However, the Australian federal government has also reserved a hand, that is, you can explore if you want, and I will also issue you a mining license. However, South Pacific Petroleum Mining Company must explore or mine on its own land, neither rented nor borrowed.
Must buy.
If it were another company, it would be impossible to agree to the Australian federal government on this point, because leasing, borrowing and buying are completely different concepts. If oil cannot be drilled or minerals cannot be discovered on the leased land, you can still
Renting, this cost is relatively much less, but if you buy land to drill, whether it can produce oil or whether there is a mine, the land is yours. You don’t even have to think about it, you have paid the money.
And you can’t sell it, and no one wants it for free, so who can afford to buy a piece of desert to play with.
The Australian federal government may also feel that its conditions are too harsh, so it not only granted the oil mining rights to the South Pacific Petroleum Mining Company, but also gave the mining rights as a bonus. It is this mining right that David is waiting for. If only oil mining is granted
Quan, David can't sign a word.
When Liu Fei heard David's return, he couldn't help but sigh. No matter how stupid the time traveler is, he is smarter than the smartest person at the time. This is not a question of brain capacity, but a question of how much experience he has. There are some things you have never seen before.
Or if you have experienced it, you will never believe it. The smarter you are, the less likely you will believe it.
After obtaining the mining license, half of the iron ore in Australia is obtained. The only thing left is to step up exploration and buy land from the Western Australian government. There is no rush to explore this thing. Although with the help of airplanes, the quality of the ore
, the depth of the mineral seam, the geological structure of the mining area, etc. all need to be explored bit by bit by manpower. Flying prospecting is just a rough look. Although it can reduce a lot of initial exploration time, airplanes cannot help determine the detailed data in the later stage.
Busy.
Of the six suspicious areas initially detected by aircraft, the exploration team has already explored four. When the exploration reports for these four locations were sent back to the headquarters in Perth, Schneider almost fainted when he read the report. Several mining companies in the report
Experts and exploration experts all agree that these four mineral sites are iron ore with very large reserves. And the taste of the ore is extremely high. How high the grade is will only be known after the ore is brought back to the laboratory in Perth for testing.
, but these experts said
, judging from their many years of experience, this kind of ore can be thrown into a blast furnace to make steel without any treatment. What is even more surprising to them is the reserves in these four locations. The ore seams here are basically exposed.
The largest one on the surface has an area of more than 3 square kilometers and a thickness of more than 100 meters. Conservatively estimated reserves have exceeded 1 billion tons. Optimistic estimates may exceed 3 billion tons. It is a pure rich ore.
.
In addition, since these iron ores are exposed, there is no need to dig wells or drill holes. You can just start digging directly from the ground. The cost of open-pit mining is relatively low, and the mining volume is also relatively large. The only problem that needs to be solved is the transportation problem.
.
Schneider read the report back and forth several times, suppressed his inner impulse, and forced himself to calm down before he began to think about the next step. The first thing he needed to do was to buy land, and not just small pieces of land, but small pieces of land.
Buy this entire area. According to Schneider's many years of experience in oil exploration, whether it is a mine or oil, if there are several very large reserves,
The area is very close, so there is a high possibility that there are mineral deposits or oil deposits of the same size nearby. At this time, exploration is not the most important thing. What is important is to quickly get all the surrounding land.
, put it in your own hands, and then slowly explore it. Anyway, the value of the minerals that has been determined far exceeds the cost. Even if there is nothing on those lands, you will not lose money.
Secondly, there is the transportation problem. Schneider suffered this loss when he explored the oil fields by himself. Since the land in the surrounding areas was not in his own hands, after the oil wells produced oil, the prices of these lands increased countless times overnight. Think about it again.
It was no longer appropriate to buy it to build railways or highways. In the end, it was forced to cooperate with Standard Oil and let others take a piece of fat off their plate.
Now, Schneider did not intend to repeat this lesson again. He roughly determined the area and location of the land that needed to be purchased on the map, plus the locations of the planned railways and ports, and finally came up with a figure of 50,000 square kilometers.
!!!
How big is 50,000 square kilometers? It’s almost half of South Korea, which has a land area of 99,000 square kilometers. It’s almost half the size of Hainan Island, which is 35,000 square kilometers. Although on the map, it looks like just one
A place the size of a fingernail, but the actual area is quite large. Will the Western Australian government sell such a large area of land? Can the Australian federal government agree? Even if the government agrees to sell it, how much will it cost? Schneider probably follows the Western Australian government
Texas land prices calculated
Below, 50,000 square kilometers is about more than 12 million acres. When Schneider first arrived in West Texas and started exploring for oil, the price of land there was almost US$1.25. However, no matter how desolate the land in West Texas was,
land, lot of land
It's okay to use it as a pasture, but the land in Western Australia is basically not land at all. It's all desert and Gobi. The price must be lower than that in the United States, but Schneider has no idea how low it can be.
Go talk to the state government.
When Schneider tentatively proposed to the Western Australian state government to purchase a piece of land of more than ten square kilometers on the coast to build a temporary port, the state government officials seemed very embarrassed. After Schneider repeatedly asked, the young state government official
Then I told Schneider,
The climate on the coast there is very harsh. The summer is extremely dry, the temperature is very high, and tornadoes often blow. In winter, it is affected by the westerly winds, making it cold and humid with a lot of rain. Although there is no problem in building a port, it is very unsuitable for human habitation.
No one wants to go there for construction.
After hearing what this state government official said, Schneider almost shed tears. From childhood to now, except for his parents and wife, this young official has been very kind to him. He was afraid that he would not be able to use the land he bought, so he was unwilling to sell it.
to yourself.
After repeatedly confirming that he wanted to buy the piece of coastal wasteland, the state government official showed a helpless expression like a fool and told Schneider that according to the state government's land policy, the reserve price for selling such useless wasteland was 30 US dollars.
one acre, but each
The purchase must not be less than 640 acres. However, in order to encourage people to develop wasteland, the state government also stipulates that if the land classified as wasteland can be irrigated or operated for more than 3 years, the state government will refund the purchase cost of the land.
to the purchaser.
"You mean, if my port is built and lasts for three years, the money I paid for the land will be returned to me?" Schneider didn't believe it.
"Yes, sir, if you plant trees on these wastelands, as long as they exceed a quarter of the area, the state government will give them to you for free. Of course, these wastelands are actually deserts and rocks, and they must be planted.
They don't grow from trees." The young government official patiently explained to Schneider.
"Then what if I buy more? For example, 2 million acres. If I don't plant trees on these lands, will there be any discount for building railways?" Schneider understood a little bit. This is Western Australia's purpose to encourage investors to develop.
Schneider had also heard of wasteland policies in the United States, but they were all during the development of the American West in the 19th century, and these laws have long since been changed.
"Build...build the railway...Sir...where there are no residents, who will your company plan to sell tickets to after it builds the railway?" The young official almost didn't directly call the American a madman, but because of the South Pacific Oil
The president of the mining company didn't say anything out of concern for his face, but he looked at Schneider with a bit of contempt.
"This is the company's plan. You don't need to know. You just need to tell me if there are any discounts and how much the price is per acre." Schneider finally saw that this young man's personality was not suitable for him.
At work, he is too honest and his heart is too soft. Although he is a good person, he is too indifferent. (To be continued...)
