A potentially fatal ruby crisis may return to the mountainous villages of central Nghe An Province as it has been rumored that a local has recently found a red stone that he sold for billions of dong (VND1 billion = US$48,100).
About 20 years ago, the hills in Chau Binh Commune of Quy Chau District were called the ‘bloody domain’ of illegal miners who rushed in to dig and search for the ‘red stone’ – the common name for rubies.
During the peak of ‘ruby fever’ in Quy Chau, tens of thousands of people rushed to the area to dig for the precious gemstone, hoping to make a new life with their riches.
In June of 1991, a mine collapsed, killing hundreds of people. No statistics were reported on the exact number of people lost in the disaster.
The disaster marked the end of illegal mining, as law enforcement agencies cracked down on perpetrators.
The bloody domain
Now, the hills located on the western side of the province are a huge mass tomb for bodies that could not be excavated after the collapse.
The Chau Binh ruby ‘capital city’ lies just a kilometer from national highway 48 and 130km from Vinh City, the provincial capital.
An elderly man who resides at the foot of the Ti Hill, where the disaster occurred in 1991, said, “Chau Binh has recently been in tumult again after a rumor that a local found a ruby that is worth billions of dong.
“After a quiet 20 years, ruby fever may return.”
After hills Nua and Trieu, Ti Hill was thought to contain the largest reserve of ruby in the district.
Nguyen Van Thang, once an illegal ruby miner in Quy Chau, guided Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper journalists to the mines on Ti Hill where trespassing is now banned.
Pointing toward hundreds of lakes and ponds of different sizes dug up by miners before, he said thousands of people vied for their own areas on the hill to dig for ‘red stones’ which can be the size of a fingertip.
The peak of ruby fever was a time of conflict and confusion – like a battlefield, he recalled.
Kim Van Duyen, chairman of the People’s Committee of Chau Binh Commune, admitted that he was also once an illegal ruby miner.
The disaster took place on a rainy day in the middle of June in 1991, he recalled.
While thousands of people were digging and searching for rubies, the mountain shook violently, followed by shouting and screaming.
Terrified miners ran from the site as quickly as possible, sometimes trampling others as they ran.
Numerous adjacent mines collapsed that day.
Hundreds of miners were weighed down in the center and at the foot of Ti Hill. It took rescuers ten days to excavate bodies but many have been left there until now, Duyen said.
The bodies were taken to the sides of national highway 48 for their relatives to take home. Incense smoke rose up permanently by both sides of the highway during those days.
At the sites, one can see that conditions are still dangerous: mines risk collapsing, miners compete for valuable territory, and malaria often strikes the laborers.
Ruby fever
Duyen told Tuoi Tre that rubies have a terrific power that can drag both farmers and intellectuals into the fever.
Teachers, bank officials, and government officials at commune level overflowed onto the hill, hoping to make a fortune by mining rubies.
“The money made from rubies was lavishly spent rather than saved,” Duyen said. “Miners gambled and lavishly spent the money they made from the stone, thinking they would easily earn the money back the next day.”
Besides causing death and injuries, ruby fever left the locality with social evils such as prostitution, according to Duyen.
“Recently, a local in Chau Binh found a ruby by chance while he was digging a pond to raise fish. He sold it for billions of dong and the gemstone was later resold to a trader for dozens of billions of dong,” Duyen confirmed.
A ruby is a gemstone that can be as light as pink and as dark as blood-red. The ruby is considered one of the four most precious stones, along with the sapphire, the emerald, and the diamond. The value of a ruby is primarily determined by color. The brightest and most valuable ‘red,’ called blood-red, commands a large premium over other rubies of similar quality. Clarity follows after color to decide the price of a ruby. |
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Đăng ký: VietNam News
