The local government in Shanghang county, Fujian Province, is paying farmers for all the fish that died or were poisoned as a result of a toxic leak from a mine owned by the Zijin Mining Group.

At least 1,890 tons of fish in the Tingjiang River were affected by the leak that started on July 3, and the authorities are paying 12 yuan for 1 kilogram ( $ 1.772).

Liao Zhiyuan, a villager of Yongding county, one of the most seriously affected areas, said that the authorities would purchase the fish and then destroy them to prevent the dead fish from entering the market.

The company did not inform the public or the authorities about the incident until Monday, nine days after the leak started.

"We had to reach a quick conclusion about the cause of the incident," Zhao Jugang, head of Zijin's stocks department, told China National Radio July 13. "We had to make a clear judgment before telling the residents, in order to avoid panic.”

The company says that an initial investigation attributed the leakage mainly to continuous heavy rainfall, which caused the underground water level in the wastewater pond to rise rapidly above the normal level.

Zijin added that uneven pressure at the top and bottom tore the waterproofing layer in many places at the bottom of the pond, which led to the leakage.

This may not be the first incident of its kind for The Hong Kong-listed Zijin Mining Group (ZMG).

According to a report in the Century Weekly, the local education bureau of Shanghang county issued a notice warning students "not to eat fish" before the National College Entrance Examination, which began on June 7.