Except for Guo Jian, no one has seen the original appearance of the gold mining site in Yibo Ancient Village, but Guo Jian could only stay in Longta this time. Cao Mo guessed that his heart was about to explode, right?
Xie Sipeng, Xu Sheng, Xu Ling and Song Yuqing were all visiting the gold mining site for the first time. From their perspective, the gold mining site was still too crude.
After Xie Sipeng arrived in Kanem, he visited several mines in the gold producing area, but those were European and American companies that had been operating in Kanem for decades or even centuries. A set of rock gold mining equipment is worth tens of millions.
Where is the U.S. dollar’s modern mine that Ibogu Gold Mine can reach?
Looking at Xie Sipeng's charming secret and Xu Sheng's nephew Xu Ling's disgusted expressions, they were very dissatisfied with Cao Mo's previous secretiveness. The look in Cao Mo's eyes was like looking at a beggar hiding his buns for fear of being stolen.
Cao Mo also knew that this place was too shabby.
In order to accumulate capital, the main daily work of the gold mining team is still rock gold mining and placer gold panning. There are not many remaining manpower and there is no engineering machinery and equipment. In terms of infrastructure construction in the mining area, what can be done is too limited.
In addition to the access road that has not yet been completely repaired, Cao Mo is currently just clearing out eight or nine acres of open space, more than 5,000 square meters, in the original work shed area for later construction.
There are eight or nine placer machines, small sand making machines, stone crushers, and chain saws in total. They are nominally leased equipment to the mine. They are all very simple, very small, and do not occupy much of the scene; last night
There had just been a heavy rain, and the smoothed out scene still looked very muddy and messy.
The woodworking processing room, diesel generator room, and material parts warehouse are all straw sheds.
In order to prevent fire, Cao Mo put a thick layer of clay on the inside of the thatched shed, and covered the roof with a layer of iron sheet.
Cao Mo, Kabuga, Overema and others lived and ate in the mine, and built three wooden houses as dormitories.
The kitchen only has a few simple stoves made of large diesel barrels, which are set up under a straw shed. There is no restaurant for employees to eat before work or for lunch.
Dozens of people dine outdoors on the site when the weather is fine; when it rains, they crowd into the straw hut under the wood processing room to dine.
There is no excavator, and the blasted gravel and placer gold soil are transported to the feed port of the equipment by local carts - of course, the workers are also wearing ragged clothes and have no labor protection measures.
"Brother Cao, the conditions here are really difficult!" Xie Sipeng patted Cao Mo on the shoulder and smiled.
"If it weren't for this, how could my small devices be so attractive to others?" Cao Mo said with a smile.
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Cao Mo was determined to take root here, not because he didn't want to further accelerate investment in infrastructure in the mining area.
He didn't have the idea of reaching the sky in one go. After sorting out the site, he considered building a generator room and equipment storage room first from the perspective of fire prevention. However, Cao Mo went to Longta Town a few days ago to purchase cement and other building materials, but he was unable to do so.
He was severely ridiculed.
Kanem has no industrial production capacity, and investment in infrastructure has increased year by year, causing Kanem's building materials to skyrocket in the past two years. The price of cement is ridiculously high. One ton of ordinary cement costs US$200, which is almost three to four times that in China.
There is also a brick kiln in Longta, but the quality of the bricks produced is so poor that you can make holes with your fingers.
Cao Mo seriously suspected that the people on domestic TV showing people breaking bricks with bare hands and smashing bricks on their foreheads were bricks specially imported from Africa.
Another point is that there is no mature infrastructure contracting team near Yibogu Village.
Cao Mo reluctantly found an infrastructure construction team from the south of Longta, and after talking to its manager, Cao Mo found that their professionalism was worse than him downloading information from the Internet to learn, and groping for practice at the same time.
The cruel reality forced Cao Mo to give up his previous ideas and could only rethink how to make use of existing resources to build a mining area based on the existing rudimentary conditions.
There was no serious architect, so Cao Mo decided to do it himself.
Who has never eaten pork but hasn’t seen a pig running?
Fortunately, the few flat-story buildings that were urgently built, such as generators and equipment and material storage buildings, were very simple in structure. They were located deep in the jungle and were mainly concerned with fire and moisture protection, without considering earthquake resistance and wind protection. Cao Mo tinkered with it.
A copy of the design drawings was sent online to a netizen who was engaged in construction in China and saw it and thought it was not outrageous.
In Canem, where reinforced concrete, gasoline, and diesel are several times the price in China, Cao Mo would not even consider a modern factory building at this time.
Single-story equipment storage rooms and generator rooms do not have strict structural strength requirements and are not complicated.
The local brick-making technology is not up to standard, but the stone materials are sufficient.
Just blast some more and it will be suitable to build a stone wall; then put wooden beams on the stone wall and lay an iron roof to use it as an equipment storage room, which is enough for the early stage.
Cement was too expensive, so Cao Mo found a workaround on the Internet, which was to mix local volcanic ash with lime and use it as a construction adhesive.
Even if the volcanic ash passes through the sand making machine, the particle size is far less than that of ordinary cement, by two or three orders of magnitude, but it is still enough to build a stone wall three to four meters high.
Considering that there are often torrential rains in the local rainy season, Cao Mo just decided to buy a few tons of standard cement to lay the foundation.
Except for building materials and other industrial products, the labor force in the Longta area is quite cheap, so Cao Mo decided to form a formal infrastructure construction team by himself.
During this time, Cao Mo spent the whole day in Overmar, Potu and the others, sighing and complaining that the labor costs in the mine were too high, eating up all the remaining profits from the gold mine.
When he had nothing to do, he went to Overema to discuss whether he should ruthlessly send the extra manpower back home.
Owema guarded her young like an old hen, and of course she did not want to expel any workers from the tribe.
Cao Mo decided to do the next best thing and asked Overmar to remove some people who were cheating, cheating, too old, couldn't keep up with physical strength, couldn't read a single word, and couldn't do complicated manual work smoothly.
Join the temporary work group and receive about one-third of the salary of regular employees.
For the vacant seats, young adults from the tribe who have received basic education or even primary education and are honest and willing to work will be selected.
Looking at it this way, the number of people hired from the tribes in the mining area has not decreased, but has suddenly increased by ten or twenty. Of course, Owema was happy.
He did not expect that in addition to the gold mining team, Cao Mo specially organized an infrastructure team responsible for leveling the scene and widening the road. There were more than 30 regular workers and temporary workers in early September.
Xie Sipeng and the others entered the mine. It had just rained for a while. The infrastructure team had stopped working and would not go to the gold mining area to help. They were lazy and lazy. The entire mining area seemed to have no labor discipline at all.
The infrastructure team was in place, the equipment storage buildings were simply designed, and the land was leveled, but the problem was that Cao Mo took over the Yibogu Gold Mine too soon.
So many things need to be implemented, which not only requires time, but also requires additional investment to some extent.
Cao Mo used the funds in his hands to the limit. Every profit generated by the gold mine was invested continuously. However, after only two or three months of accumulation, the profit accumulation was very limited. It was impossible to finish everything.
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If he wants to speed up infrastructure construction and quickly expand the scale of gold mining, Xie Sipeng's two hundred thousand dollars is indispensable...
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After seeing the poor conditions in the mining area, Xie Sipeng also understood Cao Mo's eagerness to borrow money to add equipment. Of course, the main purpose of their trip was to inspect the rock formations and landforms of the Yibo Ancient Gold Mine in order to narrow the scope of the survey in the surrounding areas.
This is the most convenient way.
Otherwise, they can only hire a professional survey team from China.
Not to mention the extremely high cost, it will also involve the issue of other countries' mineral exploration rights. The complexity of the procedures is far beyond what their mining investment of five to six million yuan can support.
Xu Sheng, Xie Sipeng and the others proposed to go around and take some pictures, and Cao Mo made it convenient for them.
The labor discipline management at the mine is still not up to par. Not only did the infrastructure team have nothing to do at this time, but outsiders came to visit the gold mining operation area, and many workers laughed and stopped what they were doing to watch the excitement.
Well, Cao Mo didn't have to worry about Xie Sipeng and the others being able to see the true output of the mine, but he still quietly took out his notebook, wrote down a few workers who danced particularly happily, and asked Overmar to transfer them another day.
The temporary work team goes.
Damn, you want to steal the wages of capitalists?
Xie Sipeng and the others were in close contact with the workers in the mine, and Cao Mo was not worried.
Anyway, everyone from Overmar to the cook knows that this is the territory of the Felician family's gold mining company, and they are still serving the Felician family eagerly.
Kabuga and Lucy knew the details of his cooperation agreement with the old chief.
He and Song Yuqing sat in front of the wooden house by the Lujiao River and chatted.
This wooden house is not big. It is located slightly inside the mining area, close to the bank of the Lukaku River. From a high position, you can see the intersection of the access road into the mining area and the operations of the entire mining area.
There are three bedrooms, one for Cao Mo, one for Kabuga and Owema, and one for the employees who take turns guarding the mining area at night.
In the primitive jungle north of the ancient village of Yibo, there is naturally no shortage of wood.
The wooden house is a style of domestic stilt house. It uses more than a dozen pillars to raise the entire house to nearly two meters above the ground. It can prevent moisture, snakes and insects.
The balcony in front of the eaves is also covered with a two-meter-wide wooden floor, which is simply roasted with fire to prevent corrosion and polished smooth. When sitting on the floor, you can see the vast forest and green-black mountain ridges on the northwest edge of Kanem. It is considered to be the best condition in the entire mining area.
, the building with the broadest view.
"The conditions here are difficult enough. I didn't expect you to be able to survive at such a young age..." Song Yuqing looked at all this with emotion, thinking that there are too many things to worry about when starting a business here. She thought to Cao
Ordinary young people of Mo's age would not be able to bear the hardship here if they come to work, right?
In late August in Canem, although it was still the rainy season, it was still very hot during the day.
Cao Mo was wearing jeans, boots, a long-sleeved shirt and a rainproof jacket.
Cao Mo was not only afraid of being bitten by snakes once, but also afraid of well ropes for ten years, the more important thing was to prevent mosquito bites.
Song Yuqing and the others came in to apply mosquito repellent, but it was only effective for a short time.
Although Song Yuqing and Cao Mo both wore jeans, Cao Mo's jeans were badly worn and stained with oil that could not be washed away, making them dirty, while Song Yuqing's jeans seemed to be just to accentuate the slender legs.
They were sturdy and complemented the white running shoes - of course, Cao Mo still liked to look at Song Yuqing's round buttocks wrapped in jeans.
"I'm just a man who wants to get ahead, but I don't have a fortune worth hundreds of millions waiting for me to inherit. What else can I do?" Cao Mo spread his hands and said with a smile.
"Your wooden house is very unique, and the scenery you can see from here is beautiful," Song Yuqing stretched out, took a deep breath of fresh air, and smiled, "I have always dreamed of being in the primeval forest.
There is a wooden house looking at the sky. I didn't expect you to realize this dream easily..."
"If Sister Yuqing likes it, you can come over and build a wooden house. Everything is lacking here except wood, and labor is very cheap!" Cao Mo said with a smile.
In addition to the high cost of diesel engine power generation and chain saws, the jungle north of Ibogu Village is full of towering trees.
Cao Mo wants to cut down a few trees to build a house. Will the old chief Felician charge him extra money?
When Cao Mo cut down trees and sawed boards, he was very environmentally conscious. He avoided old trees that were hundreds of years old or even hundreds of years old, and only selected big trees that were twenty or thirty years old. He would never admit that this was mainly due to manual work.
The tools are so crude that even if they can cut down a big tree that can be carried by two or three people, they cannot drag it back for processing.
In addition to cutting down large trees at will, Kanem's labor force is also unimaginably cheap.
Cao Mo gave the workers of the gold mining team, including two free meals, a monthly cost per person of only fifty US dollars.
And this is already an extremely decent job in the Lonta area.
Just like in China in 2004, migrant workers in remote counties could earn tens of thousands a month.
"Really, how much does it cost? Is there any rent for the land?" Song Yuqing asked excitedly.
"If the area is not very large, just to watch the stars, a small wooden house, wood, labor cost, two thousand yuan - two thousand is RMB, not US dollars. As for the land, just to build a house to live in, we will give ten yuan a year
U.S. dollars in rent, let me make some money from it..." Cao Mo said.
"I take that seriously!" Song Yuqing asked seriously, "How can it be so cheap? The house prices and rents of Dracula Mo are not too low compared to those in China!"
After Song Yuqing arrived in Draculamore, her mind was still on the company's business, and she lacked interest in Kanem's economic and social development. At the same time, she was also worried about local security and had no intention of integrating into the local society.
Even though she had been in Kanem for half a year, she still didn't understand many deep-seated things deeply enough.
Of course, it was only after Cao Mo took over the Ibogu gold mine that he got to know the local area step by step. Before that, he mainly learned Yoruba from Kabuga and Lucy.
Xu Sheng, Xie Sipeng and the others wandered around the Quarry Stone and wouldn't be back for a while. Cao Mo had to find some topics to talk to Song Yuqing and patiently told him some deeper information he had learned.
Building materials were expensive, labor was cheap, and wood was plentiful. As a by-product of rock gold mining, Cao Mo had plenty of sand and gravel.
However, apart from paving roads, sand and gravel cannot be used alone in construction - cement is really unavailable in Kanem.
However, all the abundant resources in Kanem that can be directly produced by manpower or given by nature are quite cheap.
There is no shortage of river sand in the Longta area; even though the fine stones are basically made by manpower, the labor is too cheap and the price is not expensive.
In addition to forest and sand and gravel resources, the Lungta area is also rich in pumice, limestone, volcanic ash and other raw materials for making cement. However, without sufficient power supply, cement production is just a dream.
The construction of large-scale power plants and power grids can only be implemented if local and even federal governments make determined investments.
As the old capital, Draculamo is also the most economically developed and prosperous city in Kanem. There is a new power plant under construction, but this has nothing to do with Lonta and Ibogu Village, which are 60 to 70 kilometers away.
Draculamo belongs to Ogun State, and Lonta belongs to Oyo State. As a federal state, Kanem has legislative power in both states, and the two state parliaments are dominated by different political parties with great differences.
It is much more difficult to connect a power grid from Draculamo in Ogun State to the Lonta region of Oyo State than cooperation between different regions in the country...
After listening to Cao Mo's talk, Song Yuqing looked at him in surprise: "How old are you, how do you know so much? It seems that you can really manage this mine by yourself. I thought you were struggling..."
In the past, we had a relatively close relationship as colleagues, living under the same roof, but in addition to work, we usually chatted about things happening in the country and even gossip about celebrities, and the parents were at odds with each other.
Song Yuqing didn't realize how helpful the past three months of taking over the Yibogu Gold Mine had been in helping Cao Mo further understand the local area. She thought he had always done in-depth research on Kanem.