The mining and processing of Earth Elements in northern China has caused years of toxic leaking into surrounding water sources.

A tailings pond lies on the west of the Chinese city Baotou, one filled with a black grey sludge of toxic and radioactive material.

It is the by-product of rare earth processing - elements vital to solar energy, wind farms and other alternative energy sources. It is open to the air but worse it is seeping into the ground below, poisoning the water.

Sky's China Correspondent Tom Cheshire was followed when he tried to gather more information.

SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube channel for more videos:    / skynews  

Follow us on Twitter:   / skynews  
Like us on Facebook:   / skynews  
Follow us on Instagram:   / skynews  
Follow us on TikTok:   / skynews  

For more content go to http://news.sky.com and download our apps:
Apple: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/sky-n...
Android https://play.google.com/store/apps/de...

Sky News videos are now available in Spanish here/Los video de Sky News están disponibles en español aquí https://www.youtube.com/channel/skyne...
Sky News videos are also available in German here/Hier können Sie außerdem Sky News-Videos auf Deutsch finden:    / @skynewsaufdeutsch6058  

To enquire about licensing Sky News content, you can find more information here: https://news.sky.com/info/library-sales