Marin was overjoyed, and with ferrochrome, then, stainless steel could come out. Unlike nickel steel and ferrochrome, stainless steel is the one that can really resist the corrosion of seawater. Nickel steel and ferrochrome are also corrosion-resistant, but they are only very slow to corrode, not completely corrosion-resistant.

Stainless steel, with the addition of chromium and nickel, ignores the corrosion of seawater to the greatest extent possible, allowing the iron sheet that wraps the bottom of the ship to last for a long time.

But the search for ferrochrome is very difficult, because Marlin does not know exactly what ferrochrome looks like. Laterite nickel ore is easy to find, after all, laterite nickel ore is red, very conspicuous, and relatively easy to find. The appearance of chromite is not very different from ordinary stones, and now prospectors don't know what chromite is like. So, it took Wiltz several years to find a chromite. After smelting, after a long time of corrosion resistance test, compared with the performance reference given by Marlin, it was determined that it was ferrochrome......

However, the chromite in Cuba is relatively small. For example, the chromite mine found by Wiltz has a total ore of only 200,000 tons. According to the smelted finished product, its chromium trioxide content is less than 40%. Compared to the large mines that cost hundreds of millions of tons of ore, this chromite looks inconspicuous. However, it's not bad either. Because, chromite itself is a rare thing. Ma Lin remembers that a document he had read in his previous life showed that the chromite reserves in western Tibet Province were 4.25 million tons, accounting for 394...... of the country's reserves In other words, the chromite reserves in China are only more than 10 million tons......

But it's no wonder, because China is a chromium-deficient country. For example, the barrel of the 56 and a half is made of 50ba carbon steel, which is due to the lack of special metals such as chromium and nickel in China. Thus, the life of the 56 half-barrel was only 10 thousand rounds. The Soviet barrel, with chrome plating on the inner tube wall, greatly improved the corrosion resistance of fire, and the barrel life of the AK could reach 100,000 rounds.

Moreover, the distribution of chromium reserves around the world is extremely uneven. Of these, the vast majority (about 72%) of chrome ore is in the Republic of South Africa. Then, Zimbabwe also accounted for 12 per cent. Kazakhstan in the former Soviet Union stood at 5%, Turkey accounted for 0.9%, and China did not rank first...... Moreover, Turkey, which accounts for only 0.9%, is an important source of ferrochrome imports for China. Otherwise, China would not have gone out of its way to win over Turkey and sell Hongqi missiles to the other side. You know, Turkey is a member of NATO......

Similar to chrome ore resources, nickel ore is unevenly distributed. For example, later generations reported that Australia accounted for 19 million tons of 81 million tons of nickel resources in the world, and 12 million tons in the French colony of New Caledonia (this is also an important reason why France is stubbornly holding on to this land and refusing to let go, the earliest warship Harvey armor at the end of the 19th century was obtained by the Americans after carburizing the surface of French nickel steel), Brazil 9.1 million tons, Russia 7.9 million tons, Cuba 5.5 million tons...... The rest of the countries are only a fraction...... China is so big, and nickel ore resources account for less than 4% of the world's total......

……

As a historian and geographer in his previous life, Marin knew that chromite ore was mainly distributed in the interior of South Africa. However, that side is currently Portuguese territory. Without enough certainty, Marin didn't intend to take it now. When the time comes, we will seize it together with the South African gold mines. Anyway, South Africa's chromite ore and recent situation are in the northern inland area, so it is convenient to work together.

But first of all, Marin doesn't quite remember what chromite looks like, only that it seems to be gray, very similar to ordinary stone. He didn't graduate from prospecting, so he didn't really know the difference between the stones. Only laterite nickel ore is so brightly colored that Marin can be easily determined.

Therefore, Wiltz, a prospecting engineer-turned-governor, spent several years, traveled all over the area around Moa, and climbed many mountains, before finally finding this chromite with small reserves, but it is not small......

Moreover, the most important significance of finding this chromite is that if you look for chromite in the future, just take the ore of this chromite and compare it, which is countless times easier. Unlike the first time he was looking for this kind of mine, Wiltz had no reference and searched for several years before finding ...... It's really Marlin who moved his mouth, and Wiltz broke his leg......

However, Marlin doesn't really need much stainless steel. The main thing is to wrap the bottom of the warship, and the iron sheet is still very thin, and the amount is very limited. At most, make some weapons or decorations or something. After all, this is not the industrial age, and the cost of metal is limited.

Therefore, this small chromite with reserves of 200,000 tons is definitely enough for Marin to squander, even if he uses stainless steel, it is enough.

As for the future, Marin has already arranged it - South Africa, the world's largest chromite country and gold power, must be included in the colonial system. Cuba is also inevitable, because Cuba has a lot of nickel mines. As long as there are Cuba and South Africa, stainless steel can be vigorously made in the future. In addition, South Africa's gold reserves are also huge, and it must be held in your hands.

You must know that the South Africa of later generations made a mess of the country after the black man came to power, but it was able to mix into the "BRICS" team and be in the company of boss Xi and other bigwigs, relying on the amazing reserves of gold? Moreover, the rest of the BRICS countries are called "BRICS" because of the initials of the country, while South Africa is the authentic "BRICS" because people have gold......

God knows why the British gave up South Africa, even if the United States forced them to give up their colonies, they should not have lost such a high-quality colony as South Africa. France, for example, is reluctant to give up New Caledonia and clearly understands the strategic value of New Caledonia nickel mines.

However, this is also the case that Britain did wrong in the first place, not paying attention to the population problem. The vast majority of South Africa is still old, how can it be willing to let Britain rule? Unlike Australia and Canada, because they are basically of British descent, they were later the British horse boy and younger brother, and the head of state was still the Queen of England.

So, in the final analysis, if you want to completely occupy a colony, you have to rely on your own people to control that place. As for why the United States is independent, it is that the population composition of the United States is different from that of Australia and Canada. Although the United States was first developed by the British, it later introduced too many immigrants from various countries, such as Germans, French, Hispanics, etc., and many Irish. Even, the Germans outnumbered the British. So, of course, the people there are not interested in the overlord Britain. Unlike Australia, New Zealand, and Canada, which are dominated by British, independence is unwilling to be completely independent, and the British king must be the head of state......

With the lessons of his previous life, Marin certainly won't make the mistakes of the British again. In the future, in the core areas of his colonies (such as North America, South Africa, Cuba, etc.), he must ensure the absolute superiority of the Germans and the English, so as to avoid mixing with the descendants of other countries, which will lead to disunity of people, rebellions, etc.

South Africa, for example, certainly does not have a population of more than 50 million at present, but at most a few million, as it will do in later generations. Marin intended to drive all the locals away in the direction of Mozambique or Botswana. Or, catch some immigrants to Japan and lower the level of civilization in Japan. When Japan is "blackened", there will be no threat in the future......

All in all, a core region like South Africa must ensure a future homogeneity of population composition and ethnicity. Only if they are their own people, they will not be centrifuged......