Since 1866, the Rand mining area has been mined for more than 80 years. The output is very stable, averaging about 800 tons per year, accounting for half of the world's total gold output.
This is the data released to the public, no one knows the actual production volume.
An interesting point is that the output of the Rand Mining Area will fluctuate with the world's total gold output. If the output of other gold mines around the world is relatively small that year, then the output of the Rand Mining Area will be more, and vice versa.
This kimberlite controlled by the Rhodes family is similar. The whole world is promoting that the output of diamonds is limited and will be mined soon, so the price will get higher and higher.
In fact, the diamonds produced in the Kimberley mining area alone are enough for the world to consume for more than a hundred years. Rock doesn't know the specific output of Kimberley. He only knows that Kimberley's diamonds will never be mined out. The situation is probably similar to the world's oil reserves.
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Adan Company also often says that the oil is almost exhausted. Every time it says this, the price of oil will rise. However, new oil fields are discovered around the world every year, and the production predicted by oil companies is also very interesting, without mentioning reserves at all.
How much it is, only how many years it can be used by the whole world.
As the largest gold mine in the world, the Rand Mining Area currently has about 110 mines that are stably producing gold. The largest of them is still the West Rand Gold Mine under the name of Rock. This mine has been stably producing gold.
Over the past 40 years, the cumulative production of gold has reached nearly 26,000 tons.
26,000 tons of gold, this is the secret of the rise of the Locke family.
Even if Roque doesn't have any other properties in his name, just these 26,000 tons of gold can make him the world's richest man.
Last year, The Times announced that Stoudemire became the world's richest man with a net worth of R1.75 billion.
According to the current exchange ratio, 1.75 billion can only be exchanged for 1,750 tons of gold.
"So, Lord Nyasaland is the real richest man in the world." Kurki lamented that these numbers were too big and beyond the scope of Kurki's understanding.
"It can't be explained like this. After all, Lord Rhodesia's wealth cannot be only 1.75 billion." Petrovic didn't trust the Times. This was just a figure on the surface.
The greatest wealth under Stoudemire's name is not the South African company or the Pilbara mines at all, but Rhodesia.
The whole of Rhodesia belongs to Xiao Si, and the laws of the Southern African federal government are not as effective in Rhodesia as Xiao Si's orders.
The area of Rhodesia is 380,000 square kilometers.
According to statistics from The Times, Rock's wealth is only a pitiful 150 million.
This is obviously the data after shrinking and then shrinking again. I don’t know how many times it has been shrunk.
The greatest wealth in Roque's name is not Nyasaland, nor the Rand Bank, but the University of Nyasaland and countless research institutions throughout southern Africa.
"These super rich people control this country and use the power given by the state to plunder the country's wealth. This is the biggest opportunity for us." Kurci is ambitious. In his eyes, the more powerful people like Rock and Stoudemire become.
The better the money.
More money means more people serving them.
These are the people Curchi works for.
Petrovich frowned, obviously not as optimistic as Kurci.
Petrovich understands the working class in southern Africa better than Kurci, especially the workers in the companies owned by Roque.
Kurci's mood became heavier and heavier as the train got closer and closer to the Rand mining area.
Cape Town was once the most economically developed place in southern Africa.
It is also limited to Cape Town. During the British rule, the Cape State other than Cape Town was also a remote area. Even after the opening of the Suez Canal, Cape Town's status was declining year by year.
After the end of the Second Boer War, southern Africa truly entered a period of rapid development. The three northern continents represented by Transvaal, Rhodesia, and Nyasaland became the engine of southern Africa's economic development.
Of course, Cape Town has developed well in the past few decades, which is very different from forty years ago, but after all, it is within the scope of Kurki's understanding. After all, Kurki worked in Paris before, and he is also a person who has seen big scenes.
As the train left Cape Town and headed north, Kurtchi's mood became more solemn.
From Kurci's perspective, southern Africa's basic transportation facilities are so good that they are even luxurious.
Among other things, right next to the railway, there are more than one road running parallel to the railway, also going all the way north, which makes Kurci not understand.
Now that we have railways, why do we need to build roads? And there are more than one. This is obviously a waste.
"The difference is that those that are closed are highways, and those that are not closed are ordinary roads. Highways require tolls, while ordinary roads do not charge, but the speed will be restricted -" Petrovich explained in detail, and then discovered that Ku
Erqi still didn't understand enough: "——You can understand it as the first-class carriage we ride in, and the ordinary carriage."
"Oh -" Kurti suddenly realized, if you said this earlier, wouldn't I understand?
But that doesn't answer the question of waste.
"When the railways were built in Southern Africa, the federal government had not yet been established. The colonial government had no money, and the United Kingdom would not provide any money. Therefore, in order to raise funds, the colonial government at that time used land gifts to attract social investment. What we have now
This is how the railways and these roads came about." Petrovich didn't even notice that he was full of pride when he explained all this.
No need to ask.
The question is that Petrovich already considers himself a true southern African.
This does not conflict with Petrovich's identity.
"I hate this kind of system that uses money to set up hierarchies everywhere." Kurci's ideal is world harmony.
"But if we don't do this, how can we make those rich people willing to spend money to build roads?" Petrovich disapproved of Kurci's extreme. After all, once the roads are built, everyone can enjoy the benefits of convenient transportation.
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Therefore, Roque does not object to the luxurious consumption of the rich. What he objects to is casting silver into "nothing but" and hiding it in the cellar.
If wealth doesn't circulate, what's the point?
"This is why we want to overthrow capitalism!" Kurci was determined and would not waver just because of a few words from Petrovich.
Petrovich does not argue and speaks with facts.
Kurci's words became less and less.
As the train goes north, you can see that the economy becomes more developed as you go north.
To the north of Cape State is Orange. When the train passed Bloemfontein, Kurchi's mood was quite calm.
But after the train entered the Transvaal, Curtsch's expression became more and more surprised.
The shock that Cape and Orange brought to Kurtchi was not that big. Occasionally, there were glimpses of more prosperous towns. Kurtchi had no time to appreciate them carefully. However, the feeling given to Kurtchi by these two states was already the same as that of the other two states.
The old colonial countries in Europe are equally divided.
This is actually unfair.
Apart from anything else, just from the density of cars on the roads, we can see that the economic development of Cape and Orange is definitely much better than that of ordinary European countries.
Among them, Cape Town and Bloemfontein, in Kurci's opinion, are as prosperous as Paris and London.
Cape Town is not bad, after all, it is well-known, and Kurtz has heard of it for a long time.
Regarding Bloemfontein, Kurchi had almost no knowledge of the city before coming to southern Africa, and had not even heard of its name.
Naturally, Petrovich would not introduce that Bloemfontein was once one of the three capitals in southern Africa. Now there is only one capital in southern Africa, Pretoria.
If I had to find a companion capital, it would be Los Angeles, Salisbury, Whale Bay, or even Port Edward.
No matter how you calculate it, it’s not Bloemfontein’s turn.
Leaving Bloemfontein and continuing north is the Transvaal, which is also the terminus of Kurchi's trip. The Rand mining area is located in the Transvaal.
Entering the Transvaal, Curchi became increasingly silent.
In the early years, European colonists' development of Africa was carried out along rivers, but now it is carried out around railways. Many cities rely on railways to rise. Railways pass between cities, and the observation of cities will be more detailed.
It is not difficult to see from the level of urban construction that the living standards of southern Africans are indeed very high.
The most impressive thing is definitely the roads.
European cities are represented by Paris and London. The more famous they are, the longer their history. However, the level of urban construction is actually not high.
Not to mention that London is a foggy city for half the year. The ineffectiveness of the German bombing of London has a lot to do with the heavy fog in London in winter.
Paris has a history of more than 2,000 years. The city walls began to be built in the 13th century. The size of the city was limited, but the population continued to grow.
The 13th century was hundreds of years ago. At that time, it was certainly not considered that there would be so many people and so many cars in the city. The supporting facilities were extremely imperfect, and the humanistic spirit was not considered at all. Therefore, the level of urban construction can be imagined.
Cities in Southern Africa have just emerged in the past few decades. From the beginning, planners have considered various situations. There are basically no supporting facilities. The most basic thing is that the streets are wide, horizontal, and vertical.
What surprised Kurci most was the villa area that stretched for several kilometers or even dozens of kilometers around the city.
"It's not a villa, this is the most common house in southern Africa. Every household has one. Southern Africans are used to working in the city center and living in suburbs with beautiful environment, fresh air, and quietness. Although there are many people in the city,
But because public transportation is very developed, it is not too crowded at ordinary times." Petrovich's explanation finally touched on Kurci's knowledge blind spot.
Kurci's specialty is the labor movement.
Talking about city construction with him is like playing the piano to an ox.
From this perspective, Kurci is good at destruction, not construction.
The most ordinary houses in southern Africa are, in Kurchi's view, wealthy areas.
These houses are not cheap wooden houses, and they are not even made of reinforced concrete. At least the exterior walls are decorated with natural stones and painted with various bright paints, which makes it even more difficult for Kurci to understand.
If you want to pursue nature, why paint?
Since you need to paint, why must you use exterior wall decoration? Isn’t the texture of natural stone the best decoration?
"In recent years, the Transvaal State Government has been working hard to turn the Transvaal into a tourist city. It has not yet reached Ziwei City. That city has painted all the houses in colorful colors, also known as Rainbow.
City." There was a touch of envy in Petrovich's words, who wouldn't want to live in such an environment.
Paris is very good, but it is always facing threats from the Germans and cannot even guarantee safety, so Parisians are very miserable.
London is also very good, but thousands of people die every winter because of smog. Health is a big problem.
Pretoria is also known as the City of Ziwei and the City of Gardens. From these nicknames, you can understand how high the level of urban construction in this city is.
Ziwei City is known as the Rainbow City, but it no longer belongs to the human world.
"Ziwei City seems to be our destination." Kurtci had done his homework before setting off.
It is indeed the destination. Ziwei City appeared because of the discovery of the West Rand Gold Mine. Without the West Rand Gold Mine, there would be no Ziwei City. It can be said that all residents of Ziwei City are closely related to the West Rand Gold Mine.
relation.
Of course, Ziwei City is also Rock's real base camp.
The first piece of land Rock purchased in southern Africa was the area where Ziwei City is located.
The train continued north, and Kurci and Petrovich got off in Johannesburg, where they had to transfer to a bus to Ziwei City.
Ziweicheng is also connected to the railway, but it is only 20 kilometers away from Johannesburg. It is a waste of time to transfer to the train at such a distance, and it is far less convenient than taking a car.
Although these places have different names, Ziwei City, Johannesburg, and Pretoria have actually been connected together for a long time. The city is the largest urban agglomeration in southern Africa.
It was six o'clock in the afternoon when Kurci and Petrovich got off the bus. It was the traditional traffic rush hour. In order to save time, Petrovich suggested that Kurci take the subway.
However, in order to learn more about Johannesburg, Kurci chose to take a taxi.
Petrovich called a taxi, and when the taxi arrived, Curtsy was startled because it was a Cecil Rhodes.
Cecil Rhodes is a high-end car launched by Rhodesian Heavy Industries. Each car sells for up to 15,000 rand, and only wealthy people in Europe can afford to buy it.
Kurci never expected that Cecil Rhodes would be used as a taxi in Johannesburg.
"Cecil Rhodes is not a high-end car. The real high-end car is the Lord. Cecil Rhodes is only used to deceive those wealthy Europeans." Petrovich disagreed.
In order to enhance their brand image, major automobile companies in southern Africa have launched high-end cars, with prices ranging from 10,000 rand to tens of thousands of rand. Ten thousand rand is a hurdle.
In Europe, high-end cars produced by Southern African Automobile Companies are very popular and have become standard equipment for almost everyone with a certain status.
In Paris, if you don't have a high-end car, you won't even be able to attend a banquet.
But in southern Africa, the only real high-end cars are Lords and Cecil Rhodes. No matter how cool the appearance, high-end configuration, and powerful power are, they still don’t have the connotation that a luxury car should have.
