By Nicholas Bariyo | Photos by Stanfrance Zulu for WSJ

KALUSALE, Zambia -- The worst day of Bathsheba Musole's life started with a deafening crash when the 30-foot wall around a toxic-waste pool collapsed at the Chinese copper mine above her village.

A poisonous river of a stinking yellow liquid rushed downhill, inundating homes and fields, including the one where she grew corn to feed her eight children. The floodwater, laden with cyanide and arsenic, rose chest-high. "I thought I would drown," said Musole, 48 years old, in a recent interview.

In August, months after the Feb. 18 disaster, officials from Sino Metals, a unit of the state-owned China Nonferrous Mining Corp., showed up at Musole's half-acre farm, which the Zambian government says is too toxic to sustain crops for at least three years.

They were there to make things right, she recalled them saying. Their offer was $150, but it came with a catch.

To get the money, she would have to agree never to talk about the spill, take legal action against Sino Metals or even reveal the contents of the nondisclosure agreement itself, according to documents presented to other spill victims, which were reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. Local environment activists said those terms were the same for all victims.

With nothing left in her garden, Musole took the deal, which also entitles her to 11 pounds of cornmeal, a staple of local diets, every month. "At least we have something to eat," she said. "Most people here are tired of fighting with the Chinese."

Over the past 25 years, Chinese state-owned businesses have spent tens of billions of dollars in Africa, building seaports, airports, railways, highways, stadiums and hospitals. China invested some $8.7 billion in Africa's mining industry in 2023 alone, the latest data indicates, compared with $300 million that year by the U.S., according to the American Enterprise Institute, a Washington think tank.

The spending has made China a dominant economic force in Africa, and given it diplomatic leverage at a time when the U.S. is slashing foreign assistance and Russia is dispatching mercenaries and soldiers to the continent. The catastrophic mining accident in Zambia's Copperbelt Province shows how the investment activity has also brought controversy.

Brigadier Siachitema, a lawyer representing victims of the mine spill, said company officials were "very inhumane." The affected people, he said, "were not even shown the amount they would receive until after they signed the document."

A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said in August the mining company had taken responsibility for the spill and was working with the Zambian government to compensate victims.

China Nonferrous Mining blamed the dam's failure on heavy rains and vandalism by locals that damaged the protective membrane on the pool holding mine tailings. In a written statement in September, it said its compensation offers to farmers are based on a Zambian government assessment, and that it has taken sufficient remedial actions, including restoration efforts in areas affected by the spill. "The incident has not caused any significant impact on the surrounding environment or community," it said.

China's deep involvement in Zambia has at times strained relations between the two countries. Zambian union leaders said Chinese managers pay poorly and mistreat workers. Two decades ago, an explosion at the same copper mine where this year's spill took place killed 46 miners.

In recent months, Zambian authorities have shut down, at least temporarily, two smaller Chinese mines after finding leaks in their waste dams.

Economic reliance

Zambia's government and economy, though, have grown reliant on China. Zambia collects about $2 billion a year in mining taxes, mostly from Chinese mining companies. Half of the copper mined in Zambia, much of it by Chinese companies, is exported to China. Last year, the Zambian government announced that Chinese miners would invest $5 billion in the country by 2031.

Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema, who is seeking re-election next year, is trying to negotiate a break on $6 billion in debts to China. Some analysts said that makes it difficult for the government to press Sino Metals too hard.

"The Hichilema administration finds itself in a difficult spot," said Louw Nel, an analyst with Oxford Economics Africa, an advisory firm. "The impression that the Hichilema administration is kowtowing to foreign interests gives the opposition something to sink their teeth into at a time when it needs to regain the ascendancy and mount a serious challenge."

The U.S. Embassy in Lusaka, Zambia's capital, said the size of the spill made it the sixth-worst mine-tailings dam accident ever, by volume. Toxic sludge flowed into the Kafue River, leaving dead fish along a 70-mile stretch and poisoning farm fields.

Dozens of students at Copperbelt University in Kitwe were hospitalized after drinking contaminated water in February and March, according to a student group. The university closed for two weeks in February, citing the risk that contaminated water posed to students.

In an internal embassy email reviewed by the Journal, U.S. Ambassador Michael Gonzales wrote: "One organization that analyzed over 170 water and soil samples from this disaster report that they have never encountered a polluter that has demonstrated such a lack of remorse or accountability as Sino Metals."

Gonzales ordered American personnel out of the city of Kitwe. He told his staff that the U.S. had offered cleanup assistance, but Zambian authorities declined.

Sino Metals said 50,000 metric tons of waste had reached the river. The company deployed boats and enlisted the Zambia Air Force to dump hundreds of tons of lime into the valley in an attempt to neutralize the contamination.

After months of investigation, Drizit Environmental, a South African firm contracted by Sino Metals, concluded that 1.5 million tons of toxic waste had overflowed into the Kafue valley, 30 times what the company had said. Sino Metals terminated the firm's contract a day before the final report was due, Drizit said in a written statement.

A Sino Metals spokesman said the company ended Drizit's contract due to "contractual breaches." He provided no details.

Elisha Matambo, the top government official in Copperbelt Province, announced in July that farmers would be entitled to compensation for the period they won't be able to plant.

Sino Metals has promised to pay a total of $650,000 to tens of thousands of farmers and fishermen affected by the spill. Local environment activists said Sino Metals officials have offered as little as $100 to some people. To receive payment, locals have to agree to waive the right to make future claims, according to an agreement reviewed by the Journal.

Pressure campaign

In August, Chinese mine officials, accompanied by Zambian government officials, went door-to-door in the village of Sabina, near a tributary of the Kafue River, residents recalled in interviews.

Among those they visited was Timmy Kabindela, 42, whose family has four fish ponds and gardens of cabbage and corn on 50 acres of land. Before the spill, the family business had sold about $900 of fish a week to restaurants in the town of Chambishi.

Kabindela, who manages the family property, first sensed something was amiss on the day of the disaster when he heard a military helicopter circling the neighborhood. He discovered tens of thousands of dead tilapia floating in his ponds.

Weeks later, he said, he drove to the Sino Metals offices at the mine, where he was promised a cash settlement of $700, free drinking water for three months and several tons of lime to neutralize the polluted pond water. After learning about the other terms of the proposed agreement, he cut the meeting short and drove 240 miles to Lusaka to consult his lawyers.

The following day, he said, the Chinese returned -- this time accompanied by police -- and put the contract in front of his 80-year-old mother, who signed it. "She had no idea what she was signing, " he said. "I am determined to fight these Chinese in court. They are tricksters."

Kabindela and dozens of others retained a lawyer and filed a lawsuit against Sino Metals, seeking some $200 million in compensation and environmental restoration.

In a statement last month, China Nonferrous Mining, Sino's parent, said it would fight the suit, calling the claim "clearly unfounded."

Zambia's mines ministry said company payouts are a first step while the government studies the full extent of the damage. Final compensation levels and the scope of a cleanup will be guided by an independent assessment, the ministry said.

Meanwhile, Sino Metals bulldozers have been leveling ground and removing dried tailings from riverbanks and gardens, which could make such an investigation more difficult. Next to the ruptured dam, another earthen wall is being built in preparation for the resumption of mining operations, according to government officials.

"The Chinese are just putting up a show," said Samuel Sekanya, a local council member in Chambishi, the mine's home municipality. "They're deceiving people into signing documents they can't comprehend. They don't care about the plight of the victims."

Local municipal officials and environmental groups said Sino Metals has hired a security unit that has tried to keep local people from talking to the news media or environmental activists

In Kalusale, the village near the failed dam, the police warned residents last month not to speak to journalists or share pictures of the damage, according to residents.

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