"Mine manager, a stone is too hard; it broke our mining equipment," a worker reported as he ran over, holding a stone in his hand. This place was semi-mechanized for coal mining.
Jiang Shaoqing had introduced advanced foreign equipment to maximize coal production and to reduce the burden on the workers.
The mine manager felt embarrassed.
They often encountered such minor issues; there was no need for alarm now.
"No worries, Manager Jiang, this happens all the time. I’ll take you out first, and the workers can deal with the rest. They’re experienced with these kinds of things," said Huang Zhi, waving his hand dismissively, and then he gestured for the stone the worker had rushed over with.
The mine manager quickly called out, "Xiaowo, come here and bring that stone you have!"
Experts always seemed to be fascinated by these stones.
The worker hastily handed over the stone to the expert! He couldn’t understand what was so interesting about a stone; there were plenty of them down in the mine shaft.
Huang Zhi examined the stone, turning it over and over, then passed it around for others to look at.
"Let’s have someone take us to the mining site to see for ourselves," Huang Zhi said, his expression now much more serious.
Jiang Shaoqing nodded in agreement and instructed the mine manager, "Let’s go to the mining site where this stone was found."
The mine manager was hesitant, "Manager Jiang, the mining site is dirty and chaotic, and there’s a lot of dust..."
It wasn’t that he didn’t want them to go, but the workers often mined shirtless underground, given that it was all men down there, nobody cared who saw, and besides, it was pitch black and covered in coal dust; anyone coming up looked like they were made of coal.
Mainly, he feared that the rough ways of the workers would frighten these refined visitors.
"Just take us there! Why all the fuss?" demanded Jiang Shaoqing, his temper flaring.
The mine manager had no choice but to take them into the mining area.
Indeed, the air quality was poor, and the suddenly arrived leaders frightened the workers, who were naked to the waist; they quickly covered themselves and ran to the nearby tunnels to get dressed.
They had no clue why all these people had suddenly shown up.
Huang Zhi approached the machinery with his team and examined the stones carefully on the rock face. The more he looked, the more he sweated; he had seriously underestimated the situation.
"Manager Jiang! These are diamonds, similar to normal diamonds! In a few millions of years, these stones might even become real diamonds, but they’re not yet. However, their hardness is already comparable to diamonds. If we continue to mine them forcibly, we’ll need increasingly powerful machines.
You’ve seen it yourself; our wall-styled mining has its flaws. If these pillars encounter strong vibrations, they could cause collapses in other planes. It’s a good thing we found this early. Otherwise, this area alone could trigger a disturbance akin to a magnitude six earthquake. The mine shaft might not hold up then.
These workers would have nowhere to escape to," Huang Zhi added, frightened.
He had not anticipated the safety hazard lurking here.
Who could have imagined that mining coal could lead to such an event, an accident triggered inadvertently.
"Cease all work," ordered Jiang Shaoqing.
The mine manager then relayed the order to all workers.
Everyone looked at each other, not knowing what had happened, but from what the technical expert had said, it seemed like the mine shaft was prone to collapse.
Nobody wanted to die.