HON. NZOVU FINDS WORST POLLUTION EVER AT JINFA STEEL LIMITED IN KALULUSHI
Kalulushi, Wednesday, 11th October, 2023
Minister of Green Economy and Environment Hon. Eng. Collins Nzovu MP says he has seen the worst pollution ever at Jinfa Steel Limited in Kalulushi District of the Copperbelt Province.
Hon. Nzovu, in the company of the Zambia Environmental Management Agency (ZEMA) and the Forestry Department visited Jinfa Steel Limited, a steel manufacturing company that manufactures steel bars for concrete reinforcement of different sizes from scrap steel as raw material.
The Honourable Minister said it was shocking that people were working in such an environment without Proper Protective clothing.
The company was found violating both environmental and labour laws. Hon. Nzovu observed that there is no internal air emission monitoring system (monitoring device) or pollution control system installed on the smelter stack to monitor the quality of emission discharged into the open environment.
There were a lot of fugitive emissions at the furnace section area.
Workers at the furnace section were not provided with adequate Personal Protective equipment thereby exposing them to fine dust and smelting fumes.There were no hazardous waste receptacles and the few observed were not labelled. Spillages of hydrocarbon (used oil) was observed on open environment (unconcreted surface).
There were no dust suppression measures observed in the working environment. There was no signage warning workers on hazardous nature of the working environment and raw material are stockpiled unsystematic with sharp metals all in the walk pathways.
ZEMA ordered the facility to immediately cease all operations at the plant and comply with the Decision Letter and Licence conditions issued.
At Rongxing Investments Limited in Mufulira, Copperbelt Province, an operator of copper ore processing plant whose end products include copper cathodes and copper concentrate, the company has no qualified personnel in the field of Metallurgy, Mining and Environment. The tailings dam walls have not been rehabilitated.
Monitoring wells have not been drilled for monitoring of possible ground water pollution. There are no dust suppression measures employed on site and dust emission was high at the tailings dam.
ZEMA directed the facility to immediately suppress dust on the roads within the facility by putting laterite and a binder such a molasses and remove the tailings from two coffer dams by 31st October, 2023.
At Sino Metals Leach Zambia Limited in Kalulushi District, the company in July reported the dam wall failure of the tailings dam to ZEMA. The incident involved the discharge of waste process material into a drain leading to Lulamba stream, a tributary of Lukoshi stream which drains into the Kafue River.
During the site visit with the Honorable Minister, the tailings dam walls had not been rehabilitated fully and was prone to collapse. Huge volumes of the contained material were discharged from the dam wall opening into Lulamba Stream. It was stated that Sino Leach Zambia Limited took approximately two hours to stop the discharge of the material.
During the time of inspection, there was no flow coming from the Tailing Storage facility. However, there was heavy discharge of untreated industrial process water into the Lulamba Stream.
The water in the Lulamba stream was affected resulting in the colour change to blue. The pH was low (acidic at the time of inspection).
Some small-scale farmers growing vegetables on the banks of the Lulamba stream were affected.
Sino Metals Leach Zambia Limited is still serving a Compliance Order which was issued on October 11, 2022 which directed the facility to cease discharging acidic effluent into the aquatic environment, complying in full with the Decision Letter Conditions in general.
The company was ordered to compensate the farmers along the Lulamba and Lukoshi Stream for the loss of their vegetables, stop discharge of effluent into lulamba stream, monitor the quality of effluents and water in Lulamba stream up to Kafue River and summit weekly reports to the Agency.
Hon. Nzovu said the levels of pollution on the Copperbelt were getting worse but Government will not allow the situation to continue.
ZEMA Acting Principal Inspector Mr Silvester Ng’uni said the Compliance order issued to the facility will only be lifted after satisfying the Agency’s (ZEMA) directives.
MGEE Communications Unit