The helicopter flew over quickly, and Farabi gave a general introduction.

There are about four or five factories in a radius of twenty miles, around a small town, which were built in the fifties and sixties, but for some unknown reason, only the coal mine and cement plant are operating, and the two small steel factories have closed.

When asked Al-Farabi why, he didn't know.

It is estimated that the real reason for Farabi is that he wants them to feel the privileged treatment, and I am afraid that going down the mountain by helicopter is also a planned thing.

After looking around, Farabi was about to arrange a return flight, but Director Zhou pointed to a factory enclosed by a wall below and asked, "This is an iron factory, right?"

Fan Yang looked down and found that there were several water towers, a blast furnace, and two small hills that were supposed to be piled with slag.

Farabi couldn't figure it out.

"Why don't we go down and have a look?"

The pilot looked at the terrain and felt that he could stop, so he fell.

As soon as they got off the plane, several people ate a mouthful of soot, and in front of them was a rusty iron gate, on which were still hung Soviet symbols with sickles and hoes, as for the name of the factory, it was no longer visible, and the wall had collapsed in several places, and an old Kazakh man who was guarding the gate rushed out, and when he saw this battle, he did not dare to say anything more, and let them visit as they pleased.

The old Kazakh man followed, and by the time he got some basic information.

This is an iron factory in the 60s, which used to make steel by soil method, but then closed down because the technology could not keep up, and has been abandoned for about 20 years now, leaving only two dilapidated office buildings.

A group of people walked in, and the core of the production area was an iron-making blast furnace, with chimneys, hot blast stoves, feeding belts, etc., forming an open-air blast furnace workshop.

Due to years of exposure to the sun and rain, all exposed iron objects were covered with thick rust, and the bricks were pitted by the rain.

Director Zhou walked to the blast furnace, looked up, knocked on the hot air pipe of the blast furnace with his hand, and said, "It's a pity that such a blast furnace has been scrapped like this." ”

Lao Qian said: "There is no way, it is a good thing to shut down such an inefficient small steel plant, so as not to pollute the air." ”

Fan Yang is also an accompaniment, as long as Director Zhou is willing, he has to accompany him.

After looking around, I turned to the steelmaking workshop.

When I walked to the steelmaking workshop, I didn't look at it, even the entire iron door was unloaded, and the remains of valuable equipment inside could not be found, so it should have been stolen.

Only a top-blowing electric stove was found in the middle, which was also demolished.

The whole factory is like a historical site, Fan Yang is boring to see, but Director Zhou is very energetic, and he took people to the two small hills behind the slag, because the days have passed, they have been overgrown with weeds and two trees that are not too big, Director Zhou walked straight over, kicked the slag scattered on the ground with his foot, and the whole person tried to step on it, tiptoeing, but the slag was not broken.

Director Zhou's eyes showed a gleam: "Quick, bring me the hammer, you can come and see the old money." ”

Needless to say, the old money here has already seen that something is wrong, those slags are faintly reflective, and they have already broken a piece with a hammer, and then hammered a few times to smash it.

After that, he twisted up the scum and carefully distinguished: "It's really a companion rare earth." ”

"What's this associated with?"

Fan Yang was also stunned: "Is there really a rare earth?"

Lao Qian is also a graduate of Xi'an Shiyou University, he studied materials chemistry, and he is a classmate of Director Zhou, so he skimmed off the powder on his hand and said, "I won't know until I test it." ”

As he spoke, he shook his head again and again, looking very sorry: "This magnetite vein may be hundreds of kilometers long, associated with vanadium and titanium, and associated rare earths, which are simply too cherished. ”

Director Zhou asked, "Don't sigh, you have a preliminary analysis, what is this companion?"

Lao Qian said: "Magnetite is generally associated with scandium and germanium, and there are also a small amount of indium and rhenium, which can only be known by laboratory testing. ”

Fan Yang's heart is hot, if it is confirmed to be true, it is to find a big business opportunity.

But this is clearly not the time to discuss this issue.

I didn't translate with Farabi.

Asked Lao Qian: "Does that mean that the largest pit we saw before are all associated rare earth mines?"

Lao Qian nodded and said: "I just saw the ore before, and I can only infer that there is vanadium and titanium, but now I see the slag, I can basically be sure, let's go and have a look." ”

Lao Qian lowered his head and took a few pieces of slag for sampling, asked the old janitor to find a bag to put on, and a group of people got back on the plane and flew to the Zarha mine.

When I walked to the place, Lao Qian was busy watching the mountain sampling, and the more he looked at it, the more excited he became.

After a day of playing, I returned to the Oman State Guesthouse with two large bags of ore and slag.

After sending Farabi away, a group of people sat in the living room with serious expressions, samples on the priceless marble coffee table, and old money was holding a magnifying glass to examine the slag.

Director Zhou asked, "How is it? Old money, what is the element?"

Lao Qian took off the magnifying glass and rubbed his eyes: "There is no test, how can I see it, but according to experience, it should be scandium." ”

Fan Yang said: "I'm sorry, let me interrupt, what are you talking about scandium?"

Lao Qian said: "Rare earth, a rare metal, what is gold? Scandium, 350,000 kilograms, several times more expensive than gold, is generally associated with vanadium and titanium, reserves are extremely scarce, this is the earliest rare earth element discovered, but also the most common rare earth element, you haven't learned?"

Hearing 350,000 kilograms, the faces of everyone present changed in unison.

Lao Qian should have scared them, and said: "But as I said, the reserves are very small, if they are extracted separately, they may not have a high value, depending on the content, it is possible that a ton of slag can only be refined 0.0 grams, and there is no value of refining." ”

Fan Yang asked, "What is this mainly used for?"

"Mainly aluminum-scandium alloy, which is Sulian's advantage industry, ultra-high strength, ultra-high toughness, high strength corrosion resistance, high strength resistance to neutron irradiation, widely used in the aviation and aerospace industry, used to manufacture structural parts of supersonic fighters, the most advanced fourth-generation fighters, MiG-26, MiG-29, as well as the figure series of large passenger aircraft, transport aircraft, as long as supersonic speed must use this material, high-strength anti-neutron irradiation or stealth material for fighters. ”

"Su Lian?" Fan Yang suddenly felt very disappointed, and thought that he had picked up a treasure: "They know this kind of mine?"

Lao Qian said: "Of course I know, I have said that this is Sulian's advantageous industry, their technology for refining scandium is still relatively advanced, and the Americans are on a par with it, but the price has collapsed a lot in the past two years, mainly because Sulian no longer blocks this technology and begins to export high-purity scandium, we have an import quota of 400 kilograms per year, but it is generally not refined from slag, and there are special rare earth deposits." ”

Director Zhou took over the conversation and said: "Rare earth, it must be soil, refined in laterite ore, although this slag contains a small amount of scandium, but it may not have refining value, but it is vanadium and titanium, I plan to take it back for testing, now we Baosteel is building a large vanadium and titanium base, if the quality is suitable, import these slags back, we have also made a little contribution to the country." ”

After speaking, Director Zhou glanced at Fan Yang and said with a smile: "But well, this is good news, rich in magnetite, containing vanadium and titanium, and also containing a certain amount of scandium, it seems that the quality of Hama Steel's steel bars is two or three steps beyond ordinary products." ”