Han Kongque said with a wry smile: "I have known about this news for a long time, and I have also thought about when to go treasure hunting, but I have never thought about putting the found mammoth ivory fossils into the market in a short period of time."
"It turns out that the purpose is to avoid a market crash and only after reluctant to sell, can the price be increased, right?" Liu Xu said with a smile.
Han Kongque said: "Yes! But in order to impact the ivory market, it would be good even if the market collapses. Besides, the profit is not necessarily low. If the operation is done well, you may be able to make a quick profit, and in the end you can still make money."
Recycling ivory products on the market and manipulating the market in this way will definitely make some speculators lose their money."
Han Peacock knows that if there are no speculators in every market, the market will not be so prosperous.
Therefore, the main culprits responsible for the mass slaughter of elephants are not the wealthy people who like ivory, but the speculators who are speculating.
However, mammoth fossils are not that easy to find. Mammoths became extinct more than 10,000 years ago. Since they lived in places such as Siberia and Alaska, most of their tusks are preserved in the permafrost of Siberia and Alaska.
The former is mainly found in the Lena River and other rivers flowing into the Arctic Ocean, while the latter was once found in the Yukon River Basin in Alaska.
There is no big difference between high-quality fossil ivory and living ivory. Some fossil ivory that is dyed blue or green by iron-copper phosphate is called "dental phosphate rock" and can be used as a substitute for ivory. Most of the materials are imported from Siberia.
Therefore, Han Peacock said that it is completely possible to use fossilized mammoth tusks to replace ivory and hit the ivory market, and it is also easy to operate.
Of course, this is not easy. If you want to collect enough mammoth tusks to hit the market, you need to find more mammoth fossils, because mammoth tusks are prehistoric biological remains. Due to climate change, most of the mammoth tusks are no longer available.
For carving, the yield is only about 20%, and intact mammoth ivory materials are even rarer.
Moreover, as an extinct animal, even if the natural stock is abundant, the quantity is limited after all. Now in the market, some keen collectors have begun to absorb it, which has also made the price of mammoth ivory begin to rise.
The mammoth is actually the mammoth in the cartoon. The ivory it can use is the upper incisors and molars that have not been completely fossilized.
Most of them are preserved in the permafrost in places such as Siberia and Alaska. They began to enter the gem processing industry in 1990, because that year, our country withdrew from all international trade in order to comply with the convention that comprehensively banned the international trade of African ivory and its products.
International trade in ivory.
Due to the constraints of raw materials, in order to preserve the inheritance of Nanpai ivory carving craftsmanship, substitutes must be found. Mammoth fossil ivory, hippopotamus tusks and cow bones have become the main substitutes, among which mammoth fossil ivory has the highest value.
Han Kongque had long been interested in getting involved in the ivory carving industry, so he had already sent people to investigate. This idea came to him after he went to Asan Kingdom and accidentally found the elephant tomb.
However, Han Peacock has been busy and has no time to realize it. If Liuxu hadn't mentioned it this time, Han Peacock still wouldn't have thought that the time seems ripe to search for mammoth fossils.
Alaska belongs to the United States, so it is not difficult for Han Peacock to go to Alaska now. If he does it well, he can even buy a piece of land for development.
With a target in mind, the Korean Peacock will naturally not let it go. The Yukon River is one of the major rivers in North America, flowing through the central Yukon region of Canada and central Alaska.
It first flows northwest, then generally takes a southwest direction, flows through a low-lying plateau that slopes downward through Alaska, and flows into the Bering Sea.
Countless river tributaries flow out of a semicircular circle of mountains, forming a basin with an area of ​​approximately 850,000 square kilometers (328,000 square miles).
This vast land larger than Turkey was previously inhabited only by North American Indians. It was not until the mid-19th century that people of European descent (including explorers from the Russian Empire expanding eastward) began to move into the area, initially as a The fur trade, and later the search for mineral wealth.
In 1896, gold was discovered on the Klondike River, a tributary of the Yukon River, attracting a large number of settlers.
In his novel about the gold rush in the north, the American writer Jack London called the Yukon River the "Mother River", where the unique North American civilization was nurtured. Whites and Indians once wrote the song of life together in the context of the gold rush.
The mining industry in Yukon began in the mid-19th century, when gold, copper, silver, zinc, lead, asbestos, chromium and other minerals were discovered and mined in small quantities.
Continuous exploration has discovered coal, barite, iron ore, platinum, nickel, molybdenum, gemstones, oil and natural gas, etc.
This time, Han Kongque was mainly looking for mammoth fossils, so he didn't pay too much attention to other information. Moreover, this time, Han Kongque joined the tour group again, and he planned to follow the travel company into the Yukon River region.
This is because the Korean Peacock plans to cross the Arctic Circle this time. Since it is looking for mammoth fossils, flying directly to the destination is naturally not as realistic as crossing over land. It still feels a bit lacking if it does not go "down to earth".
In Alaska, the only way to cross the Arctic Circle is via the Dalton Highway, Alaska Highway 11. However, this road that passes through the Brooks Mountains and the Arctic Slope in northern Alaska is all dirt and gravel roads. The road conditions are extremely poor, and there are few Crowded.
The travel company was worried about something unexpected happening on the road, so they first took a flight from Fairbanks to Coldfoot, about 80 kilometers north of the Arctic Circle, and then took the travel company's minibus all the way south through the Arctic Circle and back to Fairbanks. Well, this is the only flight in Alaska.
Han Peacock and the others set off from Fairbanks and landed in Coldford, which is not far from the Arctic Circle, the Yukon River, and the Dalton Highway. The Dalton Highway extends all the way north to the Alaska oil fields on the edge of the Arctic Ocean. Location: Prudhoe Bay.
The experience of flying north from Fairbanks Airport is pretty good. After all, there is a small room similar to a waiting room, which is actually the tourist reception desk of the Alaska Northern Travel Company where Han Peacock booked the flight.
There are more than a dozen tourists here waiting for the flight. Before boarding, they were divided into two groups based on their height, weight, and gender. The first group in front of the Korean Peacock was ready to take off. They also took such a small plane, which could only seat seven , eight guests.
Flying over Fairbanks, you can see rivers and lakes dotted in the vast green fields. The picturesque fields are colorful and there is no sense of desolation. It is hard to imagine that this place is not far from the Arctic Circle.
Coldford's tarmac is actually a small piece of flat land paved in the wilderness. The mountains in the distance are the majestic Brooks Mountains. It is the highest mountain range in the Arctic Circle. The main peak is nearly 3,000 meters high. Before the Dalton Highway was opened to traffic,
, it is a natural barrier that deters explorers who want to enter the Arctic tundra.
What you see here is the southern foothills of the mountains. You can see that most of them are covered with forests. It is said that this is the northernmost point on the earth where trees can survive. The northern foothills of the mountains are the arctic tundra without trees. This is where Han Peacock and the others are visiting this time.
On the plane to Barrow, I saw the vast expanse of wilderness that stretches all the way to the Arctic Ocean, which is also the destination of Han Peacock this time.
For ordinary tourists entering and exiting this vast area, the first choice place to visit is Gates of the Arctic National Park. This park is located in the Arctic Circle of Alaska and is the second largest national park in the world (39,460 square kilometers).
Because the park is located in a remote location, traffic is congested, and there are no roads or tourist service facilities in the park, so it is sparsely populated with completely pristine mountain peaks and continuous river valleys. If you just walk anywhere and take a photo, it will probably be your first photo.
The scenery that enters the human lens for the first time.
Coldfoot is only a few kilometers from the eastern boundary of the park, and there is a visitor center set up by the National Park Service nearby.
According to reports, the park is full of surprises, the scenery is diverse and beautiful, and it is a rare photography treasure. Naturally, Han Peacock and the others do not want to let it go. After all, the environment here is good and it is close to the Arctic Circle. Tens of thousands of years ago, maybe a large group of mammoths
Elephants live here, so it is very possible that these various fossils are preserved here.
But here Han Peacock didn't have any chance to investigate alone. He could only join a group. On the tourist route, walking around like this was just a quick tour, and Han Peacock didn't find anything.
If he wants to go deep into the park alone, he will have to leave the group. If he joins a group, he will have to leave Gates of the Arctic National Park first.
This time, Han Peacock was not familiar with the terrain, so he decided to join the group.
After driving for more than an hour, we finally arrived at the Dalton Highway Arctic Circle sign, a commemorative place in Alaska.
The travel company also arranged a ceremony for walking through the Arctic Circle. The bus driver and tour guide spread a small red carpet on the ground with a white line drawn on it, which represented the 66.33 degree north latitude. The young man also played the horn in a serious manner.
accompaniment.
It can be considered as walking on the red carpet, with the accompaniment and the clicking sound of the camera shutter, and I finally have the real feeling of crossing the Arctic Circle.
After walking through the red carpet, I received the commemorative certificate for crossing the Arctic Circle from the tour guide, as if I had won an award.
Behind the sign, the Brooks Mountains are faintly visible, and the black spruce forest is lush.
Not far away, a brown hillside was clearly visible, which were charred trees after forest fires caused by natural causes. We saw many such scenes along the way.
Some sections of the Dalton Highway are also very scenic. Not far from the Arctic Circle, the tour guide took them onto the wilderness on the roadside to let Han Kongque and the others experience the feeling of walking in the Arctic wilderness.
The black land is well covered with vegetation, covered with low grass and sparse thorns, and is a bit soft when stepped on. (To be continued.)