Chapter 307: A Rare Opportunity

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If the collapse of the former Soviet Union is the biggest loss for the people of the former Soviet Union, then in addition to the social wealth accumulated over decades being divided between foreigners and domestic elites, it is the massive loss of scientific researchers. In Fang Mingyuan's previous life, according to media reports, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, due to the government's drastic reduction in the budget for scientific research institutions, a large number of scientific research institutions were in a semi-working state, and a considerable number of scientific research institutions were forced to close and change careers. The serious shortage of scientific research funds has led to the lack of funds for scientific research institutions to purchase new jishu equipment, outdated experimental equipment, and a shortage of experimental materials. In addition, prices in the CIS countries are skyrocketing, and the salaries of scientific researchers are not rising as fast as prices, resulting in these researchers even having to work part-time jobs to support their families. Moreover, the wages of other industries in society are mostly higher than those in the scientific research industry, and under such working conditions, those who can make a difference cannot complete their scientific projects at all.

At the same time, in order to attract talents, Western countries have provided very favorable scientific research and living conditions for scientific researchers in the former Soviet Union in various ways, and have openly competed for the former Soviet Union's high-quality talents in the fields of nuclear weapons, computers, and biology. The result was a massive exodus of researchers from the former Soviet Union.

It is said that in the first few years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the United States took advantage of its excellent scientific research conditions and high salaries to bring in more than 30,000 scientific and technological personnel from the Soviet Union. In 1992, the year after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the United States and the European Union spent hundreds of millions of dollars to poach people from weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear, biological, chemical, and missile. Later, according to the estimates of the relevant departments of Russia, nearly one-third of the space experts of the former Soviet Union, which belonged to Russia, had gone to the United States and the European Community.

Of course, according to the grapevine that has not been acknowledged by authoritative departments, Huaxia has also gained many experts in the weapons and military industry in this feast of plundering talents, including nuclear physicists, aerodynamicists of fighter engines, and so on, so that Huaxia's military industrial strength has advanced by leaps and bounds after entering the 2,000th year, and it has rapidly developed high-quality weapons and equipment such as over-the-horizon missiles and advanced fighter engines. Regarding this point, Fang Mingyuan felt that it should not be groundless. After all, China and Russia are neighboring countries, and it is normal for them to attract a group of experts and scholars who have left the country. It would be foolish to say that nothing has been achieved in this wave of brain drain that has lasted for more than a decade.

Fang Mingyuan came to the Soviet Union this time, in fact, he was also thinking about whether he could take precautions to conduct an on-the-spot investigation in preparation for these scientific researchers who would win over the Soviet Union after the collapse of the Soviet Union in the future. Of course, Fang Mingyuan's goal is naturally not in the weapons and military industry, his goal is in the fields of machinery manufacturing, computer and biology, and materials science. After all, the Soviet Union was a superpower and had a very strong scientific research foundation, and the reason why it gave people the illusion that the speed of scientific and technological development was not as fast as that of the United States was, to a large extent, the same problem as that of China -- that is, it was due to the link of transforming scientific research into productive forces. A large amount of scientific research results have been shelved and become piles of useless waste paper.

Fang Mingyuan understands that if you want to make a company have long-term competitiveness, then you must spare no effort in the development of scientific research, and it is often said that the loss of one or two key talents in a certain scientific research field can lead to the slowdown or cessation of the research direction of the discipline. On the other hand, getting a few real key experts can make the investment in scientific research twice as effective with half the effort

Although the city of Yakutsk is small, there are nearly 10 scientific research institutes in history, language, literature, physics, etc. The Yakutia branch of the Siberian branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences and more than a dozen research institutes are also located in the city, and Yakutsk University also occupies a very prominent position among the higher education institutions in the Far East. Especially in some research related to the field of low temperature, the level of scientific research here is also quite high.

The sky was overcast with dark clouds, and from time to time there were scattered snow chips falling from the sky and scattering on the ground. Although it was said that it was noon, the temperature had dropped to about zero degrees, but fortunately, there was no cold wind, and everyone was dressed warmly, but there was no inconvenience. For Fang Mingyuan's arrival, the leaders of the Republic of Yakutia did not hold any welcome ceremony, of course, to a large extent, this is also because Mikharoyle, who is in charge of this part, has accompanied them all the way and will continue to accompany them.

Fang Mingyuan looked at the sky, although the snow was not big, and the temperature was not very low, but this was near the Arctic Circle, and it might not be long before it would be a heavy snowfall. After all, I came to the USSR a little late. However, there is no way to do this, without this wealth from oil futures, even if you know the next changes in the political situation in the Soviet Union, what can you do?

"Fang Jun, Ms. Aso, don't worry about the return trip, although we are small here, we also have an aviation airport, and we can fly directly to Moscow or any city on the way." When Mikharoyl saw Fang Mingyuan, they looked at the sky with a worried look and comforted everyone.

"Everyone has worked hard along the way, I think I will arrange a few people to stay first, and have a good rest in the afternoon, and tomorrow I will accompany the two of you to visit Yakutsk City, how about it?" Mihaloil had also been out for a few days, and he missed his family a little, so he asked tentatively. Although it is said that the Soviet Union did not have the habit of being as comprehensive and accompanying the whole process as Huaxia, Mikharoil did not dare to underestimate these two. If the rich man who was able to invest three billion rubles in the Amur Region in one fell swoop, because of his poor hospitality, did not end up in the Republic of Yakutia, it would inevitably become an excuse for others to accuse him of his poor work.

"Minister Mikharoyle, because of our insistence, we have to let you accompany us in the car all the way and delay your work, it is already very unpleasant, and the minister will not have to accompany us in the afternoon, we will walk around the city casually. Tomorrow, we would like to be able to visit Alrosa in advance, I wonder if Minister Mikharoil will be able to arrange it. ”

"Alrosa Company?" Mihaloil hesitated for a moment, then nodded in response.

The hotel that Mihaloil arranged for the group is located in the center of the city, and sure enough, as he said, the houses here, both the doors and windows are thick, to block the cold air from invading, and after entering the hotel, the room temperature is still quite warm, and it is okay to wear single clothes. After eating, they returned to their rooms.

Fang Mingyuan took a shower first, sat in front of the window, and watched some snowflakes outside that were getting bigger and bigger, fluttering on the ground, and the ground had become snow-white. The Republic of Yakutia has entered a long winter, and such weather will continue until May and June of next year. Such a bitter cold place is naturally like hell for the Chinese people, but who knows that under this permafrost, there are countless mineral deposits needed for the industrial age.

Fang Mingyuan remembered very well that the Republic of Yakutia not only had rich diamond deposits, but also a large amount of iron ore. In the previous life, in the first decade of the next century, Chinese enterprises could not bear the exploitation of several monopoly iron ore production enterprises, and went north to participate in the development of iron ore in Yakutia. The four major iron ore mines of Tayozhnoye, Tesovsk, Tarrenasgi and Gurgitsky mines, with a total reserve of more than 7 billion tons, and have the conditions for open-pit mining, can transport at least nearly 20 million tons of iron ore to the country every year. I just don't know if these four iron mines have been discovered in Russia today.

However, these four iron mines, because they are located in Siberia, have inconvenient transportation and high mining costs, and at the current price of Shijie iron ore, even if they are developed, there is no profit to be made at all. Therefore, Fang Mingyuan could only put them in his heart for the time being.

Fang Mingyuan still remembers that there is a diamond mine in the Republic of Yakutia that should not be developed by the Soviets now, but it was only after 2007 that the Alrosa company began mining, although he has not been there in person, but the approximate location can still be remembered. Fang Mingyuan was thinking about how to buy the mineral mining rights of that piece of land from the Russians. Whether it is industrial diamond or gem-quality diamond that can be polished into diamonds, it will only become more and more scarce in the future, and the price will naturally go all the way up.

However, with Alrosa having a monopoly on Russian diamond production, there are too many links to be cleared in this matter, and it is very difficult.

Aso Kazuki and Lin Lian entered the house one after another, but seeing that he was engrossed, neither of them dared to open his mouth to interrupt his thoughts.

"Kazuki, what is Mihaloyle's attitude towards your request to buy rough diamonds?" Fang Mingyuan suddenly turned his head and asked, but it really startled the two women.

While patting her towering breasts, Aso replied, "Judging from Mikharoyle's verbal expression, I think he seems to be quite happy and happy for us to buy it." I tried to take a stake in Alrosa, but he refused. Although the words are tactful, the meaning is a bit non-negotiable. ”

This was not expected by Fang Mingyuan, the Alrosa Company monopolized nearly 97 or 8 percent of the diamond production in the Soviet Union and later Russia, and such a monopoly, whether it was the Soviet Union or Russia, naturally would not allow foreign capital to easily get its hands on it. Fang Mingyuan couldn't help but think of Huaxia's oil companies, which were also in a monopoly position, but they were listed abroad at a low price, and gave their huge profits to foreign investors.

As for Mikharoyle's support for Fang Mingyuan's purchase of rough diamonds, Fang Mingyuan knew it in his heart. Because today's Shijie diamond market can be said to have been monopolized by the world's largest diamond monopoly organization, De Beers United Mining Company. For more than 100 years, the multinational group that controls diamonds has monopolized 70 percent of global diamond production, reaching 80 percent at its peak. Its subordinate sales organization is the main supplier of shijie rough diamonds.

However, due to the lack of consumption capacity in the domestic market, the lack of grinding capacity, and the lack of sales channels in the European and American markets, Alrosa has to sell more than three-quarters of its annual output to De Beers United Mining Company at a low price. Therefore, Aso Kazuki intends to buy these rough diamonds, that is, rough diamonds, which is naturally undesirable for the Alrosa company.

"Mingyuan, you have bought so many rough diamonds, how are you going to sell them in the future?" Aso Kazuki said with a little worry. The Shijie diamond market is close to being monopolized by De Beers United Mining, and even if Fang Mingyuan buys these rough diamonds, if he can't polish them into the sparkling diamonds that people are used to, their value will be greatly discounted. In other words, the polishing of a diamond has a direct impact on the value of the diamond, and the ideal result is of course to do your best to maintain the maximum weight of the diamond, minimize imperfections, and fully display the beauty of the diamond to make the diamond shine. This is a difficult jishu job.

Most of the Shijie diamond polishing centers are in Europe and the United States, and these places are all bought by De Beers United Mining Company for polishing and processing, and it may not be easy for them to polish these rough diamonds from unknown sources. Although it is said that keeping these rough diamonds in your hands, judging from the market price of diamonds in recent years, there is no need to worry about depreciation, but after all, it is not a long-term solution.

Fang Mingyuan naturally understood Aso's concern - in the past, there were also some small and medium-sized companies that tried to sell the rough diamonds they mined by themselves, but they were all retaliated by the mad retaliation of De Beers United Mining Company, which only required its sales organization to release a large amount of diamond reserves in a short period of time, and the price of Shijie diamonds in the market would plummet, and these small and medium-sized companies simply could not afford such a price war. After a few times, no company on Shijie dared to challenge De Beers United's authority in the diamond industry.

But people also have to admit that the diamond industry has been able to achieve its current position in Shijie due to De Beers United Mining.

You must know that in the long history of civilization in Shijie countries, diamonds are rarely found due to their rarity and difficulty in polishing, so they do not occupy a prominent position. In China, the ancients have always respected jade, the era of the Book of Poetry has the tradition of gentlemen and jade Bide, and in the Han Dynasty, jade has been the exclusive property of the emperor and nobles, the emperor can wear the golden jade clothes after his death, but the common people can rarely have jade. In modern times, cat's eye and jadeite gems have been sought after by people.

Ancient Western European civilization was considered to be the king of precious stones, and in Rome, which was about the same time as the Han Dynasty, amber also became the exclusive supply of the emperor, according to experts and scholars who study history, in the ancient Roman era, a piece of fine amber could be exchanged for dozens of sturdy slaves.

However, the civilization of the two river basins has always used opal and emerald as gemstones, as evidenced by the fact that in the famous book "One Thousand and One Nights" by the Arabs, people cannot find any description of diamonds at all. As for the ancient civilizations of the Americas and Africa, they did not know much about diamonds from the surviving materials, although many diamond mines have been discovered in these places in modern times.

In short, to the dismay and indisputable truth of the diamond industry, diamonds, the modern gemstones, have no historical connotation.

It is De Beers & United, with its excellent organization and huge financial resources, that unites all the independent diamond mines in various countries to form a large organization with extremely strong control over the purchase and sales of Shijie diamonds, and regulates the supply and demand of Shijie diamonds. It will tighten the supply of diamonds in the shijie market during recessions to keep the price of diamonds from falling sharply; At the same time, in times of economic prosperity, the supply of diamonds in the shijie market will be relaxed to meet the demand of the market and curb the excessive rise in diamond prices. As a result, the price of diamonds has probably maintained a steady growth momentum over the years, making diamonds a trustworthy investment. Together with jade, ruby, cat's eye, jadeite, and other gemstones with a long history, they have become treasures sought after by the world.

But the monopoly will eventually go the other way, and the disgusting hard-line style of De Beers United, coupled with the discovery of diamond deposits in Shijie countries after World War II, has emboldened more and more companies to challenge De Beers United's authority.

Aso Kazuki didn't know after all, with the passage of time in the future, there were gradually diamond miners to compete with De Beers United Mining Company, Alrosa Company is one of them, De Beers United Mining Company's control over the Shijie diamond market is weakening year by year, more and more rough diamonds have avoided the monopoly of De Beers United Mining Company, and entered the Shijie market from other channels, Fang Mingyuan is not worried about future sales at all.

Moreover, as a big diamond consumer in the future, the luxury consumption boom in China is far from starting, Fang Mingyuan knows that in the future of China, those newlyweds attach importance to and fanaticism for diamond rings, with the huge marriageable population and huge market backing in China, he is now buying more rough diamonds, at that time, for the Chinese market, it is just a drop in the bucket

And Fang Mingyuan was born in this era, if he can successfully buy this batch of rough diamonds from Alrosa Company, even if he keeps it in his hands for ten or eight years, he will never have to worry about no sales in the future. Moreover, this was purchased in rubles, and after Russia devalued the currency several times in the future, this expenditure could almost be regarded as nothing, and how could he be willing to let go of such a rare opportunity

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