Login
Welcome to visit CHN Encyclopedia!
Contribute Please log in Free registration logging out

您现在的位置是: 首页 > Economy > finance

finance

Who is crossing the border to mine gold? Henan and Shaanxi provinces compete for the "millennium gol

2025-01-23 finance 加入收藏
What is the real story behind this gold case involving Shaanxi and Henan provinces, where both sides used criminal means to take large-scale coercive measures against the other side's personnel? W
Who is crossing the border to mine gold? Henan and Shaanxi provinces compete for the "millennium gol(图1)
Who is crossing the border to mine gold? Henan and Shaanxi provinces compete for the "millennium gol(图2)
What is the real story behind this gold case involving Shaanxi and Henan provinces, where both sides used criminal means to take large-scale coercive measures against the other side's personnel? Who in the two provinces of Henan and Shaanxi is crossing the border to mine the other side's gold?
Who is crossing the border to mine gold? Henan and Shaanxi provinces compete for the "millennium gol(图3)
Who is crossing the border to mine gold? Henan and Shaanxi provinces compete for the "millennium gol(图4)
Author: Li Wei'ao
Cover image: Oriental IC


Who is crossing the border to mine gold? Henan and Shaanxi provinces compete for the "millennium gol(图5)
Who is crossing the border to mine gold? Henan and Shaanxi provinces compete for the "millennium gol(图6)





"It was us who discovered that neighboring Lingbao, Henan, was stealing gold from Shaanxi, so we reported it to the government. But the Lingbao police came to Shaanxi and arrested our people, more than 20 people in total. Up to now, five employees are still in prison, and they have been in prison for more than three years, and the case has not been resolved yet..."


In January 2025, Dang Xibei, the major shareholder and actual controller of Shaanxi Province Tongguan County Xinyuan Mining Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Tongguan Xinyuan Mining"), expressed his frustration to the Economic Observer reporter.


On the Henan side, a report submitted by the Henan Provincial Department of Natural Resources to the Law Enforcement Bureau of the Ministry of Natural Resources showed that in August 2021, the Lingbao Municipal Government of Sanmenxia, Henan received a report that Shaanxi Tongguan Xinyuan Mining was suspected of cross-border mining. In November of the same year, the Lingbao Municipal Public Security Bureau opened a case for investigation and arrested 23 suspects from Xinyuan Mining Company.


The 23 people included Dang Xibei and his employees. The case went through multiple judicial procedures, including the first instance by the Lingbao People's Court, the second instance by the Sanmenxia Intermediate People's Court, the retrial, and the remand for retrial. Later, the Henan Provincial High People's Court designated the Zhengzhou Railway Transportation Court to conduct a retrial of the first instance of the case.


On January 21, 2025, Fan Xiaohong, a full-time member of the Review Committee of Zhengzhou Railway Transportation Court, told the Economic Observer reporter that the case has not yet been sentenced.


On the Shaanxi side, on January 18, 2024, the Public Security Bureau and Natural Resources Bureau at the Weinan City and Tongguan County levels formed a "city and county joint task force" to investigate the suspected cross-border gold mining in Shaanxi by the Henan side. The number of "criminal suspects" they "knew" was also 23.


At the national level, the Law Enforcement Bureau of the Ministry of Natural Resources sent a letter to the Shaanxi Provincial Department of Natural Resources, requesting it to "promptly organize an investigation and deal with" whether there was any problem of cross-border gold mining in Lingbao, Henan.


What is the real story behind this gold case involving Shaanxi and Henan provinces, where both sides used criminal means to take large-scale coercive measures against the other side's personnel? Who in the two provinces of Henan and Shaanxi is crossing the border to mine the other side's gold?



Who is crossing the border to mine gold? Henan and Shaanxi provinces compete for the "millennium gol(图7)

Location of the "Millennium Gold Mine": "China Gold City" on the east side and "Huaxia Gold City" on the west side


Tongguan Xinyuan Mining, where Dang Xibei is located, was established in August 2004 and is located in Xiaokou Village, Tongyu Town, Tongguan County, Weinan City, Shaanxi Province. It is located in the Xiaoqinling area of the eastern extension of the Huashan Mountains, with Lingbao City, Sanmenxia, Henan Province to the east and Tongguan, Shaanxi Province to the west.


Who is crossing the border to mine gold? Henan and Shaanxi provinces compete for the "millennium gol(图8)

(Xinyuan Mining Co., Ltd. in Tongguan County, Shaanxi Province. Since December 2021, at least 23 people from the company have been taken coercive measures by the police in Lingbao City, Henan Province, and 5 employees are still in custody. Photo: Li Wei'ao)


The Xiaoqinling Mountains, which straddles Shaanxi and Henan provinces, have been the site of gold mining since the Tang and Song dynasties, and are truly the site of a "millennium gold mine." The Land and Resources Newspaper, under the Ministry of Natural Resources, reported in February 2014 that "the Xiaoqinling gold mining area is the second largest gold production base in China," with "more than 350 tons of proven gold resources."


Lingbao, Henan, east of the Lesser Qinling Mountains, has a total land area of 3,011 square kilometers and a permanent population of 658,500 by the end of 2023. According to the official website of the Lingbao Municipal Government, Lingbao City's "gold production has ranked second at the county level in the country for 39 consecutive years, and in 2021, gold production jumped to first in the country." The "China Gold Yearbook 2024" released by the China Gold Association in July 2024 shows that Lingbao City's gold production in 2023 was 10.93 tons, ranking third in the country's county-level gold production. Lingbao City was awarded the title of "China Gold City" by the China Gold Association.


The total land area of Tongguan, Shaanxi is 526 square kilometers, about 1/6 of Lingbao; by the end of 2023, the permanent population will be about 123,000, less than 1/5 of Lingbao's population. In terms of gold production, according to the 2024 work report of the Tongguan County Government, the county's gold production in 2023 will be 6.34 tons. The China Gold Association has awarded Tongguan the title of "China Gold City".



Who is crossing the border to mine gold? Henan and Shaanxi provinces compete for the "millennium gol(图9)

Henan Lingbao's company repeatedly crossed the border into Shaanxi to mine


Dang Xibei, born in 1974, is a native of Tongguan, Shaanxi. He started working in gold mining companies in the 1990s and took over Xinyuan Mining Company in 2006. Currently, Xinyuan Mining Company has four shareholders, Dang Xibei holds 86% of the shares, his brother Dang Hongliang holds 9% of the shares, and two Tongguan County state-owned companies - Tongguan County State-owned Assets Management Co., Ltd. and Tongguan County Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation Development Company each hold 2.5% of the shares.


Dang Xibei told the Economic Observer reporter that since at least 2017, they had discovered that some people in Lingbao, Henan, had crossed the border to mine Xinyuan Mining's gold ore.


Several documents issued by the Tongguan County Land and Resources Bureau (now known as the Tongguan County Natural Resources Bureau) obtained by the Economic Observer reporter show that the incident of Henan Lingbao crossing the border into Shaanxi to mine is not an isolated case, and it happened at least three times in 2017.


This includes: On June 15, 2017, the Tongguan County Land and Resources Bureau and the Lingbao City Land and Resources Bureau conducted joint law enforcement against Kyoto Mining Co., Ltd. in Lingbao, Henan, which crossed the border into Shaanxi to engage in mining.


On July 25, 2017, Tongguan County Jintong Mining Co., Ltd. reported that Guo's Mining in Lingbao City, Henan Province, crossed the border into Tongguan County to mine. On August 2 of the same year, the Tongguan County Land and Resources Bureau, together with the Tongguan County Public Security Bureau, entered the mining site and ordered them to return to the mining area, saying that "Guo's Mining not only failed to fulfill its legal obligations, but also continued its illegal activities." On August 18, the Tongguan County Land and Resources Bureau and the Tongguan County Public Security Bureau and other units jointly enforced the law against Guo's Mining's cross-border mining, "and encountered illegal resistance from more than 50 people from the other side... and it was impossible to enforce the law normally for about 2 hours." On August 21, the Tongguan County Land and Resources Bureau sent a letter to the Lingbao City Land and Resources Bureau, requesting that the other side promptly investigate and deal with Guo's Mining's cross-border mining.


On October 20, 2017, in response to the report by Tongguan Xinyuan Mining Company that Henan Lingbao Xinmao Mining Co., Ltd. had entered the mining area of Tongguan County and mined beyond its boundaries, the Tongguan County Land and Resources Bureau sent another letter to the Lingbao City Land and Resources Bureau, requesting the other party to investigate and deal with the behavior in a timely manner.


In 2018, the Tongguan County Land and Resources Bureau sent a letter to the Lingbao City Land and Resources Bureau regarding a similar incident, requesting them to "jointly stop the illegal mining activities."


At the end of 2023, the Henan Provincial Department of Natural Resources also admitted in a report submitted to the Law Enforcement Bureau of the Ministry of Natural Resources: In July 2018, during the "mining order rectification" operation organized by the Lingbao Municipal Government of Henan Province in the city, it was discovered that there were two pit openings of the Lingbao gold mine, numbered 570 and 630, "both of which had illegal acts of tunnel projects exceeding the scope of the mining license" and "part of the tunnel of 570 (pit opening) entered the territory of Shaanxi Province."


The so-called "pit mouth" refers to the mouth of a mine or a mine shaft, which is the entrance for miners to enter the underground to mine ore. The tunnels leading from the pit mouth are complex, with many branches and tens of thousands of meters long in many gold mines in Xiaoqinling.



Who is crossing the border to mine gold? Henan and Shaanxi provinces compete for the "millennium gol(图10)


After Tongguan sent letters twice in 2021

Lingbao police dispatched to take away the Tongguan miners


After 2018, in 2019 and 2020, Economic Observer reporters did not see any official reports on whether anyone crossed the border into Tongguan, Shaanxi to mine. But in 2021, the situation suddenly changed.


Dang Xibei told the Economic Observer reporter that in April 2021, they discovered that someone from Henan Lingbao Gold Investment Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Lingbao Gold Investment) was stealing gold from the Shaanxi mining area, so they reported it to the Tongguan County Natural Resources Bureau.


Lingbao Gold Investment Company is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Lingbao State-owned Assets Management Co., Ltd.


On April 30 of the same year, the Tongguan County Natural Resources Bureau sent a "Letter on Coordinating the Investigation and Punishment of Illegal Mining Activities and Strengthening Mineral Resources Supervision" (Tong Natural Resources Letter [2021] No. 144) to the Lingbao City Natural Resources Bureau.


The letter stated: "Recently, our bureau received a report from Tongguan County Xinyuan Mining Co., Ltd. that during the production process, the 570 pit entrance lane of the first mining area of your city's Gold Investment Co., Ltd. was connected with it, posing a major safety hazard. Our county attaches great importance to it and commissioned a third-party geological service company to conduct on-site monitoring in the pit. The monitoring report shows that the 570 pit entrance of the first mining area of your city's Gold Investment Co., Ltd. has crossed the boundary into the mining rights area of our county, and there has been illegal mining activities of cross-border mining... We hereby inform your bureau to immediately stop the above illegal mining activities and eliminate safety hazards."


An official from the Tongguan County Natural Resources Bureau told the Economic Observer reporter that after they sent the letter, the Tongguan County Natural Resources Bureau and the Lingbao City Natural Resources Bureau organized a joint law enforcement operation in May of that year to seal off the tunnels where cross-border mining took place by installing iron gates and other means.


Only about three months later, Shaanxi Tongguan discovered that Henan Lingbao Gold Investment Company had entered Shaanxi territory and mined gold across the border, but this time it had moved to the "520 pit".


On August 23 of the same year, the Tongguan County Natural Resources Bureau again sent a "Letter on Coordinating the Investigation and Punishment of Illegal Mining Activities and Strengthening Mineral Resources Supervision" (Tong Natural Resources Letter [2021] No. 144) to the Lingbao City Natural Resources Bureau.


The letter stated: "Recently, our bureau discovered during the investigation of production safety hazards that the 520 pit entrance lane of the first mining area of your city's Gold Investment Co., Ltd. crossed the boundary into the mining rights area of our county for mining, posing a major safety hazard. Our bureau commissioned a third-party geological service company to conduct on-site measurements in the pit. The measurement report showed that the 520 pit entrance of the first mining area of your city's Gold Investment Co., Ltd. crossed the boundary into the mining rights area of our county, and there was illegal mining behavior of cross-border mining... We now inform your bureau to immediately stop the above illegal mining behavior, and seal the cross-border area to eliminate safety hazards."


But what was unexpected was that two days later, on August 25, 2021, the Lingbao Police in Henan Province suddenly entered Shaanxi. "The Lingbao Police came to our mine in Shaanxi, took away a dozen workers, and seized our explosives," said Dang Xibei.


After consultation and communication between the two government departments, the workers of Xinyuan Mining were released that evening, "but the explosives have been detained by the Lingbao police," said Dang Xibei.


Explosives are a necessity for mining and are approved and supervised by the local public security department. The explosives of Tongguan Xinyuan Mining, where the Dangxi is located, were approved by the Tongguan County Public Security Bureau.


In Lingbao, Henan, a reporter from Economic Observer saw a statement sent by the Henan Provincial Department of Natural Resources to the Law Enforcement Bureau of the Ministry of Natural Resources in 2023, which mentioned:


"In August 2021, the Lingbao Municipal Government received a report that the shaft and tunnel project of Tongguan County Xinyuan Mining Co., Ltd. was excavated into Henan Province and connected with the 570 and 630 shafts and tunnels, and there was suspected cross-border mining. The 570 shaft and tunnel blocking wall was immediately opened for joint inspections. After communicating with the functional departments of Tongguan County, the entrance of the 570 tunnel was re-blocked in September of the same year, and the 630 tunnel blocking wall was opened for joint inspections and law enforcement. It was found that there was a tunnel 200 meters above the 630 main tunnel, which was connected to the 630 main tunnel with the help of 630-1 and other tunnels. There were problems such as illegal mining in Henan Province about 2,000 meters to the east of this tunnel."



Who is crossing the border to mine gold? Henan and Shaanxi provinces compete for the "millennium gol(图11)


The incident escalated: at least 23 people from Tongguan Xinyuan Mining were arrested by Henan Lingbao police


An official from the Tongguan County Natural Resources Bureau told the Economic Observer reporter that after the incident on August 25, 2021, Tongguan in Shaanxi and Lingbao in Henan conducted a similar joint "boundary survey" operation in September of that year, and both sides sent people into the gold mine.


However, an accident occurred. Two staff members from Henan fainted in the gold mine due to lack of oxygen. This joint boundary survey ended in failure, the above-mentioned official said.


Two months later, on November 3, 2021, the Lingbao Municipal Government of Henan Province organized a joint operation in Lingbao.


A "Case Registration Form" issued by Lingbao police on November 19, 2021, seen by Economic Observer reporters, shows:


"On November 3, 2021, the Lingbao Municipal Government organized the Xiaoqinling Nature Reserve, Xiaoqinling Public Security Bureau, Lingbao Natural Resources Bureau, Lingbao Public Security Bureau, Lingbao Emergency Management Bureau, Lingbao Environmental Protection Bureau, Lingbao Yuling Town Government and other units to the 630 pit of Lingbao Gold Investment First Branch to block and define the Henan and Shaanxi lanes. After the joint law enforcement officers arrived near the Henan-Shaanxi boundary, eight suspicious persons fled (on-site questioning showed that they were personnel from Tongguan County Xinyuan Mining). The joint law enforcement officers initially defined the lanes and then blocked them. On November 4, Wang Xuegen and Chen Guangdong, pit managers at the 630 pit, found 432 kilograms of explosives (rock powder explosives, emulsion explosives) and 47 detonators in the iron gate of the blocked lane. On November 5, Zhou Sanqi, a pit manager at the 630 pit, found 216 kilograms of (rock powder explosives) explosives and 5 detonators at the iron gate of another lane near the blocking point."


The "Lingbao City Gold Investment First Branch" mentioned in this "Case Registration Form" is fully named "Lingbao City Gold Investment Co., Ltd. First Branch". It is located at No. 1 Shangtun Village, Yuling Town, Lingbao City, only about 3 kilometers away from Shaanxi Tongguan Xinyuan Mining Company.


Who is crossing the border to mine gold? Henan and Shaanxi provinces compete for the "millennium gol(图12)

(The “starting point” is the location of Shaanxi Tongguan Xinyuan Mining Company, and the “end point” is Henan Lingbao Gold Investment Co., Ltd. First Branch. The straight-line distance between the two companies is about 3 kilometers)


But it is worth mentioning that the industrial and commercial archives show that the first branch of Lingbao Gold Investment Co., Ltd. was established on October 27, 2022. This is much later than the time when the above-mentioned "case registration form" was formed.


On November 25, 2021, the Lingbao Municipal Public Security Bureau opened an investigation into the incident described in the above-mentioned “Case Registration Form”.


On December 14 of the same year, Shu Shen, Duan Xiuhu and other employees of Shaanxi Tongguan Xinyuan Mining were detained by Henan Lingbao police; the next day, the two were criminally detained on suspicion of theft.


In 2022, from January to March of this year, Shu Maosheng, Pang Kaiwei, He Gang, He Zhi, Tao Yongcheng, Gou Zhengfu, Liao Qishuang, Zhang Fanxue and other employees of Xinyuan Mining were also successively detained by Lingbao police, also on suspicion of theft.


On June 9, 2022, Dang Xibei, the actual controller of Xinyuan Mining, was also detained by Lingbao police.


According to the report submitted by the Henan Provincial Department of Natural Resources to the Law Enforcement Bureau of the Ministry of Natural Resources afterwards, at that time, the Lingbao police in Henan "had arrested 23 suspects from Xinyuan Mining Company."



Who is crossing the border to mine gold? Henan and Shaanxi provinces compete for the "millennium gol(图13)


The first instance was divided into 5 cases. Whether the mining location was in Henan was the key.


After the Lingbao Municipal Public Security Bureau completed the investigation of the above-mentioned case, the Lingbao Municipal People's Procuratorate divided the 11 detainees of Xinyuan Mining into five cases and prosecuted them separately from July 4, 2022 to November 25, 2022. The charges included suspected theft and illegal storage of explosives.


Among them, Dang Xibei was accused of theft by the Lingbao Municipal People's Procuratorate.


The prosecution alleged that in May 2019, Shu Maosheng and Zhang Fanxue signed a partnership agreement, and then found Dang Xibei, and agreed to "steal" gold ore from the first pit of Shaanxi Tongguan Xinyuan Mining Company, which was actually controlled by Dang Xibei, to the pit of Lingbao Guo's Mining Company where the two had worked before. The "stealed" gold ore was also transported from the first pit of Xinyuan Mining Company, and then processed into "gold concentrate" and "raw gold" in the concentrator of Xinyuan Mining Company, and then "sold by Xinyuan Company and its relevant personnel and divided the spoils in proportion."


Among them, "the sales amount of the above-mentioned 'gold powder' and 'raw gold', etc. by Tao Yongcheng and He Gang's work team under Shu Maosheng and Zhang Fanxue, was 61.508 million yuan, and Dang Xibei obtained 20.7753 million yuan from it..."


The prosecution believes that "Dang Xibei, in collusion with others, stole gold ore for the purpose of illegal possession, and the amount of gold ore is extremely huge" and he should be held criminally responsible for theft. It is recommended that he be sentenced to 13 years in prison.


According to the current Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China, if a theft is committed, "if the amount is extremely huge or there are other extremely serious circumstances, the offender shall be sentenced to more than ten years of fixed-term imprisonment or life imprisonment." The amount and sentencing standards for theft vary slightly across China. Economic Observer reporters have seen some cases in Henan Province in recent years where the amount of theft of 400,000 yuan or more is considered "extremely huge."


In addition to Dang Xibei, the other 10 people in Xinyuan Mining were either charged with theft or illegal storage of explosives. Shu Maosheng, Zhang Fanxue and six others were charged with both theft and illegal storage of explosives.


One of the biggest disputes in the case is whether the mining location of the accused Xinyuan Mining employees is within Henan Province, because it involves whether the Lingbao City Court and the entire Henan Provincial Court system have jurisdiction over the case.


In Henan, "the public security organs commissioned the First Geological Survey Institute of the Henan Geological Survey and Development Bureau to define the geographical location of the area involved in the case. The mining locations of Shu Maosheng, Zhang Fanxue and their subordinates Tao Yongcheng and He Gang's team are partially located in Henan Province."


Shaanxi has hired Shaanxi Golden Lion Geological Services Co., Ltd. and Weinan Zhongtian Surveying and Mapping Co., Ltd. to produce measurement reports to prove that the mining locations of Xinyuan Mining employees are all within the territory of Shaanxi Province.


On December 19, 2022, the Tongguan County Government of Shaanxi Province also formally sent a letter to the Lingbao Municipal Government of Henan Province (Tongzheng Letter [2022] No. 186). The letter stated: "It has been found that the temporary explosive storage site and mining site involved in the case of Tongguan County Xinyuan Mining Co., Ltd. are both in the administrative area of Tongguan County, and the Tongguan County People's Government has administrative management rights over the above areas."


On March 13, 2023, the Lingbao City Court made a first-instance judgment on the above case.


The crime that Dang Xibei was convicted of by the Lingbao Court was changed from theft at the time of the prosecution by the procuratorate to illegal mining. The Lingbao Court sentenced him to three years in prison, suspended for five years, and fined him one million yuan. At the same time, the court also ordered the confiscation of Dang Xibei's "illegal gains" of 25.2652 million yuan.


In the first-instance judgment, although the Lingbao City Court admitted that "the geographical location definition book made by the First Geological Survey Institute of the Henan Geological Survey and Development Bureau commissioned by the public security organs had flaws", the court still accepted it and recognized that "the geographical location definition book confirms that part of the mining location in this case is located in Lingbao, Henan, so this court has jurisdiction."


At the same time, the Lingbao Court "refused to accept" the two survey reports made by Shaanxi Jinshi Geological Services Co., Ltd. and Weinan Zhongtian Surveying and Mapping Co., Ltd.


On the same day, March 13, 2023, the Lingbao City Court also sentenced Shu Maosheng and others at the first instance. Shu Maosheng was convicted of illegal mining and sentenced to three years and six months in prison; he was convicted of illegal storage of explosives and sentenced to three years in prison. The two crimes were punished together, with a total sentence of five and a half years in prison.



Who is crossing the border to mine gold? Henan and Shaanxi provinces compete for the "millennium gol(图14)


Where will the disputes over appeal, protest and designated retrial go?


Who is crossing the border to mine gold? Henan and Shaanxi provinces compete for the "millennium gol(图15)

(Shu Maosheng and five others from Shaanxi Tongguan Xinyuan Mining Company have been detained in the Lingbao City Detention Center in Henan Province since the end of 2021 and the beginning of 2022, for more than three years. Photo: Li Wei'ao)


After the first instance judgment, Dang Xibei and others appealed. The appeal stated that the Lingbao Court "did not have jurisdiction over the case, the appellant did not conduct objective illegal mining, nor did he have subjective intention to mine illegally, and this case was a not guilty case", and at the same time, "there was insufficient evidence and unclear facts in this case, and we requested that the appellant be found not guilty".


At the same time, Shu Maosheng and others also filed an appeal.


The Lingbao City Procuratorate appealed against the first-instance judgment of Dang Xibei, Pang Kaiwei, Shu Shen, and He Gang. The reasons for the appeal included that Dang Xibei was the "principal offender" of the illegal mining case and that the "crime was particularly serious," and therefore Dang Xibei's "sentence was too light and the application of suspended sentence was inappropriate."


On June 30, 2023, the Intermediate People's Court of Sanmenxia City, Henan Province, made a ruling that in the case of Dang Xibei, "the original judgment found some facts to be unclear, the evidence to be insufficient, and the procedure to be improper", and therefore revoked the first-instance judgment and sent it back for retrial.


In response to the appeal by Shu Maosheng and others, the Sanmenxia Intermediate People's Court first held that "the facts are clear, the evidence is sufficient, the law is correctly applied, the sentence is appropriate, and the trial procedure is legal." Therefore, on June 19, 2023, it ruled to dismiss their appeal and uphold the original verdict.


Unexpectedly, less than a month later, on July 17, 2023, the Sanmenxia Intermediate People's Court made a retrial decision on Shu Maosheng's case; on August 20 of the same year, the Sanmenxia Intermediate People's Court again believed that the previous judgment "had some unclear facts, insufficient evidence, and improper procedures." Therefore, the first-instance judgment made by the Lingbao City Court and the second-instance ruling made by the Sanmenxia City Court were revoked, and the case was sent back to the Lingbao City Court for retrial.


After the above cases were sent back for retrial, on November 5, 2023, the Lingbao City Court re-filed these cases and merged them for trial.


25 days later, on November 30, 2023, the Higher People's Court of Henan Province also intervened, separated the first-instance retrial of the case from the Lingbao Court, and designated the Zhengzhou Railway Transportation Court to have jurisdiction over it.


From August 22 to August 23, 2024, the Zhengzhou Railway Transportation Court held an open trial of the case.


The 11 defendants, including Dang Xibei, and their defense lawyers all pleaded not guilty. At the same time, the issue of jurisdiction remains one of the focuses of controversy.


Dang Xibei and others believe that the "Geographical Location Definition Book" made by the Henan side involving the case "contains serious violations of the law and cannot be used as a basis for determining jurisdiction"; "the governments of Lingbao, Henan and Tongguan, Shaanxi both believe that there is an administrative boundary dispute in the area involved in this case" and "before trial, the administrative authorities should first resolve the administrative disputes and then determine the jurisdiction according to law."


According to the national "Mineral Resources Law Implementation Rules", "When a dispute arises between mining rights holders over the scope of a mining area, the parties shall resolve it through consultation; if no agreement is reached through consultation, the local people's government at or above the county level where the mineral resources are located shall handle it according to the scope of the mining area approved in accordance with the law; if the parties fail to reach an agreement on the scope of a mining area across provinces, autonomous regions, or municipalities directly under the central government, the dispute shall be resolved through consultation by the people's governments of the relevant provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the central government; if no agreement is reached through consultation, the geological and mineral resources department of the State Council shall propose handling opinions and report them to the State Council for decision."


At the same time, the "Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in the Trial of Mining Rights Dispute Cases" also stipulates that "infringement liability disputes caused by cross-border exploration and exploitation of mineral resources involve overlapping or unclear exploration and exploitation scopes approved by the land and resources authorities, the people's court should inform the parties to apply to the land and resources authorities for resolution first."


Therefore, Dang Xibei and his defense counsel believe that the case should first be "resolved through consultation between Shaanxi and Henan provinces or reported to the State Council to determine the boundary, and then the judicial jurisdiction of the case should be determined according to law."


Regarding the border issue, on January 12, 2025, Du Jiying, member of the Standing Committee of the Lingbao Municipal Party Committee, Minister of the Propaganda Department and Deputy Mayor of Lingbao City, Henan Province, said in an interview with the Economic Observer reporter:The border between the two provinces is very clear. The provincial boundaries have always been very clear from an official perspective."


Du Jiying also said that mining companies may not be very clear about where the border is, and government departments cannot always send people to watch the border. In addition, gold mining is carried out underground. "You can't see it on the ground. You must ask a third party with professional qualifications (institutions to define) to determine whether there is a cross-border. If there is a cross-border, it is definitely a crime."


In the Lingbao Municipal Government, one of Du Jiying's responsibilities includes natural resources and planning.


Dang Xibei and his defense counsel also believe that Dang Xibei and others "did not engage in objective illegal mining" and that "the so-called 'stolen money' involved in this case was transferred to Dang Xibei's personal account and was actually used to repay Xinyuan Company's debts, and Dang Xibei personally did not benefit from this case."


The Zhengzhou Railway Transportation Procuratorate, as the prosecutor, also proposed sentencing recommendations for Dang Xibei and 11 other defendants. Among them, the sentencing recommendation for Dang Xibei is a fixed-term imprisonment of 3 years and 6 months to 4 years and a fine of 1 million to 2 million yuan. Previously, the Lingbao City Court sentenced him to 3 years in prison, suspended for 5 years, and a fine of 1 million yuan in the first instance on March 13, 2023.


The trial of Dang Xibei, Shu Maosheng and others has been going on for five months.


On January 21, 2025, Fan Xiaohong, a full-time member of the Review Committee of Zhengzhou Railway Transportation Court who is in charge of this case, told the Economic Observer reporter that the case has not yet been sentenced.


Shu Maosheng and others have been taken coercive measures by the Lingbao police in Henan Province and have lost their freedom since January 2022, and it has been more than three years now.


文章底部广告位

文章评论

加载中~