China's Guangdong Halts Fishing in Ting River on Zijin Copper Waste Leaks

China’s Guangdong province stopped fishing in the Ting River until at least the end of this month amid concerns Zijin Mining Group Co.’s waste spill upstream is widening, the provincial government said.

The government bought about 450,000 kilograms (992,000 pounds) of fishes from local fishermen and put them into the Qingxi reservoir, and none have died, the Guangdong government said on its website. The Oceanic and Fisheries Administration of Guangdong will make a compensation request for the losses, the government said.

Acidic waste leaking from Zijin’s biggest copper plant is spreading to Guangdong province from Fujian, where it poisoned enough fish to feed 72,000 residents for a year. Guangdong is closely monitoring the water quality and evaluating whether the spill has poisoned drinking water, the government said.

The administration is taking samples of aquatic products from the river every two days to evaluate whether they have been poisoned, according to the statement. The government has prohibited the sale of fish until they pass food safety requirements, it said.

Zijin, China’s largest gold producer, fell as much as 2.9 percent in Hong Kong, trading down 1.7 percent to HK$4.68 as of 11:00 a.m. local time. The stock has fallen about 16 percent since it announced the toxic spill July 12.

Guo Xingmin, a spokesman at the Guangdong fisheries administration, declined to comment immediately.

The copper content has fallen to 0.028 milligram per liter on July 20 in the Ting River at Qingxi, Dabu of Guangdong, the statement said, without giving comparisons.

China has faced a series of health and environmental standard failures, with melamine-tainted milk and emissions from smelters killing children. An explosion on July 16 in the northeastern city of Dalian led to an oil spill that may threaten seafood farming in the surrounding regions, the agriculture ministry said July 21.

--Helen Yuan. Editors: Tan Hwee Ann, Indranil Ghosh.

To contact the Bloomberg News staff on this story: Helen Yuan in Shanghai at hyuan@bloomberg.net

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