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.
