KINSHASA (AFP) — Authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo have opened a probe after nearly 18 tonnes of radioactive minerals from primarily Chinese-owned mines were dumped in a river, officials said Wednesday.
"We are investigating in order to understand what happened," provincial mines' minister Barthelemy Mumba Gama told AFP.
"The minerals were seized and must be buried in a secured area. They were poured in the Mura River instead of" being disposed of properly, he said.
The majority of the minerals were registered in the name of Magma, a Chinese company, according to the mayor's office, while others were under the Indian company Chemaf and in the name of a Congolese businessman.
A total of 17.9 tonnes of copper minerals rich in uranium with a radioactivity measured at 50 times above normal were dumped in the Mura at the beginning of November, officials said.
Many foreign mining companies and individual local miners exploit the quarries in the area, which contain huge mineral reserves, including copper and cobalt, but also uranium, gold and zinc.
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