The next morning, Zhuang Rui was woken up by George knocking on the door. After having some breakfast, everyone gathered together, checked out of their hotel rooms, and then got into the armored personnel carrier parked at the hotel entrance.
The two flight attendants were clearly surprised by Zhuang Rui's grand travel arrangements, while He Shuang, a former soldier, was quite excited. After getting on the vehicle, she kept examining the machine gun on the armored personnel carrier. The bright orange bullets, each as thick as a little finger, and the golden metal bullet chain, more than a meter long, were all real.
It's quite rare to see an armored vehicle in Johannesburg. The waiter at the hotel entrance was looking at Zhuang Rui with a particularly interesting expression. He hadn't expected that the person he had offended the day before yesterday would have such a deep background in South Africa.
Despite its heavy armored vehicle body, it was surprisingly fast, reaching speeds of up to 70 kilometers per hour on deserted highways. After more than two hours, the convoy turned from the asphalt road onto a dirt road, where its speed slowed down.
"Mr. Zhuang, we've arrived..."
Another half hour passed, and Zhuang Rui, who was sitting in what felt like a sealed can, felt the car stop and heard George's voice outside.
"This...this is...a diamond mine?"
Zhuang Rui looked at the empty field in front of him and couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. In his imagination, there should have been many black people working here, and the roar of machinery should have filled his ears, not what he saw.
The open fields were simply fenced off with wire, and every two or three hundred meters there was a security guard holding a submachine gun.
A dozen meters away from the car, there was a simple building with more than thirty rooms on two floors, which must have been where the miners and security guards lived.
However, no one should cause trouble here. The security guard who was very close to Zhuang Rui was sitting on a large rock, leisurely smoking a cigarette.
Zhuang Rui found it hard to believe that the mine of such a powerful diamond company would be so rudimentary.
According to Qin Haoran's introduction, this diamond company ranks among the top three in South Africa, with at least tens of thousands of small diamonds flowing from here to all parts of the world every year.
"Mr. Zhuang, welcome to my diamond mine..."
A white man in his forties, accompanied by three armed security guards, emerged from the only house in the open field and approached Zhuang Rui and his group.
Looking at the guy in jeans and a sun hat, Zhuang Rui immediately thought of the American Western movies he had watched a long time ago. If this guy had a revolver hanging on his butt, he would be a complete American cowboy.
"Are you Mr. Kenneth Wayne?"
Although the visitor was dressed casually, Zhuang Rui dared not underestimate the entire American in front of him.
Wayne is a legendary figure in South Africa and even the world. When he was eleven or twelve years old, he became obsessed with the gold rush in the United States and Canada in the 18th and 19th centuries. At that time, he made the outrageous statement that he would become the world's largest gold mine owner.
However, Wayne's ideals and reality diverged slightly. In the mid-1980s, Wayne came to South Africa to pursue his dream. At that time, he was just a young man in his early twenties with only a few hundred dollars in his pocket.
Initially, Wayne worked as a diamond broker, helping clients from all over the world select diamonds. In the process, Wayne not only gained a deep understanding of diamonds but also accumulated his first pot of gold.
Later, Wayne spent over $200,000 to acquire a piece of land that experts believed was impossible to produce diamonds. However, Wayne unearthed three giant diamonds weighing over 100 carats on this land, causing a sensation around the world.
Afterward, Wayne spent more than a decade building up assets worth over a billion dollars, becoming a world-renowned diamond tycoon—a modern version of the 18th and 19th century gold rush.
"Mr. Wayne, I never expected to see you here..."
"Haha, Zhuang, do you think this place is too simple? This is a newly developed mine. We'll be conducting diamond transactions in Johannesburg soon, so I'll be staying here temporarily..."
Wayne laughed upon hearing this, knowing that Zhuang Rui would be very disappointed upon reading this. He continued, "My biggest dream is to be a cowboy in the West, to go on adventures like a cowboy, to pan for gold. Of course, right now I'm panning for diamonds..."
"Hehe, Mr. Wayne, I think you have already achieved your dream. Wherever there are diamonds in the world, there is your legend..."
Zhuang Rui flattered Wayne a few times, which pleased the diamond tycoon greatly. He waved his hand and said, "Zhuang, it's a pleasure to meet you. I've decided to open the mine to you for one hour. If you can find any diamonds within that hour, they're yours..."
Zhuang Rui and the cowboy got along very well, and Zhuang Rui immediately said, "Really? Mr. Wayne, it'll take at least two hours, one hour is simply not enough..."
"No...no, Zhuang, this new mine of mine was a volcanic river long ago, which means it's an open-pit mine, and a rich one at that. If you're lucky, you could definitely find diamonds..."
Wayne corrected Zhuang Rui's statement. In fact, even in an open-pit mine, the ore would probably be found at a depth of about one meter. Wayne wasn't worried about what kind of ore Zhuang Rui and his group would find; he was just using this opportunity to get closer to Zhuang Rui.
The diamond jewelry market in China is growing larger and larger, and the number of customers from China is also increasing. Wayne pays close attention to his interactions with Chinese customers. Why wouldn't Wayne use such a small trick to enhance their friendship?
Of course, if Zhuang Rui is really lucky, Wayne wouldn't mind giving them the diamonds they found as a gift. As long as Zhuang Rui doesn't find a giant diamond, Wayne can afford this loss.
In South Africa, many depleted mines have been converted into mineral parks. For a small fee, tourists can enter and hunt for treasures on the surface. If they are lucky, they might even find a few diamonds that were missed.
Inspired by South Africa, there are similar diamond-themed parks at some volcanic sites in the United States. However, most people who go there are mainly there for fun, and it's rare to hear of anyone actually digging for diamonds.
"Alright, ladies and gentlemen, the generous Mr. Wayne is about to give away diamonds, everyone go and try your luck..."
Zhuang Rui turned around and smiled at the crew, saying that he knew diamonds could be formed under high temperature and pressure. If there used to be a volcanic river here, then the area that was originally the riverbed should be a primary diamond mine.
"marvelous……"
"Wow, diamonds, here we come..."
"You two skinny guys, can you even dig that far?"
Upon hearing Zhuang Rui's words, the people behind him cheered with joy, especially the two girls. The allure of diamonds was immense for them. After receiving pickaxes and sieves from the security office, they excitedly headed towards the mining area.
A pickaxe is used to dig soil, while a sieve is used to sift diamonds. This is a very delicate task because many diamonds are so small that they can be easily missed if you're not careful.
"Mr. Wayne, may I?"
Seeing the excitement of Liuli and the others, Zhuang Rui also became interested. He had just roughly observed the area with the spiritual energy in his eyes, and it really was a rich mine, because there were faint fluctuations of spiritual energy just a dozen meters away from Zhuang Rui.
"Of course, my friend, even if you get nothing, I will still give you a diamond..."
Wayne was so generous because he learned from his call with Zhuang Rui yesterday that Zhuang Rui had quoted him a very reasonable price for his batch of loose diamonds.
“Well, Mr. Wayne, I hope you won’t regret it. My luck has always been very… well, very good.” Zhuang Rui emphasized the word “very” because he was afraid that if he found a good diamond, Wayne wouldn’t be willing to give it to him.
"Oh, then I'm really losing out..."
Wayne laughed. The place he had designated for Zhuang Rui and the others to dig for diamonds had already been bulldozed several times, and the ground had been almost completely cleared. Wayne didn't believe that Zhuang Rui could really dig up anything of value from there.
"Peng Fei, I'll do the digging. You can handle the diamond sifting..."
Seeing that Liuli and the others had already started working, Zhuang Rui quickly picked up a shovel from the ground, tossed a sieve to Peng Fei, and ran towards the designated area.
"Why should I? I still want to dig..."
Peng Fei was very dissatisfied with Zhuang Rui's way of distributing the spoils, so he grabbed a shovel and followed him.
"Wow, Sister Liuli, we've found a diamond!"
Zhuang Rui had just arrived at the area crisscrossed with trenches created by the bulldozers when he heard Tian Ya's excited shouts. It turned out that the two sisters had a division of labor: Liu Li was digging with a shovel, while Tian Ya was sifting through the soil.
Tianya's words attracted He Shuang and Ding Hao, who were engrossed in their work. These two brothers were not smart enough; they only dug but did not sift, making it difficult to distinguish diamonds with the naked eye.
"Mr. Zhuang, take a look, is this a rough diamond?"
Tianya happily placed the diamond, which was only the size of a mung bean and had a surface that looked a bit like frosted glass, into Zhuang Rui's palm. There was still some dirt on the surface of the diamond.
Chapter 817 Diamond Mine (Part 2)
"Yes, this is a rough diamond, beautiful lady, you're very lucky..."
Wayne, who was following behind Zhuang Rui, recognized it at a glance. Despite its small size, it should be around one carat after processing. Even if the diamond's purity wasn't good, it would still be worth at least ten thousand RMB.
"Not bad, the purity is decent, probably worth around 30,000. Our women's team is really impressive. Old He, don't just focus on digging, sift it out with a sieve too..."
Zhuang Rui gave He Shuang and Ding Hao, who were looking on with envy, an idea and casually returned the diamond to Tian Ya.
Although the area had already been mined, Zhuang Rui discovered along the way that there were still many diamonds scattered on the ground. Even without a shovel, given enough time, he could still sift out quite a few diamonds.
However, these fish that slipped through the net were mostly under one carat, and wouldn't be worth much if sold.
Tianya and Liuli were really lucky; they found a fairly large diamond on their first try. Zhuang Rui glanced at it briefly and offered 30,000 yuan.
"Mr. Zhuang, this... please take it..."
Tianya felt a little embarrassed. They didn't work much since they were paid, and they only came here to dig for diamonds because of the boss. As she spoke, Tianya stuffed the diamond back into Zhuang Rui's hand.
"No, this is the fruit of your labor. Mr. Wayne said that whatever you dig up is yours. If you can dig up the Star of Africa, that's a real win..."
Zhuang Rui smiled and waved his hand. The "Star of Africa" he was referring to was a giant diamond that appeared in Africa at the end of the last century, weighing 212 carats. It was eventually bought by an unknown person at an auction for 36 million US dollars.
Of course, Zhuang Rui was joking. If such a giant diamond really appeared, Wayne would probably immediately dismiss what he just said as nothing.
"Come on, Peng Fei, let's get to work..."
After walking seven or eight meters, Zhuang Rui suddenly realized that Peng Fei hadn't followed. He turned around and saw that the guy was already busy with a shovel, his butt sticking out. He couldn't help but shake his head with a wry smile. If he wanted diamonds, wouldn't it be easy to follow him?
To be honest, Zhuang Rui didn't care about these leftover diamond fragments. In his mind, he would have found a three- to five-carat diamond to make Wayne feel bad.
However, Zhuang Rui did not sense any diamonds with particularly abundant spiritual energy within a radius of thirty or forty meters. So he walked a little further away and looked up to see several machines running in the distance.
"Mr. Wayne, your equipment is really terrible!"
The two bulldozers and excavators parked nearby were covered in rust, looking at most 30-50% new. The ore washing machine was even more dilapidated, making a "creaking" sound when it turned!
The sound.
Four or five Black men were operating the machinery. They were loading all the cleaned ore into a large iron pan for sieving. However, these Black men were only responsible for operating the machinery; sieving the diamonds was not their job, as that was handled by specialists.
This method of diamond mining is far more advanced than Zhuang Rui and others digging in the soil with shovels and then sifting through the diamonds themselves.
"Zhuang, there's nothing we can do about it. South Africa doesn't have any places to manufacture and assemble heavy machinery. These machines were all bought from Japan and South Korea at high prices. Those damned guys, they sell their stuff for a high price, and it's always breaking down..."
Oh, by the way, in my other two mines, I have several "Dongfanghong" bulldozers made in China, produced 20 years ago, and they're top-notch quality..."
As Wayne spoke, he gave Zhuang Rui a thumbs up. He owns 12 diamond mines in South Africa. If all of them were mined by machinery, it would be a huge expense. So, for open-pit mines like these, Wayne relies more on manpower.
Zhuang Rui gave Wayne a disdainful look. You can't even find Dongfanghong bulldozers produced 20 years ago in China anymore. He guessed this guy got the machinery that China used to provide as aid to Africa from the South African government.
When Wayne saw that Zhuang Rui had a shovel but hadn't started digging, he nudged Zhuang Rui and said mysteriously, "Zhuang, don't dig for ore, let me take you to choose diamonds?"
Diamond mining involves several steps. The first step is to select a mining area, then use machinery to extract the ore and clean it in a washing machine. Finally, the diamonds are sorted, which is the most important step.
In South Africa, the diamond sorting process is usually carried out by the mine owner or his confidants. Moreover, South African mine owners would never allow a black person to do this job, even among the very few black mine owners in the entire country.
Many black South African workers often work their entire lives without ever seeing a large carat rough stone, because they have no access to what comes out of the ore washing machine.
“Great! I’d also like to see the output of Mr. Wayne’s diamond mine…”
Zhuang Rui smiled and nodded. Being invited by a diamond mine owner to visit the ore processing site was a very rare opportunity.
Zhuang Rui followed Wayne back into the house. Two white drivers delivered the crushed ore that had just been washed in the fine ore washing machine to the room, while two security guards stood guard at the door with guns.
"Zhuang, there are twelve trays of diamonds that haven't been sorted yet. You can choose one, and I'll give you the largest one you pick..."
Zhuang Rui bought Wayne's diamonds worth seventy to eighty million US dollars this time. Wayne genuinely wanted to give Zhuang Rui a gift. Of course, if Zhuang Rui's luck is too bad, then there's nothing he can do.
Zhuang Rui glanced at the iron plates filled with ore, then smiled and said, "Alright, then... I'll choose the second plate..."
"Good luck..."
Wayne said this as he placed the first tray of ore on the stone-selecting table in the room. In fact, the so-called stone-selecting table was just a table covered with a layer of animal hide, with a strong light shining directly on the table.
Wayne held a specially made wooden clip in his hand, staring intently at the small, dark stones on the table, occasionally picking one up with the clip to examine it.
However, Wayne's luck seemed to be not very good. In the first batch of ore, he only picked out two small diamonds that were less than a carat each.