The category is feeling like Taylor, which is also feeling like bad news. Oh, well, that brings a lot of perspective into my life. It sure does. This one is from AP news dot com. Not familiar with AP news dot com, but this is by Richard. That's the Associated Press. Oh, OK. But yeah, they're really good. But I'm glad you don't have other feelings about my source by Richard Kiel Kiel. Is he any relation to John Keele? No, I think it's Keeley. Okay. Jacob Zimba because
it's not Keele like Keele. I think it's Keeley. It was updated 9 36 p .m. March 14, 2025. Title, River died overnight in Zambia after an acidic waste spill at a Chinese owned mine. Oh, I heard about this. This one's real sad and people are going to die. Yep, and I feel like being that it's in Zambia might not get as much. It's gonna get missed, yeah. Zambia and a Chinese -owned mine, so it's not like we can actually report on it. Let's get into this Taylor Lake vertical.
What about Zambia? Authorities environmentalists in Zambia fear the long -term impact of an acid spill at a Chinese -owned mine that contaminated a major river and could potentially affect millions of people after signs of pollution were detected at least 100 km. Bill happened on February 18th when a tailings dam that holds acidic waste from a copper mine in the north of the country collapsed, according to investigators from the Engineering
Institution of Zambia. Collapse allowed some 50 million liters of waste containing concentrated acid, dissolved solids and heavy metals to flow into the stream that links to the Kifui River, Zambia's most important waterway, the Engineering Institution said. really of catastrophic consequences, end quote, said Chilekwa Mamba, environmental
activist who works in Zambia's copper pelt. Minite is the dominant player in copper mining in Zambia, a southern African nation which is among the world's top 10 producers of copper, a key component in smartphones and other technology. It is a wonder how much of your smartphone comes from Africa, slave mines basically. You know a great deal has been coming to my attention lately of all the rare earth minerals. Oh yes the rare
earths yeah from the Congo or Zambia yeah. We even talked about it in episode that comes out fairly close to this one. The whole fight over the Congo was for Rare Earths. Especially in governments that have problems. Well, they've never been able to fully establish a government because people who have been more well -off than them for a long time want to take advantage of
them. Yeah, huge problem. I don't know maybe if it's more the focus of certain people in the world trying to exploit other countries very publicly right now. Rare earth minerals and stuff like that that other countries have that they don't. I've been paying more particular attention to it. But yeah, this is another one that I didn't
know. We did a fringy mini on rare earths with Mexico probably about two years ago now when Obrador, OMLO, he nationalized all their lithium, which was a huge deal right yeah that was a while ago now yeah but not everybody's taking the exact same path of letting everybody just exploit them like that like mexico did do that well And maybe they're in a better position to not. Mexico is a very interesting place because it's not quite considered like first world, but it basically
is. I would consider it, yeah. Especially like if you're just talking Mexico City. Very advanced, very metropolitan. One of the best cities in North America, honestly. Zambian president Hekinde Pachelema called for help from experts and said the league is a crisis that threatens people and wildlife alone. along the Kufui, which runs for more than 1 ,500 kilometers through the heart of Zambia. Authorities are still investigating
the extent of the environmental damage. An Associated Press reporter visited parts of the Kufui River, where dead fish could be seen washing up on the banks about 100 kilometers downstream from the mine run by Sino Metals Leech, Zambia, which is majority owned by the state -run China Non -Ferrous Metals Industry Group. Ministry of Water Development and Sanitation said the dead fish Devastating consequences also include the destruction
of crops along the riverbanks. Authorities are concerned that groundwater will be contaminated as the mining waste seeps into the earth or is carried to other areas. Prior to the 18th of February, this was a vibrant and alive river. In a country like that, probably rely on it for crops, for drinking, for everything. Yeah, no, most people live along that river. Like it's incredibly important for their society. Most
civilizations do live along rivers. Oh, this was a quote from Sean Cornelius who lives near the Kafui and said fish died and bird life near him disappeared almost immediately now everything is dead it's like a total dead river unbelievable overnight this river died about 60 percent of zambia's 20 million people live in the kafui river basin and depend on it in some way as a source of fishing irrigation for agriculture and water for industry river supplies drinking
water to about five million people including the capital lusaka the acid leak at the Wow. Oh, yeah. in Sino -Metals Leach Zambia would bear the cost of the cleanup operation. Ang Pee Win, the chairman of Sino -Metals Leach Zambia, met with government ministers this week and apologized for the acid spill according to a transcript of his speech at the meeting released by his company. Quote, this disaster has rung a big alarm for Sino -Metals Leach and the mining industry,
he said. He said it will go all out to restore the affected environment as quickly as possible. The environmental impact of China's large mining I will say criticize because it's China and not the West. That's how often do you hear about criticizing of European or North American mining companies. No, that's actually very true. They are very bad. There's a reason Canadians have an incredibly bad reputation in Mongolia and it's because we have mines there. We're just
talking about that, weren't we? It's come up before. I feel like I wouldn't otherwise know that. Chinese -owned copper mines have been accused of ignoring safety, labor, and other regulations in Zambia as they strive to control its supply of the critical mineral, leading to some discontent with their presence. Zambia is also burdened with more than $4 billion in debt to China and had to restructure some of its loans from China and other nations after defaulting on repayments
in 2020. Wow. I wonder if that's why they're there. doing this. No, the four billion would have been in developing the mine. A smaller acid waste leak from another Chinese -owned mine in Zambia's Copper Belt was discovered days after the Sino -Metals accident. Authorities have accused the smaller mine of attempting to hide it. Local police said a mine worker died at the second mine after falling into acid and alleged that the mine continued to operate after being instructed
to stop its operations by authorities. Two Chinese mine managers have been arrested, police said. Both mines have now halted their operations after orders from Zambia. Authorities while many Zambians
are angry. Uh, yeah quote, it really just brings out the negligence that some investors actually have when it comes to environmental protection, end quote, said Nini Mwinga, an environmental engineer who attended the meeting involving saying government ministers and others, quote, it don't seem to have any concern at all, any regard at all. And I think it's really worrying because at the end of the day, we Zambian people, the only land we have, end quote, end of article.
Pretty crazy. And especially when it's land, their people are not on. and inhabiting. I mean look at China though like it's the pollution. I think this is a prime example and when these things happen why extraction of resources should be a national project. It shouldn't be some sort of private investment that does it because at the end of the day they don't care about the land. They care about extracting the resource.
Profit. And if anything happens to the land, the people who sit on the land have to pay for it. That's how it works at the end of the day, which is why it should be a nationally run project. Yeah, that's a very good point because then you're not looking at corporations doing it who don't care about the earth, who don't care. Oh, look, they went bankrupt so they can't pay for it.
because they extracted all the profit they can and it's not profitable anymore so they're gone and in some instances leaving a river that's died and it's gonna affect the rest of the country for only thousands of years who knows how long this is ridiculous with no accountability because they're in a country whose laws don't apply to who's actually operating it and i just speculate based on the enron case that we covered on chevron Chevron. I even screwed it up in the whistleblower
one. I called it Exxon. It's Chevron. They all have the same name basically, don't they? They really do. Wrong name or not, the point is still there. Giant corporations find ways to get around. Oh, they will always do the bare minimum required of them. Profits over people. Sorry, I almost said that the wrong way and that's really wrong.
Well, and then they'll always find a way to privatize the profit and socialize loss, which means if there's going to be something that could hurt something long term, then society will pick that up. Whether it be cigarettes, oil, any of these mines, that's the plan of the private industry. Fuck those guys. Was that too political? Yeah, probably, but I think we already lost all the
people who don't like us for our politics. But anyhow, you got 48 hours to not like us for our politics, so I hope I see you back here in 48 hours. I've got a good episode for ya. Anyhow, bye. They'll be over it by then. Yeah, bye.