You know how they talk about your fortunes changing overnight? Usually, it’s just a pipe dream brought to life in film, but miracles do happen, as one happy camper found out.
Small-scale Tanzanian miner Saniniu Laizer recently discovered 2 of the biggest rough tanzanite gemstones ever found, making him an overnight millionaire worth $3.4 million.
Tanzania’s government bought the rare minerals weighing 9 kg and 5 kg from the miner in order to preserve them.
The buyout makes Laizer a millionaire in dollars, and a billionaire in terms of Tanzania’s local currency.
He now plans to open a shopping mall and a school for his community, as well as give the money to other developmental efforts.
According to the Economic Times, Tanzanite is an extremely rare rock found only in this country, and Mr. Laizer lucked out hard.