Rushing back to the Conero Lake Industrial Park from the airport, I saw Xie Sipeng, whom I hadn't seen for a while, accompanying a group of people standing in front of the intersection heading to Lakeside Villas to talk. Cao Mo got out of the car and joked: "I haven't seen you for a while.
Okay, Mr. Xie, where did you find a new love? If you leave our sister Zhang Min alone in Dracula, you won't be afraid of being seduced by a bad guy like me?"
Xie Sipeng's secretary Zhang Min gave Cao Mo an angry look.
Although when they first met, Zhang Min was quite indifferent to Cao Mo, who seemed to be nothing at that time. However, in the past two or three years, she had been with Xie Sipeng and had as many contacts with Cao Mo as anyone else. She also knew that the person in front of her was wearing beach pants and a T-shirt.
, a seemingly harmless big boy, is not that easy to treat.
"I have been to Akwa in the past two months. Do you want to come with us to find a new love?" Xie Sipeng asked with a smile.
Akwa is also a West African country on the coast of the Gulf of Guinea, just across Benin from Kanem, not far away.
When he returned to Kanem in early May, Cao Mo heard from Yang Deshan that a gold mining team had discovered placer gold deposits in Akwa. Not only did Xie Sipeng rush to Akwa to investigate the situation on the spot, but he also heard that Xu Sheng's nephew Xu Ling also sent
Went to Akwa.
Cao Mo didn't expect Xie Sipeng to leave, so he didn't return to Kanem until now.
Looking at Xie Sipeng's high-spirited look, you can tell without asking that his trip to Akwa has been fruitful. Looking at the people standing with Xie Sipeng, like Xu Sheng and others, most of them have entered Longta to mine placer gold in the past two years.
The investors of bedrock gold probably coaxed Xie Sipeng back to Kanem to inquire about the placer gold mining situation in Akwa.
Xie Sipeng and the others happened to be having a meal at Lakeside Yashe. When Cao Mo met him, he naturally asked Xiao Jun to join them for a meal.
Akwa has always been a traditional gold-producing country in Africa. Its land area and population are only one-sixth or seventh of that of Kanem, but its annual gold mining volume is not slightly lower than that of Kanem.
Although Cao Mo did not rush to Akwa to take a look in person, he had always paid attention to the gold mining in Akwa.
Akwa is still ruled by a military government, which controls the domestic economy and industry much more strictly than other democratically elected countries in West Africa. In order to protect the gold resources and natural environment within its territory from destructive development, it prohibits alluvial gold mining.
On the one hand, it restricts foreign capital from entering its domestic gold mining.
When they got rid of colonial rule in the mid-1960s, the Akwa authorities even directly nationalized gold mines and large and medium-sized gold mining companies that were then controlled by European and American capital.
Akwa currently mines and exports up to two million ounces of gold each year, which is its largest source of foreign exchange earnings after oil and cocoa exports.
Although the Akwa authorities strictly control the gold resources within their territory, prohibit alluvial gold mining, and restrict the entry of foreign capital, in order to please local forces, they stipulate that local placer gold mines with a scale of less than 25 acres can be maintained for mining.
Since the international gold price rose rapidly last year, more and more investors from China have poured into West Africa in search of gold. Soon some people discovered this loophole in Akwa, and they all adopted a model similar to the early days of the Ibogu gold mine to find places to mine.
Tribal leaders invested in small-scale placer gold mines and took control of the mines by leasing equipment and entrusting operations.
Unlike rock gold mining, which requires huge investments and high mining costs and engineering skills, small-scale placer gold mining is as simple as investing in an excavator, a placer gold machine, and a diesel generator.
, two water pumps and a set of oxygen guns can carry out the operation.
This is especially suitable for investors who only raise one or two million yuan in capital to venture into Africa.
The placer gold resources here in Longta are limited, and the shallow rock gold resources are also limited.
In the past, everyone invested a certain amount of money. Exploration found that there were indeed many rock gold deposits in the sedimentary rock layers deeper underground. However, even Xie Sipeng had to invest tens of millions of dollars at a time, and the cost of mining gold per ounce could be as high as five or six dollars.
The $100-dollar mining of deep rock gold made me feel guilty.
If the international gold price maintained its upward trend at the beginning of the year, they could still grit their teeth and raise funds for additional investment. However, by late April, the international gold price fell again and has remained between US$600 and US$620 per ounce in the past two to three months.
Time fluctuations, mining deep rock gold, in addition to mining costs, plus taxes and financing costs, it is difficult to make a profit.
While drinking and chatting with Xie Sipeng and the others, Cao Mo saw that Akwa had an opportunity to take advantage of, and Xie Sipeng and Xu Sheng were still tempted.
However, Cao Mo had no way to seduce him. The Felician family gold mining company had already developed to its current scale. If he wanted to develop further, he could not focus on evil ways.
Listening to the chat between Xie Sipeng and others, the current gold mining investors in Akwa, in cooperation with local tribes, have won several small-scale mines based on their financial strength, invested in excavators and placer gold machines, and quickly transferred the placer gold resources in the mines.
Once mined out, move to a new location.
This kind of predatory mining is only suitable for short-term speculation with small-scale capital of a few million to 20 to 30 million yuan - even though Akwa has no strict restrictions on foreign capital entering its domestic gold mining field.
, Cao Mo will not engage in short-term, predatory speculative mining of alluvial gold at this time.
In addition to Akwa's restrictions on foreign capital, it would also be difficult for Cao Mo to acquire one or two rock gold mines in other West African countries with clear reserves and slightly lower mining costs.
Even if the international gold price has fallen slightly now, it is still running at a high level compared with the beginning of 2004 and 2005.
Many rock gold mines in West African countries that were previously operated at a low profit have already made good profits. Now we are talking about acquisitions. For large and medium-sized gold mines with proven reserves of more than ten tons, the acquisition prices are quite gratifying.
The European and American companies that control these gold mines have considerable capital strength. Unless the acquisition price is very attractive, they will not be eager to sell high-quality gold mine assets.
Cao Mo currently places his hopes on the Oguta mining area in the south of Porto Novo.
The exploration work in the Oguta mining area has just begun. The current proven reserves are only more than one ton. Calculated at the current international gold price, it is naturally not worth investing tens of millions of dollars in mining, let alone building a refinery to improve the comprehensive quality.
The mining rate is up.
However, the current exploration area is still very narrow, and the potential theoretical reserves of the entire Oguta mining area are very large, and the follow-up is still worth looking forward to.
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There were no entertainment activities that men liked in Cornero. Everyone drank and chatted until late at night before going back to their rooms to rest.
At present, Hubin Yashe has more than 50 guest rooms. The wooden house seems to be relatively rough in construction, and the investment is limited, so it is impossible to polish the details of the guest room decoration exquisitely, but the garden construction with low investment cost is very good.
The wooden houses are connected by stone walkways, and are planted with tropical plants in an orderly manner. A wooden bridge over a shallow pond is located in the middle. Many investors with business in Longta have begun to rent rooms in Lakeside Villas for a long time.
Xie Sipeng and Xu Sheng didn't leave until the end. They sat in the wooden pavilion next to the dock and asked Cao Mo: "I heard that the Yibogu gold mine has new equipment. Is the next step going to be mining of deep rock gold?"
"In the Yibogu River and the upper reaches of the Gray Crow River, there is only a little placer gold and shallow surface rock gold. It may be mined out next year. The proven reserves of deep rock gold are already six to seven tons, and the theoretical reserves are even higher. Now we are investing more.
As long as the international gold price does not drop too sharply, in the next ten years, three to four million US dollars per year will
The profit can still be guaranteed." Without talking about the specific equity allocation of Felician Gold Mining Company, everyone knows how much proven reserves there are in the Yibogu Gold Mine and the approximate mining cost, and Cao Mo doesn't need to
What to hide.
Cao Mo has ample funds on hand. He decided to invest an additional eight million US dollars in the Yibogu Gold Mine two months ago. A new mine is currently under construction so that the small placer gold resources can be mined out by the end of the year. The Yibogu Gold Mine
The scale of mining can still be maintained.
"Is it possible for Felician and the Sika family to acquire our equity in the Qiao Nai Gold Mine?" Xie Sipeng got straight to the point.
Cao Mo glanced at Yang Deshan and could tell that Xie Sipeng and Xu Sheng had discussed this matter with Yang Deshan before, but Yang Deshan still had the patience not to say anything. Instead, he waited for Xie Sipeng to return to Kanem and mentioned it directly to him.
"The Qiao Nai Gold Mine is doing very well. Now the gold price has dropped a bit, but if it maintains this level, how can you get a total of four to five million US dollars this year?" Cao Mo asked.
Yang Deshan, Xie Sipeng, and Xu Sheng have already recouped their investment in the Qiao Nai Gold Mine. The four to five million US dollars they can get this year will be a net profit; even if the superficial rock gold is mined, they will be unable to continue and sell second-hand equipment.
Another amount of funds can be recovered.
No matter what, they are the ones who have eaten crabs in Africa.
"In Qionai Gold Mine, the shallower rock gold that is relatively easy to mine can continue to be mined until the end of next year. The mining cost of deeper rock gold is still too high. We have not built a refinery, and the comprehensive mining rate is low.
The gold-bearing tailings can only be sold to the Felician family at a low price, and it is difficult to make the decision to increase investment now..." Xie Sipeng said with emotion.
"In addition to the placer gold mine, have you found any good opportunities in Akwa and are you eager to get some funds?" Cao Mo asked curiously.
The investment in the placer gold mine in Akwa is very limited. It can be built with only ten or two hundred thousand dollars, which attracts a large number of gold prospectors to speculate; and even if ten or eight small-scale mines are acquired at the same time, it will cost two to three hundred thousand dollars.
An investment of 10,000 US dollars is enough.
In Cao Mo's view, if Xie Sipeng only invests in mining gold mines in Akwa, there is no need to rush to sell off the equity of Qiao Nai Gold Mine. If there is no other urgent need for money, Xie Sipeng can wait for Qiao Nai.
After all the superficial rock gold of the gold mine has been mined, the subsequent finishing work will be considered.
"Haha, no, the domestic demand for iron ore is very hot now, and many ore ships have gone to West Africa to transport iron ore back to China - Akwa has iron ore and an iron ore terminal, so we are thinking of raising funds to buy it.
An ore ship." Xie Sipeng said frankly without hiding anything from Cao Mo.
To put it bluntly, the focus of investment ideas is different.
Cao Mo is now making a heavy asset investment in Kanem. If the economic and political situation he faces changes drastically, the losses will be extremely heavy.
Xie Sipeng and others allocate funds to purchase ore ships. In addition to focusing on the increasingly popular iron ore trade, another point is that the ore ships are registered in China. This is equivalent to them withdrawing their investment from Kanem and using
In order to acquire domestic secondary products, they also did not delay the development of various profitable businesses in West Africa.
Of course, Cao Mo could also see that this bloody dispute between the Jidam family and the Tubman family had touched Xie Sipeng and Xu Sheng to some extent, prompting them to speed up such a change.
"Even if I can convince the Felician family to acquire your equity, the Felician family mainly views this acquisition from the perspective of increasing the mineable reserves in the mining area, and it is unlikely that the Qionai Gold Mine will be affected in the future.
If you add any additional equipment, the purchase price may not meet your expectations!" Cao Mo didn't mind expanding the scope of the Yibogu gold mine, but he didn't know the specific psychological price of Xie Sipeng and the others, so he just said vaguely...