Four men extracted sand and soil from village land to sift for gold, recovering a total of more than 300 grams of gold over nine days. They sold the gold for more than 260,000 yuan before being apprehended by police.
On October 17, reporters learned from the China Judgments Online website that the Qianshan District People's Court of Anshan City, Liaoning Province, had recently issued a first-instance criminal judgment in this case. The four individuals were convicted of illegal mining and sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of ten months, ten months, seven months, and six months respectively, all with a one-year suspended sentence.
The court found that before committing the offense, Zhong, Ji, Fu, and Sun had verbally agreed in advance that each person would hold a 25% stake. Zhong purchased mercury, and without obtaining a mining license, they hired excavators and loaders and used mercury, gold sluice boxes, and other tools to unauthorizedly extract sand and soil to sift for gold.
On April 7, 2026, the four began digging soil on the land of a resident surnamed Cao in a village in a certain town in Xiuyan County, preparing to sift for gold, but were immediately transferred by the town's land and resources department to a county bureau for handling.
After the incident, the four showed no remorse and on April 18 went to the land of a village in another township to extract sand and soil and sift for gold. Between April 18 and April 24, the four extracted sand and soil from the land of a villager's home in that village daily from around 5:00 PM to 5:00 AM the next morning, illegally mining a net weight of 310.11 grams of gold with a purity of 82.5%. Subsequently, Zhong and Fu traveled to Haicheng City to sell the gold to a shop in Ganwang Town, Haicheng City, obtaining 264,440 yuan.
From around 5:00 PM on April 26 to 5:00 AM the next day, and from around 5:00 PM to 10:00 PM on April 27, the four continued to extract sand and soil and sift for gold in the cowshed of a resident surnamed Wu in a village in a certain town, and were caught by police from the Xiuyan County Public Security Bureau. On-site weighing of the refined gold was 3.6 grams.
After the case was filed, the four defendants' illegal gains of 264,440 yuan were handed over to the county public security bureau, and the land at the gold mining site has been restored and leveled.
The Qianshan District People's Court of Anshan City held that the defendants Zhong, Fu, Ji, and Sun, without obtaining a mining license, unauthorizedly mined, and their actions constituted the crime of illegal mining as joint offenses and should be punished. The final judgment was as follows: Zhong, Fu, Ji, and Sun were convicted of illegal mining and sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of ten months, ten months, seven months, and six months respectively, all with a one-year suspended sentence. The mineral products transferred with the case were confiscated according to law and turned over to the state treasury. The illegal gains of 264,440 yuan seized by the public security organ were confiscated according to law by the seizing authority and turned over to the state treasury.
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