A video still from February showing a breach at a tailing dam at a Sino-Metals Leach Zambia mine near Kitwe.

A Chinese-owned mining company has been accused of covering up the extent of a disastrous toxic spill in Zambia that polluted a major river that millions rely on with cyanide and arsenic.

The spill happened in February when part of a dam that held waste from the Sino-Metals Leach Zambia copper mine collapsed, allowing it to flow into the Kafue River that runs through the heart of Zambia. Sino-Metals Leach Zambia is a subsidiary of the state-run China Nonferrous Metal Mining Group.

An environmental cleanup company says that it was contracted by Sino-Metals Leach Zambia to investigate the accident. It said its two-month investigation found that the disaster resulted in the release

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