A Young Chinese’s Adventure in South Africa

By Zhang Dongliang

The 28-year-old Sun Jian has been in South African since 2003 after his college graduation from a mining major in China. His father objected strongly to his choice of South Africa as the destination of his further study abroad. Sun Jian did not budge an inch. His father gave in. He became a student at Johannesburg University.

South Africa amazed the young Chinese from Shanxi Province with its natural beauty. He was surprised to see so many stars in the night sky there for the first time in his life. The air is so crisp and fresh in South Africa that many Chinese afflicted with respiratory problems in China find the problems go away after living in South Africa for a short period of time.

Like many other students, Sun did part-time work during his school years and graduated in 2006.

After graduation, he got a diamond mining job in a mining company in Kimberley, a centre of a diamond mining area in northern Cape Province, South Africa. His monthly salary was equivalent of about 25,000 RMB yuan. Long before gold was found in South Africa, Kimberley was known as the center of diamond mining. In its hay days, there were more than 1,600 mines in operation and there are many legends about chance discoveries in these mines.

After a three-month special training session, Sun and a group of new fellow miners were assigned to work in Number 8 mining area. What he saw on the first day was much more than he had read about diamond mining. The mining area was located in deep mountains. It was a no mans land. The mining area was heavily guarded, separated from the outside with wire fences. It was closely watched by radars, infrared cameras, and mobile sensors and armed guards. The whole area was watched by more than 400 cameras. No one was allowed to bend and pick up anything from the ground, even though stepping on a diamond was practically out of the question. Anyone leaving the mining area was subjected to X-ray scan. Trucks that were no longer in service were not allowed to leave the ground too. There was a special ground for useless trucks.

Sun Jian remembers very clearly the first time when he found a diamond in his mining career. It did not shine at all. Sun Jian says that the traditional diamond mining is strip-mining. The mining area where he worked measures 1.6 km in perimeter and about 400 meters in depth. It is a huge hole in the ground. About 30 tons of diamond have been found there.

One day in October 2007, Sun Jian witnessed a big discovery. A truck driver made a mistake in dumping rocks from the truck. The supervisor in the supervision room spotted the mistake. He came out, ready to teach the driver a lesson. While walking toward the driver, he slipped and kicked a rock. What he saw made him forget his anger. He spotted a diamond more than 300 carats in weight. It was the largest diamond found in the 21st century.

Sun Jian was a little bit worried about his future in the mining. He knew he couldnt take it as his lifelong career. He wanted to do something else. One day in May 2009, he met a few Chinese friends for dinner. During the dinner, a girl called Li Juan wondered casually why Sun Jian did not sell mining machinery to South Africa. After all, his father in Shanxi Province works for a large mining machinery manufacturer.

The casual remark opened up a new world. Why not, indeed? Many mining businesses in north Cape Province need excavators, rock breakers, cranes and heavy-duty trucks. They bought very expensive equipment from Australia and Germany. They had never tried anything from China for fear that the quality and technology of much cheaper Chinese machines might be a problem.

Sun Jian contacted his father. The manufacturer back in Shanxi, a province where the mining industry is the pillar of the local economy, was eager to sell their equipment to South Africa customers. They sent people over, bringing info and quotes. Sun Jian brought them to see customers.

In August 2009, a mining company in Kimberley sent a group to do a field study in Shanxi. The company finally signed a contract worth 18 million US dollar with the Chinese manufacturer.

The buyer was very satisfied with the good quality machines and paid Sun Jian a commission of one million RMB yuan. The manufacturer also gave him a handsome bonus.

The surprising success pointed a way out for Sun Jian. He has a plan to set up a business in South Africa to sell Chinese mining machines and equipment to customers in the mining region. When asked naively by some friends why he did not get into the diamond business, he said that it was not possible to get cheap diamond in South Africa. There is a price monopoly all over the world. Diamond in South Africa is as expensive as anywhere else. □