China's Zijin Mining Group has been fined $4.6 million approximately for the toxic spill from its mine in the Fujian province last July.
The poisonous liquid waste from the mine had wiped out local wildlife as it contaminated a major river. The devastation extended to killing of 2,000 tonnes of fish.
The district court in Fujian had ordered the company to pay a 30 million yuan fine minus the 9.56 million yuan fine that had already been levied by the Fujian Environmental Protection Bureau. The sentence also sent five unnamed defendants to jail.
Zijin Mining Group is the country’s largest gold producing company. It is listed in Shanghai and Hong Kong. Five managers and employees directly responsible for the toxic spill were sentenced to imprisonment of up to four years and six months.
The Xinluo District Court in Longyan City on Sunday said that Zijin violated national environmental regulations and did not adequately focus on environmental protection and safety issues in its production or resolve existing problems which led to leaking of dangerous waste into the Ting River.
Zijin has been trying to buy its way out of trouble by offering bribes to reporters to cover up the toxic spill. When that did not work it said last December that it would pay 50 million yuan to help victims of a separate incident where a dam had collapsed near a tin mine killing 22 people. City government in Guangdong Province is suing the company over the fatal dam collapse for 19.5 million yuan.