Zinc smelters with a combined 500,000-ton capacity in Guangxi province were ordered to suspend production Wednesday after 136 locals were poisoned by contaminated water following a typhoon, the China Securities Journal reported. The smelters were all in Hechi city. With an annual mining capacity of 5.3 million tons and an annual smelting capacity of 700,000 tons, the city is China’s largest nonferrous metal producer. The affected smelters account for 20% of the nation’s total zinc smelting capacity. “Our 80,000-ton lead assembly lines all have stopped working and the 200,000-ton zinc lines are awaiting orders to stop,” said a senior manager at a local smelter, adding that the suspension will last for at least one month, or even the whole of the fourth quarter. The three-month delivery price for zinc at the Shanghai Futures Exchange hit a record low of US$1,807 (RMB12,320) Wednesday.