212: Chapter 212 Isn't this infuriating?

What was Zhang Qun doing?

Although he hadn't been able to reach a consensus with Secretary Kang Kewu, he would never give up, no matter what.

How could he possibly give up such a massive gold mine just like that?

At worst, they could hand over the mined gold to the state, and even just mining and selling metals like copper and silver would bring in staggering annual revenues.

He began lobbying everywhere, trying to persuade the other members of the Standing Committee.

Believe it or not, there were quite a few members who were tempted. They basically agreed with Zhang Qun's approach and reached a private consensus; they just needed to get it passed at the Standing Committee meeting.

Naturally, news of this also reached the ears of Secretary Kang Kewu.

"Secretary, Mayor Zhang has persuaded several members of the Standing Committee. They are preparing to establish a specialized company to mine, operate, and manage the Jigongshan Gold Mine. They have even basically decided on the person in charge of the company."

Secretary Kang Kewu smiled, offered no opinion, and didn't seem angry at all.

He felt more and more that Qin Chuan was right.

A world-class super-mine of this size was simply something Ningzhou City couldn't handle. These people were truly blinded by greed; they couldn't even see that simple fact and were delusionally thinking that Ningzhou City could mine and manage it themselves.

"Secretary, shouldn't you speak to everyone and put a stop to Mayor Zhang's behavior?"

Secretary Kang Kewu waved his hand dismissively. "No need to stop them. Let's just watch the show; they won't succeed."

Sure enough, they really couldn't succeed.

When they had everything ready, even the company name decided and the person in charge basically internally appointed, and were preparing to discuss it at the Standing Committee meeting, word came down from above.

What Qin Chuan hadn't expected was that the state would act so quickly.

It had only been two or three days since the comprehensive exploration was completed when Provincial Party Secretary Qin Zhendong personally called to inform him that the state was already preparing to establish a specialized company to handle the mining, operation, and management of the Jigongshan Gold Mine. The person in charge was from the Qin Family faction, a man named Cao Zaixing.

This showed just how great the influence of the Qin Family was.

Provincial Party Secretary Qin Zhendong had truly gone to great lengths. For the sake of his son, and to prevent others from swooping in to reap the rewards, the person in charge of this company was directly an official from the Qin Family faction.

After hanging up the phone, Qin Chuan felt a weight lift from his heart.

He chuckled to himself; Mayor Zhang had been very active these past two days, and he heard he had even thought of a name for the company. It seemed he would just be working in vain.

At this moment, Ningzhou City was holding a Standing Committee meeting.

It was convened at the strong insistence of Zhang Qun, who felt victory was within his grasp; the Standing Committee meeting was just a formality.

In reality, it was indeed like that.

The previously neutral members of the Standing Committee had basically been persuaded by Zhang Qun, and with the two or three members already in the Mayor's faction, they held the majority this time.

Zhang Qun was in a good mood, with a clear look of joy on his face.

Having been mayor for so many years and having engaged in shadow battles with Secretary Kang Kewu for just as long, he had basically always been suppressed. It was rare for him to have the upper hand today.

As for Secretary Kang Kewu, his expression was quite serious.

One of the members from his faction was still making a final struggle. "Comrades, this is a world-class super-large gold mine. I think Secretary Kang Kewu is correct; we should just hand it over completely to the state for mining and management."

Zhang Qun, confident of victory, said, "That is completely unnecessary. We can hand over all the gold mined to the state, but the revenue from other metals, like copper and silver, can completely belong to us in Ningzhou City."

"How about this? Since there is a dispute, let's take a vote by show of hands. The minority must submit to the majority."

Secretary Kang Kewu said slowly, "We forgot one person when calling this meeting. We should notify Comrade Qin Chuan to attend the meeting. He discovered the gold mine, so we should listen to his opinion."

Hearing this, Zhang Qun's expression became a bit unpleasant.

He knew exactly what Qin Chuan's opinion would be.

This Qin Chuan hadn't stood with him again this time. It seemed he would need to be disciplined more in the future. Always not listening to him, the Mayor, and not following orders—that wouldn't do.

At this moment, Secretary Kang Kewu's phone vibrated.

He picked it up and saw it was a call from the Provincial Party Committee office. He quickly signaled everyone to be quiet. "It's a call from the Provincial Party Committee leadership. Everyone, quiet down for a moment; I need to take this call."

At this time, for the Provincial Party Committee leadership to call—could it be related to the Jigongshan Gold Mine?

Everyone pricked up their ears, and the entire conference room fell completely silent.

"Comrade Kang Kewu, I am notifying you in the name of the Provincial Party Committee that the matter of the Jigongshan Gold Mine has been decided from above. It will be mined and managed by the state. A specialized company will be established very soon, and the person in charge of the company has already been decided. A leader will be transferred from the State Nonferrous Metals Corporation to be responsible for the preparation of this company. You must cooperate well and realize large-scale mining of the Jigongshan Gold Mine as soon as possible."

"Understood, please rest assured, Secretary. We will definitely cooperate fully with the relevant work and realize the mining of the Jigongshan Gold Mine as soon as possible."

After hanging up the phone, seeing everyone looking at him, Secretary Kang Kewu said, "It was a call from the Provincial Party Secretary. The Jigongshan Gold Mine will be mined and managed by a specialized company established by the state. We should stop thinking about it and just do a good job with the coordination work."

"Since that is the case, there is no need to continue this meeting. Meeting adjourned!"

After announcing the adjournment, Secretary Kang Kewu felt light and was the first to walk out of the conference room.

The Standing Committee members from Secretary Kang's faction laughed and walked out of the conference room chatting happily.

Zhang Qun's face was very dark.

This was such a slap in the face.

He had been busy for so long, and just when victory seemed in sight, it all went down the drain. In the end, it was all for nothing.

Tell me, isn't this infuriating?

...

Cao Zaixing and his group arrived in Wanshun County.

Because their rank was not low—they were department-level officials sent down from the capital—Secretary Kang Kewu personally accompanied them. First, they conducted an on-site inspection of the Jigongshan Gold Mine, and then they immediately began planning for the gold mine.

Wanshun County began the relocation of some farmers around the gold mine. Fortunately, there were not many people, only a few dozen households, about one or two hundred people.

The planning and design drawings for the mining area were being handled by a very capable entity from the capital, with a total investment in the mining area exceeding ten billion.

It was mainly for the construction of factory buildings, the construction of roads in the mining area, and the procurement of some large-scale mining, ore dressing, and smelting equipment.

Qin Chuan put forward his own opinion: he did not suggest selling the ore externally, but rather conducting fine processing and selling various finished metal ingots externally, such as copper ingots, silver ingots, etc.

A few days later, the company was officially registered and established: Jigongshan Mining Co., Ltd., a state-owned enterprise at the department level.

To many people's surprise, and even Secretary Kang Kewu hadn't expected it, Wanshun County contributed one yuan and obtained a 10% stake in the company.

This was truly awesome!

Some people were jealous.

After Zhang Qun found out, his whole face turned dark again, and his hatred for Qin Chuan in his heart greatly increased. Such a big matter, and he actually hadn't reported it to him in advance.

Why report it in advance? Because Qin Chuan knew too well that once he reported it and let Zhang Qun know about this matter, he would probably get jealous again and then stir up some kind of trouble.