While the military industrial group and shipyards were happy with the results of their tests, An Lan, who served as the head of the Ministry of Minerals, was a little unhappy.

With the needs of various engineering construction and exports, the output of steel has been in short supply, in addition to the smelting method is too primitive, there is also a serious shortage of iron ore production in the mining area, this small open-pit iron-rich mine has basically bottomed out, according to Anlan's estimates, if the construction of the Manchester City base continues at this rate, it will be basically exhausted by the end of June this year.

Expand production capacity, looking for new iron ore is imperative, at this time Anlan's desk, is on a map of the distribution of minerals in western Australia, if you look carefully, this map and the map of Western Australia in later generations is still a little different, this map is Anlan personally led a prospecting team along the upper reaches of the Swan River as the center, to the surrounding 30 kilometers to find, the map drawn, along the way suitable for settlements and mineral distribution are marked very clearly.

The original copy of the map has been included in the archives of the Executive Committee for safekeeping, and this is a copy in Anlan's hand, if it is necessary to expand the production capacity of steel, it is necessary to expand the steel smelter, change the existing clamp pot iron-making method, build a blast furnace to build a large-scale steel smelter, according to the current situation, it has the initial ability to build.

If it was just a simple construction of a blast furnace to expand production capacity, it would not make An Lan a little distressed, the key was that he had not found a single mineable iron ore in the area he searched along the Swan River, which had to make him make new mining adjustments.

Mining more iron ore would have to be made to the famous Pilbara region, which is one of Australia's most famous sources of iron ore in history, but it is more than 1,500 kilometres away from the Manchester City base, and it is impossible to mine iron ore at such a distance with the existing capabilities.

If you want to mine iron ore in this area, you have to build a railway to transport the mined iron ore to the smelter in Manchester City, which is obviously too unrealistic, so Anlan vetoed it himself without mentioning it.

But the problem is that the current iron ore production is indeed no longer enough to meet the needs of all kinds of production, whether it is to build houses or make agricultural tools for export, etc., a large amount of steel is needed.

An Lan was sitting at the desk rubbing his head and was worried, when a man about fifty years old with a general's belly walked into the office.

"Lao An, I'm worried about the iron ore again," Zhou Ben of the steel smelting field walked into Anlan's office with a smile, Zhou Ben, who had rich experience in steel smelting before the crossing, went from a grassroots smelting and casting worker to the vice president of the company, completely relying on solid skills, and had a certain knowledge reserve for every link of steel smelting, so after the steel smelter was built, he naturally became the factory director.

Compared with the large factories that managed thousands of people in later generations, the small workshop smelter with only a few dozen people now has a little overkill for Zhou Ben, and he knows that the iron ore production is insufficient, and he is very clear about the main iron ore producing areas in Australia in later generations, and has been to the famous Pilbara region for field investigations.

"Can you not worry, Lao Zhou, tell me what this is called, I can't find an iron mine that can be mined for dozens of kilometers around here, isn't this deliberately embarrassing us, knowing where there is an iron mine, this distance is still so far." Seeing that it was an acquaintance, An Lan complained to him.

"Haha, you can't worry about this, you can't worry about it, even if we build the railway there now, it will take a year or two, and it will take half a year to mine at the earliest. So it's too late in time, and we'll have to find another way to find another way, and I'm here to discuss this with you. ”

Seeing Zhou Ben's relaxed face and smiling, and now that he said these words again, An Lan immediately thought of whether he had already thought of some solution.

"Lao Zhou, have you already thought of any way, come and hear it."

"There is a way, there are still some of them, aren't we steam ships all successful sea trials, by next year the Dutch ten Western ships will also be delivered, and then they will be uniformly equipped with steam power units, shipping capacity must be needless to say, it is inevitable to improve to a large section, in this case, why should we rush to mine iron ore in the Pilbara region, why not spend money on direct imports and then produce finished products for export, do high-profit value-added industries."

Hearing Zhou Ben's words, An Lan, who didn't know much about market operations, couldn't slow down a little, and was looking at it with a thoughtful expression.

"Let me give you an example, for example, our iron ore mining farm, the mined iron ore is sold to our smelter at a price of 10 silver dollars a ton, and then our smelter smelts the ore into steel, 30 yuan per ton in the sale to the subordinate craft products factory, and they produce various products to export to Batavia, you calculate the export price of each finished product, excluding these costs, is it the craft products factory that makes the most money."

After Zhou Ben's brief introduction, An Lan thought about it along the train of thought, it seems that this is indeed the case, but it may not be easy to import iron ore. The Dutch and the British seem to have a stronghold in Sumatra, and it is indeed iron ore here, so should it be imported from here.

"You mean importing from West Sumatra, but as far as I know, the iron ore here is mainly distributed inland, and the production area of iron ore is basically controlled by the local natives, so how much do you think the amount of imports can be?"

"Lao An, I still haven't said another way, in addition to importing, we must also build a stronghold in the Pilbara area, build a steel smelter, and lay tracks while mining, so that we can not only use the steel that Manchester City needs, but also provide the steel needed to other towns in mainland Australia in the future."

"It's too difficult to build a stronghold, more than a thousand kilometers, even if we ride a horse, it will take more than 20 days or a month, what if this stronghold is attacked by the natives, it's still a problem to get a steam locomotive train, you have to ask the Ministry of Industry if you can get it in a few years." An Lan couldn't help but say with some worry.

"I'm afraid the natives don't have it, I still wish I had it, free mining labor, this area is relatively arid, and the natives like to live in moist and fruity areas, don't worry at all, even the telegraph is available, even if something happens, we can also transmit it through the telegraph, as for the steam engine locomotive, that is something that the Ministry of Industry should consider, we don't have to care at all, just submit a report." Zhou Ben said proudly.

However, in the end, An Lan was persuaded by him, and the two jointly submitted a report on the construction of a new base, and pointed out the necessity and focus of the construction. Several members of the Executive Committee frowned when they saw the report.