Zijin fined US$4.62m for Fujian toxic spill

    ZIJIN Mining Group, one of China’s biggest gold producers, has been ordered to pay 30 million yuan (US$4.62 million) by a local court in Fujian Province for a toxic spill last year that caused severe environmental pollution.

    The local court in the city of Long Yan has also issued prison terms ranging between three years to 42 months to five of Zijin’s staff who were found to be involved in the incident, Zijin said yesterday. The leak of wastewater containing acidic copper from its Zijinshan Copper Mine spilled into the Ting river last July and killed or poisoned thousands of fish early, affecting water supplies for some 60,000 people.

    ‘No new property trust regulations in May’

    THE banking regulator said Tuesday it has no plan to issue new regulations governing property trusts in May, refuting earlier reports that it may impose further tightening controls on such trusts to curb risks in the real estate sector.

    The China Banking Regulatory Commission said in a statement that it has been consistently asking trust companies to conduct property-related business while exercising proper risk management.

    Wages rise by double digits in 2010

    CHINA’S small companies lifted wages by an average 14.1 percent last year, more than twice the 6.6 percent rise in 2009, according to newswire reports Tuesday that quoted the National Bureau of Statistics.

    Wages at the non-private sector climbed 13.5 percent to 37,147 yuan, after rising 13.5 percent in 2009, according to the statistics bureau. The non-private sector comprises government agencies, State-owned enterprises, listed companies and foreign-invested companies, the report said.