Despite China's official ban on mining gold in Beijing,
illegal mining activities has still been a hot underground business,
with some earning as much as 10,000 yuan (US$1,600) by selling the ore,
reports our sister paper Want Daily.
The gold mines are believed to be located in a remote mountainous
area in eastern Beijing's Pinggu district. Gold mining there has been
the major economic activity in the region from the time occupying
Japanese troops discovered the ore during the Second Sino-Japanese War
until 2003, when the government banned it and blew up the pits with
dynamite. Some locals, however, went back and have since found their way
into the underground tunnels.
A ton of the ore can be refined into three to ten grams of pure gold.
One could sell the ore at a price equivalent to 10% off the market gold
price, the report said.
Investigative reporters from the Beijing News disguised as gold
buyers learned that 80% of the mine is controlled by someone dubbed
"Dapi." Dapi, who paved two roads into the mines, admitted when being
asked about the business he is running that all the mining activity
there is illegal. "I do it because I can," he said.
Everyone in the region knows that the trucks that come and go are
there to load the ore. "It's only the officials and the mine-reservation
personnel that are unaware of it," possibly because Dapi has taken care
of all the knots, the report suggests.
The high margin of the business comes with high risks, however. In
2004, a number of villagers fell into the pit accidentally and died when
they attempted to blow open an entrance into the mine. In 2006, four
villagers were trapped in a collapsed mine pit when they tried to sneak
in for the ore. The "gold rush" also brought silicosis to the region.
Many middle-aged men in the nearby area suffer the effects of the
disease, the report said.
