Source: http://www.miningweekly.com                       Date: 21 October, 2010

Police in Zambia have charged two Chinese mine managers with attempted murder in connection with the shooting last week of 11 miners protesting about poor pay and conditions. The pair worked at a mine 325 km south of the capital, Lusaka. Nine of the men who were shot are out of danger, but two were transferred to a hospital in Lusaka for surgery.

China is one of the biggest investors in the southern African nation's mining industry, but its companies have not enjoyed an easy ride with staff, unions or the political opposition, which routinely accuses them of abuses. In 2005, five Zambians were shot and wounded by managers during pay riots at a Chinese-owned mine.