Weng Xuehai, Ba Kang and others led the exploration team. After nearly half a month of exploration, they drilled 173 drill points and finally roughly determined the distribution, thickness and reserves of this vein.
"I didn't expect that our mineral exploration team would not discover this huge mine." Ba Kang joked.
In fact, what he said was not wrong, because it was discovered by the construction team of the aerospace base, so the first contribution to this mine was made by the construction team, not the exploration team.
Weng Xuehai is open-minded: "This kind of thing is normal. Don't think about the luck of a blind cat encountering a dead mouse. We should continue to work down-to-earth. Sooner or later, other large mineral veins will be discovered."
Wu Gang, who got the mineral distribution map, finally breathed a sigh of relief, because the mineral veins did not extend toward the space base, and he only needed to find another place for fuel storage.
At this time, Wu Cong, who was in charge of the mining and mining department, also hurried here.
He looked at this mountainous area, even if there was a railway passing nearby, it still made people bald.
"Boss, what are the arrangements for this place?" Bakang asked curiously.
Wu Cong spread his hands: "What else can be done? It must be mined. Now all domestic iron ore is imported from Australia and Tianzhu. This is not a good phenomenon."
As the head of a mining company, Wu Congke knows that the three major groups currently have their own steel plants, and the scale is quite large, with a combined annual output of 18 million tons of steel.
Next year, the production will be expanded to 33 million tons of steel.
Steelmaking and ironmaking equipment can be purchased, but iron ore is a consumable, and it is not a good thing if you rely on imports all year round.
Although Qingye Group successfully forced Tianzhu and Australia to sell a batch of iron ore at a low price with its new drugs.
But the other party must have some small calculation in mind, such as expanding production capacity for you at a low price first, and after a few years it will fatten you up, and then directly kill you severely.
There were no large iron ore mines in Hongsawady and the other three controlled areas before. Once the supply of iron ore is cut off, the profits of the steel industry will definitely be harvested by the Australians.
Because China's steel companies are unable to be self-sufficient in iron ore, their profits are harvested by iron ore suppliers such as BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto, and Vale.
Wu Cong has seen part of the company's long-term plan, which requires the construction of many large-scale infrastructure projects.
In the areas controlled by Homo sapiens, at least 300 to 500 million tons of steel will be consumed in the next 10 years.
If such a huge steel consumption relies solely on imports, Homo sapiens will not be able to sustain it no matter how rich it is.
Therefore, we must develop our own steel industry.
But the problem comes back again. The steel industry requires a large amount of iron ore. However, no large-scale iron ore was found in the previously controlled area, and most of the iron ore relied on imports.
Now that we have discovered the huge iron ore in Longgrand Mountain, it must be mined.
Weng Xuehai, who was present, reminded: "Mr. Wu, mining is mining, but the associated mines must be handled properly. This is a huge wealth."
"Of course, I will organize a secret seminar after I return to discuss a reasonable mining plan." Wu Cong also knows the value of this mine very well.
According to preliminary exploration data, total magnetite reserves are approximately 870 million tons, with an average grade of 34.6%.
In addition, if all the associated titanium, vanadium, molybdenum and rhenium are mined and refined, approximately 180,000 tons of titanium, 110,000 tons of vanadium, 30,000 tons of molybdenum, and the most valuable 320 to 350 tons of rhenium can be obtained.
If all the iron ore in this mine is mined, approximately 300 million tons of steel can be smelted, which can basically meet the minimum requirements of the current control area.
Together with other small mines in the control area, we can smelt another 100 million tons of steel.
In other words, with the Longgrand Mountain vanadium titanium magnetite, Homo sapiens basically does not need to worry about the threat of international iron ore suppliers.
Now, taking advantage of the cheap international iron ore prices, we need to import large quantities of iron ore unscrupulously.
The Langerangshan vanadium-titanium magnetite ore will certainly not be mined on a large scale in the initial stage. Instead, infrastructure and supporting facilities must be built to prepare for the expansion of production capacity at any time in the future.
As long as they have enough iron ore reserves on hand, international iron ore suppliers are nothing more than a group of paper tigers.
In fact, the iron mines in various parts of Hongsawady have been sealed up and strategic reserves have been established.
Homo sapiens Company attaches great importance to preparing for a rainy day.
Whether it is food, energy, fertilizers, or minerals, a complete strategic reserve system has been established to cope with possible external blockades in the future.
Wu Cong, who had been inspecting the mining area for two days, was about to take people back to the company, but he didn't want to meet the person in charge of another company coming over.
"Mr. Wu, your mining company has become more prosperous this time." Achindo, the head of Mandalay Special Smelting Company, greeted him with a smile.
Wu Cong smiled and shook his head: "It's just hard-earned money, and this mine is probably used as a strategic reserve."
Achindo didn't show off. After all, they were all his own. He directly stated the purpose of his visit: "I read the exploration report. I don't need iron ore here for the time being, but I need titanium, vanadium, molybdenum and rhenium here urgently, especially
It’s rhenium.”
Wu Cong, who knew some of the uses of metals, immediately guessed what he was talking about: "Steam turbine blades? Or an aerospace engine?"
Achindo nodded: "Our metallurgical technology is not very good. Some special parts have very high performance requirements. In order to meet the requirements, we can only work hard on the materials used."
Regarding this statement, Wu Cong did not expect it. He smiled and replied:
"They are all serving the company. We keep these rare metals as reserves. Since you are in need, we will naturally cooperate fully. Originally, we also need to process these associated mines."
"That's great." Achindo was overjoyed.
Recently, he has been troubled by the matter of smelting special alloys and searching for imported rare metals.
Fortunately, for titanium, vanadium and molybdenum, rhenium is not only as expensive as gold, but also has very few channels for purchase, and is basically monopolized by Europe and the United States.
Among lightweight high-temperature resistant alloys, rhenium has the finishing touch.
Rhenium is an important raw material in many jet aircraft engines and ultra-high temperature resistant parts.
Although it is possible to produce high-temperature resistant alloys without rhenium, the performance will be much worse.
The Homo sapiens company is originally very good at special alloy technology. If it cannot use good raw materials, the performance of the alloy will be even worse.
Obviously, the discovery of vanadium-titanium magnetite in Langerang Mountain and the reserves of more than 300 tons of rhenium are, to Mandalay Special Smelting Company, like the discovery of a freshwater lake in the desert.
The two discussed for a long time and decided to return to Mandalay together.
Weng Xuehai, Ba Kang and others led the exploration team and continued to explore the entire Longerang Mountain.
After all, the length of this mountain range is about 370 kilometers from north to south, and the width from east to west is between 50 and 80 kilometers. The total area is 24,000 square kilometers, which is roughly equivalent to about 0.4 Tongliao.
With such a vast area and a large part of it unexplored, the prospecting potential here is very great.
The exploration team, stimulated by the vanadium-titanium magnetite in Longerang Mountain, planned to conduct a thorough investigation of the entire Longerang Mountain.
Although they say they don't care who discovers the super-large mineral vein first, they actually care very much in their hearts.
Prospecting is their profession. In their own professional field, they are not as good as other people's blind cats and dead mice. There is always some dissatisfaction and unwillingness.
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