Juan Mantar's health was not very good, the road was bumpy for most of the day, and after arriving at Drake, he met with all kinds of people from time to time, although he was still interested in discussing the specific details of the plantation extension plan, Cao Mo still insisted that he go to rest first, and then have time to discuss the follow-up details.

In order to ensure that the Drake regional headquarters can have a good office and accommodation conditions, Cao Mo has asked people to pay ten years of rent directly, and rent all twelve villas in the vicinity.

Drake Mining has been in decline for ten years, the market is depressed, land prices and rents are quite low, and if it weren't for Akva's current restrictions on foreign capital to acquire fixed assets in its territory, Cao Mo would have wanted to buy these villas directly as company funds.

Of course, if you lease it for a long time, there is no hindrance to use.

The villas were fenced off in a small gated community, and new walkways were built between the fences of the different villas.

As a result, in addition to the three villas near the main street, which are unified as the headquarters of the Ibogu Gold Mining Group in Drake, the other ten villas are mainly used as dormitories, restaurants and event reception centers for dispatched employees.

For Juan Mantal, Mae Mantal and the accompanying staff, there is a detached villa with a half-high hedge wall entwined with roses and bright flowers.

There has been no complete renovation, but the villa has been replaced with electrical fixtures and some furniture, as well as household items.

For the first time in half a month, Maye took a hot bath, and before she knew it, she fell asleep in the bathtub - when she woke up, the water in the bathtub had completely cooled down, but fortunately, at Drake's night, the weather was only slightly cooler, and lying naked in the cold water was not particularly unpleasant.

The whole villa was quiet, thinking that my father and the staff had already fallen asleep, and I didn't know what time it was at night.

Maybe it was the hot bath that removed all the exhaustion accumulated during this time, and there was no sleepiness when she walked out of the bathroom, Mei Yi walked out of the villa, pushed open the half-person-high wooden door, walked through the path between the hedges, and saw that there were still bright lights coming out of the coconut grove in front of her, but when she walked over, she saw that Cao Mo and Brahm, Xiao Jun, Kabuja and others had not rested, still sitting in the gazebo smoking cigars and chatting.

Mei Yi was slightly stunned, but still tidied up her clothes a little and walked over.

Starry had more affairs in her hands, and left Drake two days early, while Zhou Han was running outside for half a month, and he was very tired, so he went back to his room early to rest.

However, Cao Mo is very leisurely in Drake these days, and has become accustomed to going to bed late and waking up late, which is consistent with the time difference in China, and his main job during this period is to keep in touch with Song Yuqing and Shen Ji, and follow up on the acquisition of Beiku Cement Plant and Xintaihua Grinding Station.

Seeing Mei Yi coming over, Cao Mo motioned for her to sit aside, but the topic of discussion with Brahm and the others did not stop there, and did not mind that Mei Yi knew or participated in the discussion.

In addition to the Conero Foods Association's direct donation of $10 million to fund the descendants of Drake's colonists to promote the construction of new plantations on the east bank of the Usan River, Cao Mo also plans to use $10 million to set up a start-up fund to support the descendants of colonists who used to run businesses in Akwa to start new businesses.

This is to fundamentally sow the seeds of friendship that are closely integrated with the Front for the Promotion of Democracy, and the Front for the Promotion of Democracy needs to work closely together.

Seeing that Juan Mantal was too tired before, Cao Mo didn't rush to mention it, but at this time, seeing Mei Yi coming over with a long night of sleepless sleep, he told her directly.

"......" Mei Yi subconsciously slapped Cao Mo with a suspicious look.

Although Mei Yi was very controlled and did not show the suspicion in her heart too obviously, and even reached out to pry the messy hair hanging down her ears and temples to hide her questioning eyes, Cao Mo could clearly see what she was thinking.

"There is no free lunch in the world, we are willing to take this money out, we have our own business intentions, but we don't intend to have commercial intentions, it is dirty and untrustworthy," Cao Mo took out a gold coin from the Gugana Empire that he had unintentionally purchased from shopping today, and stared at Mei Yi's face on the table and asked, "Miss May, can you tell me whether this gold coin is dirty or clean?"

"Can you tell me what your business intentions are in doing this?" Mei Yi didn't sneer at each other-for-tat, but stared at Cao Mo with wide and beautiful eyes.

"First of all, we maintain a broad and deep friendship with the Front for the Promotion of Democracy to ensure that our business investment in Akwa can go smoothly, but more importantly, during my five or six years of working in Kanem, I saw that after Kanem ended the military government, the descendants of the colonizers performed very well in their economic field, and I think that Akwa will have such a development trend in the future...... Cao Mo said frankly.

Even if Akwa lifts restrictions on foreign capital, foreign companies are more interested in energy, mineral development and infrastructure construction in Akwa, and investment will be concentrated in these limited areas, and it is unlikely that it will quickly penetrate into all corners of the national economy.

The descendants of the colonizers, who have mastered technology, management experience, and are more open-minded, have nothing to tie their hands and feet after the liberalization policy, even if they operate low-level industrial and mining industries

Commercial enterprises are also destined to have better and faster development than the local Akan and Kanwa people.

The establishment of two small funds that would sow the seeds of friendship while reaping strong returns from Akwa's foreseeable economic recovery is the best of both worlds.

"In this world, people like Mr. Mantar who are of high moral character, who serve the public interest wholeheartedly, and who do not hesitate to sacrifice themselves are naturally worthy of respect, but Mr. Mantar is a very small minority after all—and this does not mean that those who live for their own interests are shameful and despicable," Cao Mo looked into May's eyes and said, "What I admire more about Mr. Mantar than you is that he can find the interests of the majority and do his best to promote things that are beneficial to the majority of the people." Even if it's a small thing, it's better than messing up everything!"

May's pretty face was a little hot.

Cao Mo didn't see Mei Yi much these days, and after the supplies in the resettlement camp were interrupted, Mei Yi came to the rescue, and Cao Mo also asked Xiao Jun to deal with it.

It was Juan Mantar who came over today, and Cao Mo actually discussed the follow-up resettlement measures, which undoubtedly warned Mei that her ideas that were too idealistic and too focused on non-twists and turns would not work in this chaotic and gray world.

Mei Yi sat for a while and then left, Cao Mo hugged his head and said to Brahm: "Of course, it is pleasant to throw a large sum of money, but if the money is too ruthless, it is overstretched, and it will be unpleasant." ”

The $40 million to buy a 53 percent stake in Strugold would have been completely squeezed into the cash pool by mid-March.

Song Yuqing in Xinhai, has also formally signed with the Lu family to the Beiku cement plant and the new Taihua grinding station acquisition agreement, the purchase price of 40 million US dollars agreed to be paid within two years, do not need to consider it for the time being, but after the merger of Beiku cement plant and Xintaihua grinding into the new Conero cement group, it is still necessary to invest 20 million US dollars in transformation and construction funds, in order to really make the Conero cement group reach an annual production capacity of 2 million tons before the end of June.

This means that Conero Cement Group will not be able to provide new financial support to Cao Mo until the end of June.

However, in Drake, in addition to the two "10 million US dollars" entrepreneurial support programs, the more terrifying black gold is the exploration and mining of copper and gold mines on the east bank of the Usan River.

Drake's industrial and mining infrastructure was already severely outdated, and even with a narrow-gauge rail connecting the port of Pemei, a new freight station and yard needed to be built on the east bank of the Usan River to ensure that the ore could be transported smoothly and quickly to the port.

Drake's coal-fired power plant was overwhelmed and needed to invest in a small hydroelectric plant in the upper reaches of the Usan River to supply electricity to the copper mines, as well as to ensure that the copper mines located in the middle and lower reaches of the Usan River were not flooded.

These two alone have increased the investment in a medium-sized copper mine to US$120 million.

This is still preliminary, only to ensure that the annual mining capacity of raw ore reaches 10 million tons, the pretreatment capacity of copper concentrate reaches 800,000 tons, and then 800,000 tons of copper concentrate with a grade of 20% can be transported out of Akwa through the port of Pemei every year.

At the same time, Cao Mo also plans to start the construction of a gold mine in the mountains northwest of Drake.

The Stru Gold Mining Company has been exploring the area for a decade, and the gold reserves are as high as 300,000 ounces, but the mining and refining costs are high, and the Stru Gold Mining Company has not started mining.

Of course, the cost is also relative.

According to the material retained by the Stru Gold Mining Company, the gold ore in this area is mined and shipped to Lunta for refining, and the production cost can be as high as US$600 per ounce of gold.

Not to mention the price of 10 years ago, even the current gold price is not profitable, but with the completion of the second phase of the Ibogu gold refinery, the comprehensive mining and refining rate has increased to more than 90%, and the cost can be reduced to less than 5560 US dollars per ounce, there is still a fairly stable profit to be made.

Of course, the investment in this mining area will have to be at least $20 million.

The reason why Cao Mo wants to lay more in Drake now is also to lay a stronger foundation in Drake, and finally defend their mining rights on the east bank of Uzsan.

And if the existence of a super-large copper-gold mine can be identified on the east bank of the Wusan River, the narrow-gauge railway that starts from the Kruno oil field and passes through the Mangba coal and iron production area and Drake will suffer from capacity bottlenecks at that time, and to build a new electrified railway between Kruno and Pemei Port will require at least four or five billion US dollars of investment, and the construction period is quite long, it is not a task that Cao Mo can complete independently.

"After the completion of the reorganization, in addition to the Ibogu and Oguta gold mines, as well as the unified operation of the Stru Gold Mining Company's Nai'e gold mine in Benin and our newly developed gold mine and copper and gold mine in Drake, we will also strive to reach cooperation with the Akwa authorities at the Fagne River gold mine in the Mamba region and the Emerald Hill gold mine in the Primorsky Province, which will become the second largest gold mining group in West Africa," Cao Mo said to Brahm. In order to achieve this goal, we need to raise at least $150 million for the next project construction, and according to the promise, the Ibogu Gold Mining Group will give 5% of the investment share to the Rupert family - the Rupert family has no funds for the time being, and I can reserve the initial investment right of 5% of the shares for 15 million US dollars, and I can reserve the Rupert family for two years......"

Brahm nodded, Cao Mo couldn't be

5% of the shares of the Yibogu Gold Mining Group were given to them for nothing, after all, other investors, including Cao Mo himself, were all taken out with real money.

They can choose to give up their investment rights if the international gold price is still unstable, and if the international gold price rises sharply again in two years, they can even sell the investment rights directly to obtain a good return.

In short, the retention of 5 percent of the shares for two years is beneficial to the Rupert family.

"That's easy to say, but do you have a specific plan to raise such a large amount of investment funds from Drake?" asked Brahm, "Now that all parties are urging the Akwa authorities, the first batch of pilot projects to allow foreign companies to participate in investment should be concluded soon, and the Akwa authorities, in order to cope with the pressure of domestic public opinion, will inevitably require foreign companies participating in the cooperation to raise funds within a limited period of time......

"Dracula Power Group's acquisition of my 30% stake in Conero Energy shouldn't cause any controversy, right?" Cao Mo asked.

Cao Mo originally planned that four or five million dollars of start-up capital would be enough, but this fund was misappropriated by him to buy shares in the Stru Gold Mining Company.

His only source of financing in West Africa is the trust fund set up by the United Bank of Oman for the plantation owners of Lonta, but Conero Energy returns only two to three million dollars a month, which is very limited.

At present, the most feasible way to get a large sum of money at once is to sell the last 30% stake he retains in Conero Energy.

Conero Energy's operation is becoming more and more stable, and this year's profit can be guaranteed to be more than 30 million US dollars, and the upstream and downstream business operation model is clear, there are no major uncontrollable factors - at the same time, a considerable part of Conero Energy's electricity is directly supplied to Draculamo Power Group through Sika Idet Power Grid.

Therefore, for Dracula Power Group, the acquisition of a 30% stake in Conero Energy is an easy deal to accept.

Although Dracula Power Group also operates with liabilities, its total assets are in the billions of dollars, and it is not difficult to complete the deal for five or six million dollars.

Of course, in addition to Brahm's help with his father, Shen Ji also needs Shen Ji to help communicate with Hexi Fund to terminate the performance VAM agreement in advance, or Cao Mo to continue to perform the VAM agreement in other ways.

"Okay......" Brahm readily agreed.

From overthrowing the Jiddam family to funding the Front for Democracy to uncover Houff Bonia's military coup plot, the Ruperts have done little.

However, in addition to the investment shares of the Gulf of Guinea Shipping Company and the mining company, the investment rights of the Ibogu gold mine this time can be said to be very fruitful, and even more abundant returns will be obtained in the future, and more efforts should be made to promote a more successful outcome of the whole thing.

Cao Mo also introduced some other fundraising plans to Brahm, all of which were relatively small in scale, but better than nothing.

These fundraising plans are primarily related to the Tubman family.

The first is the two small hydropower plants that Stari invested in the lower reaches of the Gray Crow River in the early years, which Cornello Energy will buy with its own funds for $5 million, and the Tubman family's 2,000-acre oil palm plantation in the northern suburbs of Draculamo, which he hopes to be acquired by the Dongsheng Group for $15 million.

The funds will be injected into the Cornello Cement Group and the Ibogu Gold Mining Group to make up for the shortfall in working capital.

"Would you consider selling some of the shares of Conero Cement? Draculamo has a number of investors who are more interested in Conero Cement!" asked Brahm.

On the one hand, with the rapid rise in international oil prices, not only Kanem, but also the entire West African region's crude oil export revenue is rising, which has prompted the infrastructure of West African countries and the demand for cement has been continuously increasing.

Even if cement import restrictions could be lifted at any time, finished cement is extremely unfavourable for long-distance transportation, and cement production is far from saturated in West Africa as a whole.

On the other hand, it is also the advantage of the production system of Conero Cement to open up the upstream and downstream and supporting industries, which has also been seen by Dracula investors who are close at hand.

"It's not that Cornello Cement can't transfer part of its equity, but the price won't be too cheap......," Cao Mo said.

Just like Conero Energy, the upstream and downstream production system of Conero Cement has been opened, and it has a profit advantage that other competitors in the West African region do not have, and can even further reduce production costs and expand profit margins.

Conero Cement's current total assets may be US$150 million, and we still owe the Lu family US$40 million in foreign debt, but after successfully digesting the Beku Cement Plant (clinker production base) and Xintaihua Grinding Station, the annual production capacity will exceed 2 million tons, especially after competitors have lost the ability to fight a price war with Conero Cement, and the annual profitability will stabilize at more than US$120 million.

In the future, he also plans to expand the production and sales system of Conero cement along the Gulf of Guinea to cover major port cities in West Africa, and the compound growth rate of 20% per year can be guaranteed.

In this case, even if a strategic partner is introduced, the valuation of Conero Cement will not be less than 600 million US dollars......