TAIYUAN - A State-owned enterprise suspected of dumping waste in North China's Shanxi province will face severe punishment, the provincial State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission said Thursday.

The alleged dumping was exposed by a state television program. On Tuesday, CCTV ran a report based on its own investigation into illegal dumping by the Shanxi Sanwei Group Co., a chemical manufacturer listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.

According to the report, the company in Hongtong county, Linfen city, dumped coal ash and slag into a 30-meter-deep pit the size of two football fields. The pit has no barriers underneath as mandated by environmental authorities. The company is also suspected of illegally discharging waste water.

The Shanxi provincial department of environmental protection, along with the government of Linfen city, has sent a team of investigators to the county to investigate the case.

As a public company, Sanwei Group will also face penalties imposed by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment and the China Securities Regulatory Commission.