Reuters reported that Chinese gold and copper miner Zijin Mining Group Company Limited trial production at a copper smelting project in Longyan city, Fujian province has been suspended after three workers were killed in an industrial accident.

In a filing to the Hong Kong bourse, Zijin Mining said that the accident occurred on January 26th 2012 when a worker fainted after entering a container of activated coke at an acid production plant to dredge a blockage. Three other workers also lost consciousness while staging a rescue.

Three workers were later reported to have died. The 200,000 tonne per year copper smelting project was suspended for an investigation. Trial production had been scheduled to run from December 15th 2011 to June 15 this year.

(Sourced from Reuters)