What allowed Edel to stop working was an accident in the gold mine.
Near a small town called Portia in Volcea, western Romania, a gold mining company broke down its embankment due to recent heavy rains, causing a large amount of wastewater to pour into the river. As a result, the Olt River, a tributary of the Danube River, was polluted, causing a large amount of pollution.
As a result, the river fish died and the river water was no longer suitable for drinking by humans and animals. More than 50,000 people along the river suffered from water shortage, with direct economic losses reaching 1.5 million lei and indirect losses reaching 5.4 million lei.
Edel was also very angry about the emergence of such a gold mine pollution case. He saw the guard who broke in with the news and said, "Let the Prime Minister handle this matter. No matter who is involved, let the Prime Minister handle it. I don't have it."
Opinion."
"I obey your Majesty."
After Edel watched the guards go out, it was better for the Prime Minister to deal with this troublesome matter.
After the establishment of the Kingdom of Romania, most of the domestic gold mines were taken over by the government, with only a small number left behind for various reasons. However, the gold produced by these private gold mines must also be purchased by the nationally designated reserve bank.
In order to make profits, these private gold mines are inferior to state-owned gold mines in all aspects. This is the case with the gold mine where the accident occurred.
Most of the gold mines in Romania now are rock gold, so various mines and other types of mines need to be mined.
Gold mines are very important to Romania. Even why Latin is used in Romania in the Balkans is due to these gold mines. In the 2nd and 3rd centuries BC, the Dacians (Romania) who lived in Romania
The ancestors of mankind) made exquisite gold jewelry, which was exported to various regions of the Black Sea and the Mediterranean.
At the beginning of the 2nd century AD, the Roman Empire defeated the local Dacian kingdom and organized this area into a province of the Roman Empire. Most of the territory of the Roman Empire was south of the Danube River, and basically no provinces were north of the Danube River.
, Romania was probably the only one. Because of the gold mines, this province was very important to the finances of the Roman Empire.
The gold mines attracted a large number of Romans to dig for gold. These people brought Roman Latin and washed away the local language. As a result, the land on the north bank of the Danube was quickly Romanized, and a large number of local people also began to use Latin.
.Even after the Roman Empire withdrew here, the local Dacians continued to use Latin, which also constituted the difference between Romanians and the surrounding Slavic peoples.
Romania is still the second largest gold producer in Europe, with a production of 28 tons in 1913, ranking second in European domestic production. During the initial industrialization process, Edel even forgot to mechanize Romania's gold mining industry.
, only noticed it after being reminded by Viscount Airdrie. Then a large amount of money was invested in this industry to increase its production. However, for the gold mining industry, discovering new gold mines is the best way to expand production capacity.
The largest gold mine in Romania is the Smitok gold mine. This gold mine currently has a total reserve of 178 tons and provides an annual gold output of five to six tons. This gold mine is not large in Europe. Fortunately, it is in the Carpathian Mountains.
The large number of gold mines makes Romania's output appear considerable, but compared with the current world gold production, it is still far behind.
Russia discovered the gold mine on the eastern slope of the Ural Mountains in the mid-18th century. By 1840, Russia's annual gold output had reached 43.5 tons. By 1847, Russia's annual gold output accounted for 60% of the world's total annual output. But what the Russians achieved
These achievements pale in comparison to what people later achieved in California and Australia.
Gold was discovered in California in 1848, and soon thousands of people gathered here to search for gold mines. In the first year, $250,000 of gold was produced, which increased 40 times in the second year. After that, gold production increased year by year.
By 1852, the output reached 77 tons, and in 1853, it reached 93 tons.
Three years after gold was discovered in the United States, in 1851, gold was also discovered in Australia, and Australia's gold production began to increase rapidly. In 1852, Australia produced 26.4 tons of gold, and in 1853, the annual gold production reached 70 tons.
After that, gold was discovered in South Africa in 1886. In 1887, South Africa's gold production was only 1.2 tons. Five years later, it increased 25 times to 30 tons. In 1898, it reached 120 tons, ranking first in the world. Until now, South Africa has ranked first in the world.
The country with the largest output of gold and diamonds in the world, and South Africa's proven gold reserves account for 40% of the world's total reserves. The UK spent hundreds of millions of pounds to acquire these gold mines and it was not a loss at all.
Canada was the last to catch up with the great development of gold productivity in the 19th century. In 1896, two gold prospectors, Henderson and Carmack, discovered gold in the Klondike while fishing for salmon, thus giving birth to a new city——
Dawson City.
Therefore, Romania’s output is ranked high in Europe with poor gold mines, and it is still far from enough in the world. Although Romania’s gold output is not high, Romania’s gold reserves are pretty good. Now Romania’s gold reserves have reached 1,216 tons.
It is already a record high.
The growth of Romania's gold reserves was thanks to the help of the war. If not for this war, Romania would not have been able to obtain so much gold reserves. You must know that at the end of 1913, Romania only had 450 tons of gold reserves. This was due to the industrialization belt.
Otherwise, Romania’s gold reserves would be even smaller. This shows how much gold Romania harvested from the Allies.
After obtaining this gold, Romania can use this gold to issue more currencies to prosper the domestic economy. After major European countries have banned gold exchange, the Romanian currency leu, which still adheres to the gold coin standard, can be said to be one of the few currencies in Europe that is still strong.
.A large amount of capital poured into Romania in pursuit of preserving value and making profits, but these were only a small part of the capital that fled Europe, and most of them were absorbed by the United States on the other side of the ocean. That’s why the United States earned most of the money in World War I.
profit.
Even if it only received a small influx of capital, it still brought a lot of help to the Romanian economy. Now the Romanian currency leu is not only used domestically, but also has a large inflow from countries in the Balkans, as well as Austria-Hungary and Russia. The main thing is
Because Romania still uses the gold coin standard.
Gold coins are cast with a certain amount of gold as the currency unit and serve as the standard currency; gold coins can be freely cast and melted, and have unlimited legal solvency, while limiting the casting and solvency of other coins; auxiliary coins and bank notes can be freely exchanged for gold coins or equivalent amounts
Gold; gold is the only reserve. This is the gold coin standard.
Moreover, this system can eliminate the shortcomings of price chaos and unstable currency circulation that exist under the bimetallic system. It ensures that currencies in circulation will not depreciate against the standard currency metal gold, ensuring the unification of the world market and the stability of the foreign exchange market.
Relatively stable, it is a relatively stable monetary system.
That's why Edel paid so much attention to gold, and he also knew that this gold standard would continue to be oppressive and would not be ended until the end of World War II.
