paul Chanda threatened that his Ministry will be forced to review the licenses in order for the Tailings to be taken care of.
Mr. Chanda told ZNBC News that the license holders have not secured the Tailings, leading to them polluting the environment.
Meanwhile, the Zambia Mining Environmental Remediation and Improvement Project will soon embark on rehabilitating Tailings dams which will show the potential they have in the nation.
Project National Coordinator Gideon Ndalama said the first Tailings dam to be renovated will be in Mufulira.
A tailings dam is typically an earth-fill embankment dam used to store byproducts of mining operations after separating the ore from the gangue.
Tailings can be liquid, solid, or a slurry of fine particles, and are usually highly toxic and potentially radioactive.
[ZNBC]
Complain and no one will hear you, who gives a dem at you people in zambia? Government no no no, as long as there get a share from “developer” its ok if the people die.
That guy has good english and presentation, better than those shouting at ZNBC
This is due to poor maintenance, I believe the developers are supposed to add more dykes so as to raise the dam wall. They should move ZEMA headquarters to the Copperbelt since that’s were most environmental pollution occurs, and as a regulatory agency it would be easy for them to monitor potential polluters.
Your observation is correct. Why should Lusaka be a bamazonke headquarters? By design townships should not surround mining operations. Mines should be in bushes away from residential areas. Can’t comment much because I don’t where these dams are located.