Chinese miners convicted of embezzling US$63,511 in gold after employer suspected their good fortune
- Company investigators said drillers were first workers to extract gold from mines
- Rumours over the departures from company drew employer’s attention
Two mineworkers from Hunan province who stole a 1.6kg (3.5lb) gold nugget and sold it for 430,000 yuan (US$63,511) have been jailed for embezzlement, while a third has been given a suspended sentence, news site Thepaper.cn reported on Wednesday.
On Sunday, Huaihua Intermediate People’s Court in Hunan province jailed Yang Zhi for two years; Yang Xueping was sentenced to a year and nine months in prison; and Zhong Mingyang was given a two-year suspended sentence.
They found the nugget while at work in a Hunan Jintong Mining gold mine in rural Tongdao Dong autonomous county, near the city of Huaihua, three years ago.
They operated pneumatic drills and set up explosives in the mine, and were required to turn the ore they found over to their employer.
According to an initial judgment from Tongdao Dong Autonomous County People’s Court last year, the miners discovered the nugget at work in October 2016, split it into pieces and smuggled it out of the mine.
They resigned on October 30 and sold the ore for 430,000 yuan.