"If you know it's awesome, hehe. Zhang Tianyuan smiled, then looked at Liu Hao and asked, "Brother Hao, didn't you say that you had something important to discuss with me today, why didn't you say a word until now?"

Liu Hao glanced at Nie Zhen a little embarrassed, not knowing what to say.

Nie Zhen said with a smile: "Yes, you two can talk, I won't bother, maybe it's some company secret, it's not good if I interfere." ”

"Not really. Liu Hao explained.

"Since it's not a company secret, let's say it, although Brother Nie is a bit unserious, but I believe in his personality, can you tell me what the hell is going on?" Zhang Tianyuan didn't take Liu Hao's matter too seriously, in his mind, what Liu Hao came to him to say was nothing more than antiques or jade, this Nie Zhen didn't care at all, so even if he stayed here, there was no problem.

Liu Hao thought for a while, then nodded and said: "Okay, in fact, I hesitated for a long time about this matter, and I don't know whether to say it or not, this is the news I got from a friend." Tian Yuan, you also know, I haven't been doing business with those local tyrants in the Middle East during that time, but I happened to make a few friends with great powers and told me a big thing to make money, but I'm still not sure if I want to do it. ”

"Where?" asked Zhang Tianyuan.

"Africa!"

"Africa? You have so many friends that they've all gone to Africa. However, Africa is not very safe, I heard that there is a war at two ends in three days, and changing governments is as frequent as changing clothes. Is this really reliable?" Zhang Tianyuan asked with a smile.

Liu Hao nodded and said: "It should be reliable, this thing can definitely be done, but we have to contact our country." That would be safer. Tian Yuan, think about it, the funds involved in this project can reach tens of billions of dollars. Tens of billions, if the investment is successful. The future earnings are absolutely insane. ”

"Don't talk about it so nicely, what the hell is it, don't be fooled into going to black Africa and find nothing. ”

"Rare Earth Mine!"

"Rare earths! There are also rare earths in Africa?" Zhang Tianyuan was stunned for a moment.

He doesn't know much about minerals, but rare earths are often heard, it seems that our country has a lot of rare earth reserves, but because the mining is not reasonable enough, it has led to a lot of waste, and this rare earth is for any country. are extremely important mineral resources.

Liu Hao actually invested in the idea of rare earth mines, which really surprised him.

"Tian Yuan, let's do business, you are an expert in treasure connoisseurship, don't you know the preciousness of this rare earth? This is a real treasure, it may be more expensive than those antiques. Aren't you excited?" Liu Hao continued.

In fact, Liu Hao originally planned to do this business by himself, and his ability to fool was still very strong, but then he thought that this mine was in Africa, if it was not linked to the country. I am afraid that I will not be able to do business with peace of mind even if I am afraid that it will pass, and I must be protected and recognized by the state, so that will work.

He was the only one he knew who had the ability. I'm afraid it's Zhang Tianyuan, and Zhang Tianyuan has a lot of money, so if you think about it like this. He naturally came to Zhang Tianyuan to talk about this business.

Rare earth Zhang Tianyuan knows that this thing has the reputation of "industrial vitamin". It has now become an extremely important strategic resource. Rare earth element oxides refer to the 15 lanthanide oxides with atomic numbers from 57 to 71 in the periodic table. and scandium, which have similar chemical properties to lanthanides, and oxides of a total of 17 elements.

Rare earth elements have been widely used in petroleum, chemical industry, metallurgy, textile, ceramics, glass, permanent magnet materials and other fields, with the progress of science and technology and the continuous breakthrough of application technology. The value of rare earth oxides will increase.

Many people who know about rare earths probably know that the United States, which ranks among the top three in the world in terms of reserves, has rarely opened the idea of mining local rare earth mines for many years, and mainly relies on imports.

Why is that?

It is because rare earths have become an important war readiness resource.

After China began to restrict rare earth exports, the United States finally turned its attention to its own country while pulling the European Union to sue China to the WTO. According to U.S. media reports on the 19th, Morley Mining, the only rare earth mining company in the United States, recently said that it would restart the Shankou rare earth mine in California.

Rare earth minerals are highly prized and used in a wide range of applications, from mobile phones to computers, from hybrid vehicles to cruise missiles, and are used in almost all modern equipment. For many years, the rare earths needed by countries have been mainly imported from China.

Now, Morley Mining, the only rare earth mining company in the United States, wants to change that, and plans to raise $500 million to restart the mountain mouth mine in California. Once the world's largest rare earth producing mine, it has been abandoned for decades. If Yamaguchi can reopen and Morley Mining can reduce costs and remain competitive, it will be the only company in the Western Hemisphere to mine rare earths, industry insiders said.

At present, China produces 97% of the world's rare earth oxides. Last year, China reduced its export quota for rare earth raw materials, causing prices to rise, which made the US government very worried, and even filed a lawsuit with the European Union in the WTO to force China to liberalize rare earth exports.

But in fact, the United States itself is not short of rare earths.

A senior researcher said in an interview with the media that in terms of rare earth mining, there is a misunderstanding in the world that there are very few rare earth reserves in other parts of the world. In fact, in addition to China, rare earth reserves are also concentrated in the former CIS countries, the United States, Australia, India, Canada, South Africa and Vietnam.

Among them, China's reserves are 90 million tons, accounting for only 24% of the world's total reserves, but China's rare earth mining accounts for 85% of the world's total. According to Defense News, the California Mountain Pass Mine is not the only rare earth mining area in the United States, with rare earth deposits in Idaho, Colorado, Missouri, Utah and Wyoming.

Some American media said that rare earths are China's money printing machine, which shows the value of rare earths. It's just that this thing is a non-renewable resource, once it is dug up, it will be gone, so the state has now introduced a lot of policies to restrict the export and mining of rare earths.

If it is really possible to discover rare earth minerals abroad and mine them, it is definitely a good thing that is very beneficial to the country and of course to the miners to make a lot of money.

"Brother Hao, let me tell you this, if it is a serious business, I will definitely do it, anyway, I still have a lot of money on hand, it would be a pity if I didn't invest. But is this business really as good as you say?" Zhang Tianyuan is very conservative about the things he doesn't understand, and he doesn't want his money to be thrown out and wasted.

Liu Hao hurriedly nodded and said: "Tian Yuan, our relationship, can I lie to you? If this rare earth mine really exists, it will definitely be a good business with a lot of profits and no losses." ”

"In this world, there is no business that is sure to make money and lose money. It's not that I doubt you, Liu Hao, how complicated the situation is in that place in Africa, although I haven't been there, I have heard some people say that if my brother goes there and something happens, it will not be a trivial matter. Nie Zhen glanced at Liu Hao very seriously and said.

Although he is usually a little not serious, he will still be very serious when he really encounters something he cares about.

"Nie Shao, how can I say that you are willing to believe it, if I hadn't met a local tyrant in the Middle East this time, I'm afraid that this business would not have been our turn at all. Why do I want Tian Yuan to invest, it is because Tian Yuan can hook up with the country through Old Man Nie, so the probability of getting rare earth ore will be greatly improved!" Liu Hao looked a little helpless, he felt that he really didn't deceive people, he really didn't want to let go of such a great opportunity to make money, but the two in front of him didn't believe him, what could he do, take out his heart and show it to others? That doesn't seem to make any sense.

Of course, Liu Hao himself knows in his heart what kind of place Africa is, Zhang Tianyuan and Nie Zhen's worries are not unreasonable, but as the so-called reluctant children can't trap wolves, if they are unwilling to pay, then what kind of money do they make, they all stay at home honestly, An Ansheng lives, and how good it is for his wife and children to have a hot kang head.

If you want to make a lot of money, you have to take a risk, if it weren't for the limited funds on hand and the fact that he couldn't contact powerful people, he would have done it himself a long time ago, and he wouldn't have come to discuss it with Zhang Tianyuan. After all, rare earth mining is not an easy task.

Take the United States as an example, the American "Investor Business Daily" article on the 19th said that in the eighties of the last century, the United States was the world's largest supplier of rare earths, but after the nineties, China's cheap rare earths dominated the world market.

Caudill, a rare earth expert at the U.S. Geological Survey, said that since China sold rare earths in large quantities at low prices, most of the world's countries have stopped mining because no country can afford such low prices.

There are two main problems with mining rare earth minerals, Caudil said, one is that it is expensive to mine and very difficult to extract, and the other is that the processing process is more complex, and the United States does not even have the equipment to turn rare earth ores into usable raw materials.

Even if a company starts mining rare earth ore in the U.S., it will take 7 to 15 years to reach full production speed. Therefore, it will not be easy to bring the United States back to the rare earth industry. A recent report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office predicts that it will take 15 years to rebuild a viable U.S. rare earth supply chain.

The report said that the United States will rely on several factors to rebuild the rare earth supply chain, including ensuring that there is a lot of money to repair production equipment, develop new technologies, and obtain patents currently owned by foreign companies.

"The U.S. has the know-how, but it lacks the assets and equipment to refine oxides into metals, and the rare metals extracted are almost unique to China," the U.S. Government Accountability Office said. China's dominance in the rare earths market gives it market power to influence the global supply and price of rare earths. (To be continued.) )