The eight miners have since been charged with murder of their Chinese manager while the quartet faces a charge of robbery after they were found in possession of stolen property.

Southern Province Deputy Police Commissioner, Fred Mutondo has confirmed the development in a telephone interview.

The protesting workers killed their supervisor and injured his colleague in a riot over wages at a mine known for tensions with the Chinese investors.

In 2010 two Chinese Collum mine managers were charged with attempted murder after they allegedly opened fire on a group of protesting miners.

Eleven Zambian workers were injured in the incident and the mine has since been a source of controversy between Chinese investors and Zambians.

In last Saturday’s incident, the workers were on strike at the mine in protest against delays in implementing a new minimum wage at the Chinese-owned Collum coal mine in Sinazongwe, 325km (200 miles) south of the capital, Lusaka.

They were angry their wages were lower than a new minimum of $220 (£140) a month paid to shop workers.

A 2011 report by Human Rights Watch (HRW) said that, despite improvements in recent years, safety and labour conditions at Chinese mines were worse than at other foreign-owned mines.

Zambia’s current President Michael Sata has lacked consistency on Chinese investment in the copper dominated Southern African nation following a u-turn on his pre-election anti-china stance.

The Chinese embassy in Lusaka has not made any public comments so far.