50s: Starting with a storage ring

Chapter 519 The Premier Mine, Rich in Giant Diamonds
The 80s were the most prosperous era for South Africa's economy. Johannesburg, as the largest city in South Africa, is now a place that presents itself to Sun Zhiwei as a place of wealth and development.

The streets were bustling with traffic, buses came and went, and the pedestrians were dressed very fashionably. He couldn't tell at all that this was an African country.

This economic prosperity is thanks to South Africa's exceptionally rich mineral resources—a gift from nature that makes it hard not to get rich.

Data shows that South Africa has mined 4 tons of gold in the past 100 years. In fact, South Africa mined 656 tons of gold last year alone, accounting for half of the world's production.

The more than 60 gold mines near Johannesburg constitute South Africa's largest gold-producing region, hence its nickname "Gold City".

At that time, South Africa had world-leading mining technology, a highly developed agriculture, a diverse manufacturing sector, a thriving economy, and strong military capabilities.

According to data from two years ago, South Africa's GDP per capita was 16 times that of mainland China, and its total economic output ranked as the world's sixth largest economy, making it a de facto developed country.

However, South Africa's strong hand has many fatal flaws.

First, there was the separation of black and white.

The segregation laws divided people into four groups: white, people of color, Indian, and black. Asians were considered to be on the same social class as whites.

On his way from the airport to the city, Sun Zhiwei noticed that every bus had a reserved seat for white people, and even if the seat was empty, Black people were not allowed to sit there.

Beyond the use of public facilities, the law also imposed significant restrictions on Black people's residence, prohibited interracial marriage, and imposed considerable limitations on other areas such as healthcare, religion, and employment.

On this land, for the same job, white people earn ten times more than black people. This contradiction has been accumulating for a long time, quietly waiting for the day it would erupt.

Secondly, the industrial system is incomplete.

South Africa is heavily reliant on imports in many industrial sectors, but because it is so wealthy, it seems to be trying to build a path of import substitution for domestic production.

Countries that rely on imports are always at risk of being exploited by the price scissors of foreign industrial products.

Finally, and most fatally, they are researching nuclear weapons.

It's often said that having money makes people arrogant, and South Africa is a perfect example. Just dig a little in the ground and money keeps flowing in. Money comes too easily, so naturally, people become conceited.

Two years ago, South Africa began collaborating with Israel on the development of nuclear weapons. One country had money and mineral resources, while the other had the technology but lacked the land; the two sides quickly reached an agreement.

Of course, the Russian bear also played a part in this. Although the Russian bear's home is far away, it can still stir things up.

At that time, South Africa still had a close cooperative relationship with the United States, but all of this was based on dependence on the United States.

Now you, the underling, want to develop nuclear weapons on your own? What are you trying to do? Are you planning to go it alone?

Although Sun Zhiwei, who was aware of the situation, did not intend to interfere, he still wanted to find out more information since he had come all this way.

The taxi took Sun Zhiwei to a large hotel in the city, where he checked in using James's ID.

Fifty kilometers north of Johannesburg lies the small city of Pretoria, where South Africa’s nuclear weapons manufacturing plant is located in Perindaba, a western suburb of Pretoria.

Because it was very close, Sun Zhiwei didn't delay and immediately hailed a car after leaving the hotel.

The factory's security system was terribly lax, practically leaking information everywhere. He managed to take many crucial photos without much effort.

The enrichment equipment, warhead casings, and even manufacturing blueprints in the photos clearly showed that this was a nuclear bomb manufacturing plant. He didn't know if these photos were useful, but gathering intelligence wherever he passed by had become a habit of his.

His main task this time was still mining, specifically diamond mining.

The Premier Mine, the largest diamond mine in South Africa, is located 30 kilometers east of Pretoria. That is the mining area that produced the Cullinan diamond.

After taking the photos, he turned east and headed straight for the Premier Mine.

The diamond deposits at the Premier Mine are all kimberlite-type deposits, which are tubular in shape and have a relatively small surface area of ​​only 880 meters by 550 meters.

This is a typical ancient volcanic conduit topography, with kimberlite conduits extending 800 meters underground. Diamond deposits are distributed around the volcanic conduit, mainly in the upper and middle parts.

When Sun Zhiwei drove to the vicinity of the mining area, he saw that the surface of the area had been almost completely destroyed, and dust filled the surroundings.

After a large amount of ore was mined, it was crushed and screened nearby. The screened ore powder piled up not far away, turning a large lake to the north grayish-white.

Not far from the mining area is a slum where most of the adult men are miners.

The estimated total reserves of the Premier mine are 150 million carats, of which one-quarter has already been mined, with a large amount of ore still waiting to be extracted.

He had assumed the mining area would be heavily guarded, but in fact, when he stood on top of the mining area and looked down, no one came to stop him.

The areas under strict management are the mining faces and the sorting plants beneath the mine.

For ordinary people, finding diamonds without tools is like finding a needle in a haystack.

This area is one of the world's rare rich mining areas, but the diamond content in each ton of ore is only 0.5 carats.

In other words, it's possible to find a diamond the size of a soybean in just one cubic meter of diamond ore, and even then, the quality is uncertain.

In fact, most rough diamonds are quite unremarkable when they are not polished.

Some look like alum, some like broken glass, some are pitch black, some are grayish, and they can come in all sorts of shapes and colors.

Most people lack the professional knowledge to identify diamonds, so you wouldn't recognize one even if it were right in front of you.

Sun Zhiwei noticed that there were quite a few tourists standing on the mining area looking down, many of whom came specifically to visit this diamond mine that once produced the world's largest diamonds.

Seeing this, he simply took out his camera and pretended to be a tourist to take pictures.

In fact, at this point he had already expanded his spatial dimension, enveloping the entire mine vein below.

Those prospecting experts weren't lying; this kimberlite deposit really does resemble a large, vertical pipe.

Within the field of vision, various sizes of rough diamonds are scattered around the perimeter of this pipe.

They are like shining stars, adorning the night sky. The spatial analysis function clearly marks the clarity and size of these diamonds.

Sun Zhiwei noticed that most of them were small or even miniature diamonds, and large diamonds that could be called treasures were very rare, with only a few dozen gems exceeding 100 carats.

(End of this chapter)