Trading in shares of Zijin Mining Group Co, China's largest gold company, was suspended yesterday, amid allegations that the company offered hush money to reporters after a sewage leak killed thousands of tons of fish.

The company, which was involved in the industry's worst environmental accident in years, applied to be suspended from trading in Hong Kong and Shanghai for today as well.

The company did not say why trading was halted yesterday but said there will be a price-sensitive announcement later.

China Youth Daily reported yesterday that the company had offered hush money to at least six newspapers after the spill. An unnamed finance news magazine said it had been given 60,000 yuan (US$8,850) by Zijin before the scandal was exposed and had returned the money.

The Zijin leak took place on July 3, and the company waited nine days to reveal the spill. The securities regulator was probing the company for the delay in disclosing the incident.

The company was ordered to shut down its Zijinshan copper plant in Fujian's Shanghang County on July 13 after 9,100 cubic meters of acidic waste water spilled from one of its tailings ponds, polluted the Tingjiang River and killed 1.9 million kilograms of fish.

As reporters thronged in after the scandal, they met mysterious people in hotels who left them envelopes full of cash.

The China Youth Daily report said at least six newspapers called the company and confirmed that the envelope's contents were hush money. They all gave the money back.

"This is an insult to my personality," said a Zijin public relations official who denied the accusation.

The mine's sewage water washed downriver to nearby Guangdong Province, and the local environmental protection authority warned local fishermen about the toxic carcinogen.

"The level of Cr(VI) found in the Guangdong session of Tingjiang River was way below national standard for safe drinking water," the Beijing News reported yesterday.

• yesterday [´jestədi] n.&ad.昨天；前不久 (初中英语单词)
• finance [´fainæns] n.财政；金融 vt.资助 (初中英语单词)
• incident [´insidənt] n.小事件；事变 (初中英语单词)
• copper [´kɔpə] n.铜 a.铜制的 (初中英语单词)
• mysterious [mi´stiəriəs] a.神秘的；难以理解的 (初中英语单词)
• contents [´kɔ:ntents] n.容纳物；要旨 (初中英语单词)
• insult [in´sʌlt, ´insʌlt] n.&vt.侮辱；损害 (初中英语单词)
• province [´prɔvins] n.省；领域；范围 (初中英语单词)
• protection [prə´tekʃən] n.警戒；护照；通行证 (初中英语单词)
• mining [´mainiŋ] n.采矿；矿业 (高中英语单词)
• announcement [ə´naunsmənt] n.通告；宣布；言谈 (高中英语单词)
• scandal [´skændl] n.丑闻；耻辱；流言蜚语 (高中英语单词)
• session [´seʃən] n.会议；会期；(开庭)期 (高中英语单词)
• accusation [ækju:´zeiʃən] n.谴责；告发 (英语四级单词)
• applied [ə´plaid] a.实用的，应用的 (英语六级单词)