"If possible, we do hope so. "We hope to be able to increase the mechanization of the mine across the board, so that the ore production can more than five times the current one." ”

When he set out for Munich from Africa, Louram didn't have such an ambitious goal. His original plan was to purchase a batch of mining trucks to replace the old batch of dilapidated vehicles. The reason for this plan is naturally because he is shy in his pockets and cannot come up with more foreign exchange to purchase better equipment. What he saw and heard at the Chinese booth suddenly ignited a fire in the heart of the Minister of Industry.

If iron ore can be exchanged for a full set of modern open-pit mine equipment, then the entire mine will have a completely new look, and ore production can be increased several times from the current level. Paying for equipment with the increased production will not put any pressure on the country's finances or foreign exchange balance. And after paying off the equipment, the foreign exchange created by the new production capacity can be used for the modernization of the country, which is equivalent to borrowing a hen from others to lay eggs for itself, why not?

But just now, the director of the factory surnamed Wang of Luo Ye was obviously skeptical about this plan, and Lu Ram could also guess that it was a troublesome thing to convince the steel mill to accept the iron ore exchanged for equipment. As Minister of Industry himself, Luram understands the difficulty of trading with each other. Wang Weilong told him that he was going to invite a more powerful leader to decide the matter, and the person sitting in front of him at this time was obviously the big leader Wang Weilong said. As for saying that this big leader looks so young, Lu Ram does not think it is a hard problem, in Gabe, there are also very young senior government officials, these people are often famous backgrounds, and their energy is far greater than that of a bureaucrat like Lu Ram who relies on technology to rise to power.

"Can you tell me about your country and the situation of the iron ore?" Feng Xiaochen did not directly discuss the iron ore matter with the other party, but asked other questions.

Regarding the question asked by Feng Xiaochen, Lu Ram did not feel abrupt, but felt that this was a reasonable rhythm. Previously, Wang Weilong had not asked this question, which is obviously a manifestation of a lack of global perspective. There is a question of delivery time for the repayment of iron ore, which involves the national credit of the Gabey country and the exploitation of the iron ore itself. If Gabe is a war-torn country, and the agreement signed today may become a piece of waste paper tomorrow, then the manufacturer will naturally not dare to give credit to the other party. On the other hand, if the Gabeh regime is stable and the iron ore reserves are abundant and there is no danger of depletion, it will not be a big problem to owe some money on credit, and at best, it is only necessary to consider the calculation of interest.

"Although we have experienced three civil wars since our independence in 1966, the current political situation is very stable, and the ruling Gabe People's Movement has a high level of support among the people. In particular, in 1985, China began its industrialization movement, the economic growth rate remained above 5% for 10 consecutive years, the people's living standards continued to improve, and the threat of civil strife no longer existed......

As for the Piethig iron ore that we are currently developing, it was already explored during the Portuguese rule, but they have not yet had time to develop it. Later, due to the effects of the civil war, the development of this iron ore mine has been at a very rudimentary level. It was not until after the industrialization movement of 1985 that the Pietsig iron ore mine entered the stage of formal development.

According to the exploration results left by the Portuguese, the Pitesig iron ore ore has reserves of about 2.6 billion tons, and the average grade of the ore is between 40% and 50%, which is an iron-rich ore. The mine is open-pit and close to the port, so the mined ore can be easily loaded onto ships and shipped by sea. At present, the annual production of Piethiger iron ore ore is 6 million tons, of which 1 million tons are used for domestic smelting, and the remaining 5 million tons are exported to Europe. ”

Lu Ram spoke eloquently, his English level was good, and he didn't need an interpreter to communicate with Feng Xiaochen, so he spoke very smoothly.

"According to your imagination, if a full set of open-pit mining equipment is introduced, you can increase the output of the Pietsig iron ore mine to 25 million tons?" Feng Xiaochen asked.

"That's our estimate. You see, Mr. Miwell is our engineer, and that's what he just estimated. Lu Ram pointed to one of his attendants and said.

The attendant named Miel nodded to Feng Xiaochen, and also said in slightly jerky English: "Mr. Feng, this is my preliminary estimate, after all, our country has no experience in large-scale open-pit mining in the past, and we are not very clear about the difficulties encountered in large-scale mining. However, if we have access to mining and transportation equipment, including large-capacity excavators, large electric wheel dump trucks, etc., it should be possible to increase production by a factor of five. I have read in the literature that the scale of iron ore production in Brazil and Australia is more than 100 million tons, and it is not too difficult for our iron ore to reach 25 million tons. ”

"So, after your production increases, can the sales problem be solved?" Feng Xiaochen asked again.

Lu Ram's expression suddenly stiffened, he hesitated for a moment, and said, "Mr. Feng, to be honest, we haven't found a market for ore yet. Our current ore is not selling well in the European market, and they prefer Australian and Brazilian iron ore. We have also been in contact with several large European importers before, and they have said that the current European steel market is sluggish and the demand for iron ore is also declining. Our original sales of 5 million tons are at risk of being reduced, and the possibility of increasing sales is very small. ”

Lu Ram didn't plan to say this to Feng Xiaochen, but he was worried that if he bragged too much, Feng Xiaochen directly asked them to use the foreign exchange obtained from the sale of ore to pay for the equipment, and he would not be able to shirk it at that time.

It is also thanks to Lu Ram that he did not brag to Feng Xiaochen, because Feng Xiaochen actually knew what Lu Ram said for a long time. Feng Xiaochen has always been very concerned about the economic situation in Europe, so Feng Xiaochen is also well aware of the shrinking of the European steel market mentioned by Lu Ram. The amount of iron ore that Europe needs to import is not large, and they have traditional ties with mining groups in Australia, Brazil and other countries, so of course they will give priority to importing ore from these places, which will consider the supply of Gabez.

"Since your existing iron ore sales are difficult, why do you need to buy equipment and increase production capacity? Aren't you afraid that the increased production of ore will not be sold at all?" Feng Xiaochen reminded.

Lu Ram showed a wry smile and said, "Mr. Feng is really sharp, in fact, we are also in a dilemma. Iron ore is the most important export material of our country, and we urgently need to use the foreign exchange obtained from the export of iron ore to purchase machinery and equipment to complete our own industrialization. One of the reasons why Europeans are reluctant to accept our ore is that our ore prices are high, and this is because of our backward extractive technology. My thinking is that if we can introduce advanced equipment, we will be able to reduce the cost of ore, so that our competitiveness in the international market will increase. ”

"What if the European countries still refuse your ore after you reduce the cost?" Feng Xiaochen asked unceremoniously.

"......" Luram was dumb, which was also something he was worried about. Therefore, he proposed to Wang Weilong to exchange ore for equipment, that is, there was the idea that the ore could not be sold, and at least this would not make Gabe's country indebted.

Feng Xiaochen smiled slightly and said: "Minister Lulam, with all due respect, it is an inevitable result for European countries to cut the amount of iron ore imports, and you don't have to be lucky. The scale of iron ore in your country is not large, and the mining cost is definitely higher than that of Australia, Brazil and other places, so even if European companies want to import iron ore, they will not consider importing from your country, and the only result after you expand your production capacity is that the ore is unsalable, and then the whole national economy will stagnate again. ”

"This ...... Not really, right?" stammered Luram's retort, but fortunately his face was dark, and there was no sign of turning white. His two entourage, Miwell and Sido, were already dumbfounded, and it was obvious that Feng Xiaochen's words were in the hearts of several of them.

"Mr. Feng, we understand that your country is undergoing large-scale economic construction, the demand for iron ore is very large, and it is already the second largest iron ore importer in the world outside of Japan, I wonder if you have any intention of importing Gabay iron ore?" Sido asked Feng Xiaochen tentatively after being silent for a while.

Feng Xiaochen spread his hands and said: "China is indeed increasing the import volume of iron ore, but our main source of imports is Australia, because Australia's iron ore is far better than Gabay's iron ore in terms of grade, supply stability, and transportation costs." Australia's iron ore production has been fully able to meet our needs, why should China import iron ore from Gabe?"

"It's because ......," Sido said stiffly, but finally failed to find a reasonable reason.

"Mr. Feng, do you have any good advice?" said Lu Ram. After all, he was a minister of industry, and he had seen more than two retinues. He found that although Feng Xiaochen kept saying that Gabe's iron ore was of little significance to China, he had no intention of leaving with his sleeves, and was obviously waiting for Lu Ram's words in order to bargain with Lu Ram on the issue of iron ore.

Feng Xiaochen showed such a face, there must be a lot of benefits he wanted, if Lu Ram wanted to negotiate with him, he had to be prepared to let him slaughter him fiercely. However, knowing this, Lu Ram could not refuse, because the Chinese market may be the only straw that Lu Ram can grasp.