Heavy metals leak at Catoca mine kills 12 people in DRC – report

A leak of heavy metals from a diamond mine in northern Angola, which caused an "unprecedented environmental catastrophe" in the Democratic Republic of Congo rivers, has now killed 12 people and left 4,400 people sick according to media reports.
Aljazeera quoted DRC’s environment minister Eve Bazaiba as saying that the leak took place at the Catoca diamond mine in July.
Catoca, which produces 75% of Angola’s diamonds, previously said it took measures to minimise the pollution. 
Bazaiba said the DRC will seek reparations in line with the “polluter pays” principle.
Researchers at Kinshasa University said last month that satellite imagery and interviews revealed that a reservoir used to store mining pollutants was allegedly breached mid-July in a diamond-mining area stretching from Lunda Sul to Lunda Norte provinces in Angola.
Congo Basin Water Resources Research Centre (CRREBaC) director Raphael Tshimanga said at the time that two tributaries of the Congo River, the Tshikapa and Kasai rivers, turned red, killing fish and hippopotamuses as well as causing diarrhea amongst communities along their banks.
Kasai provincial Governor Dieudonne Pieme has since banned people from drinking water and eating fish from the Tshikapa River after the spill.

Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished