Monday May 19, 2025

Lusaka, Zambia

Lead mining allowed by the Zambian government is “poisoning children” in Kabwe, accused Human Rights Watch on Wednesday, the NGO behind a report in this southern African town.
“The exploitation of toxic lead waste is poisoning children”, said the organization, which studied the activities of South African, Chinese and Zambian companies in Kabwe, known as one of the most polluted places on the planet.
Decades of lead and zinc mining, until the mine’s closure in 1994, led to the contamination of the country’s fourth-largest city, some 150 kilometers north of the capital Lusaka.
Artisanal miners have been allowed to work on several abandoned concessions “despite immense health risks”, observes the NGO.
This is the case for the largest of these belonging to Enviro Processing Limited (EPL), a subsidiary of the South African group Jubilee Metals, but also for the local company Zalco.
“Zalco allowed small local miners to extract zinc on its land and then bought their zinc,” charges HRW.

“Miners told Human Rights Watch that they had also sold lead or zinc directly to three Chinese processing companies: Datong Industries, Chengde Mining and Superdeal Investments,” adds the organization. These companies have not responded to these allegations”.
In Kabwe, lead concentrations in the soil have reached 60,000 milligrams of lead per kilogram in some areas, 300 times the danger threshold set by the US Environmental Protection Agency.
Highly toxic lead waste has also been transported to various sites across the city, forming in places “piles” “several meters high” in the open air.
“The government has failed to stop these extremely dangerous activities and protect the population’s right to a healthy environment”, says HRW.
Contacted by AFP, the government did not respond to requests for comment.
Studies carried out in Kabwe showed that 95% of children living in the most polluted areas, near the former mine, had high levels of lead in their blood. More than half required urgent medical attention. Up to 200,000 people were exposed to lead dust.
This highly toxic metal can cause brain damage and even death, particularly in children, according to the World Health Organization.

Humaniterre with AFP