As 2008 enters December, the economic situation in the world has become more complicated.

In recent months, there has been a steady stream of news of various corporate bankruptcies.

The prices of raw materials such as crude oil, soybeans, and iron ore, which were originally at a high level, are constantly falling, and everyone has no confidence in the future at all.

Nanshan Investment, which has money in hand and has been looking for investment projects, naturally has some new ideas.

"Mr. Cao, at present, iron ore and coal mines are a good investment opportunity, especially the minerals in Australia, many of which are exported to China."

"Taking advantage of the financial crisis, investing in some large ore companies, or acquiring some mineral deposits, should be able to have good returns in the future."

Lin Ling took a break for a while and began to look for investment opportunities again.

For the average person, the impact of the financial crisis is quite significant.

It's hard to find a job.

Revenues have fallen.

The company has laid off employees.

But for the wealthy, financial crises are often a good time to reallocate assets.

In the long run, investing in minerals now will definitely not lose money in the future.

In fact, there are many people who can see this, but there are not many people who can invest money in this environment.

"Iron ore and coal mines are indeed a relatively stable investment object, and the future returns will not be particularly low."

"After all, China's steel production has been growing, and the consumption of iron ore and coal is relatively large."

"However, the plate of these two fields is too big, and our billions of dollars seem to be a lot, but in fact, if we invest in iron ore and coal, it is completely insufficient."

In later generations, China's annual iron ore demand was 2 billion tons, more than half of which was imported from overseas.

Large mining companies such as Vale, Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton have a high share of the world's iron and stone trade, and also have a large say in the pricing of iron ore.

Mainly the iron ore in China, most of them are buried deep underground, need to dig wells and excavate, face multiple constraints such as environment and land, and the development is difficult, very laborious, and the cost is huge.

In addition, even if it is mined, it is still a low-quality poor mineral, and it still needs to be crushed, ground and other methods to make iron concentrate powder before it can be used.

These processes are time-consuming and costly, and the pressure of safe production is high, and the cost of land transportation is further increased.

Most of Australia's iron ore is enriched on the surface, it is very easy to mine, and the ore is of high quality, and the price of shipping it to Huaxia port by sea is much lower than the cost of iron ore in China.

It is said that the mining cost of iron ore in Huaxia is about 80 US dollars a ton.

And what about Australia?

It's unbelievably low!

Australia's iron ore infrastructure is very good, such as Rio Tinto's transportation network of more than 100 giant trucks, more than 20 smart trains, and more than 1,700 kilometers of railways, which runs 24 hours a day from the depths of the mine to the port, and the transportation cost has dropped by 15%-20%.

In addition, the mine is next to the port, and the cost of sea transportation is much lower than that of land transportation, which is cheaper than the iron ore in the inland of China.

This makes the cost of Australian iron ore basically around $14 a ton.

Of course, the cost is the cost, and the selling price is the selling price.

Looking at the selling price of iron ore in later generations, you can see how lucrative this business is.

If Cao Yang had tens of billions of dollars in his hands, he would dare to rush in and have a good time.

Even took the opportunity of this financial crisis to see if it could buy one of the large mining companies.

But in the current situation, it is obvious that the strength is still not enough.

The situation with coal is even more complicated, the water is deeper, and Cao Yang does not intend to be a coal boss.

"Mineral investment is indeed an investment worthy of our consideration, but the existence of Nanshan Investment is not simply investment for the sake of investment, but investment for the development of Nanshan Group."

"Although we have special steel mills, the annual production capacity is 1 million tons, compared with hundreds of millions of steel production capacity, this output is nothing at all."

"So we don't need to spend too much energy on the investment of iron ore and coal for the time being."

"At most, it is enough to do some iron ore-related futures hedging in the future."

Cao Yang felt that he couldn't go down the mountain like a little monkey, and he picked it up when he saw it.

There are a lot of industries that make money in this world, and he can't be involved in everything.

But the Nanshan Group also wants to have mines, and he has no objection to this.

"What is the current situation of lithium, nickel and cobalt mines in the international market?"

As soon as he vetoed Lin Ling's proposal, Cao Yang immediately raised a new topic.

This topic obviously revolves around mineral investment, and it is also somewhat related to the preparations made by Lin Ling during this time.

"The market demand for lithium and cobalt has been relatively small."

"Although the development of lithium batteries in recent years has made some people optimistic about lithium mines and cobalt mines, the amount of lithium batteries needed in consumer electronics is really not much."

"And the lithium deposits that have been discovered are sufficient to supply these needs steadily."

"Although the situation of cobalt ore is a bit more complicated, most of it comes from Africa, but the price has been relatively stable."

"Of course, affected by the financial crisis, whether it is lithium or cobalt, the price has fallen sharply."

"For example, battery-grade lithium carbonate is now less than 20,000 yuan a ton."

"And ordinary lithium carbonate that is a little worse, I don't want 10,000 yuan a ton."

Lin Ling's work is quite in place, and she didn't think about investing in lithium mines and cobalt mines before, but she is very clear about the relevant market.

"As for nickel ore, due to the large amount of stainless steel used, the output has always been relatively large."

"The combined output of lithium ore and cobalt ore is not a fraction of that of nickel ore, and there is a huge gap in output value."

"And whether it is lithium or nickel ore, domestic resources are relatively rich."

Lin Ling explained that it was almost impossible to say that the resources of lithium ore and nickel ore do not have much investment value.

However, Cao Yang's thoughts are obviously different from hers.

The new plant of Nanshan Battery has been almost built.

Sooner or later, the era of electric vehicles will come.

For example, lithium carbonate rose to 600,000 yuan a ton at the craziest time.

Is this an increase in freight costs or an increase in fuel costs?

How high is the profit behind it?

Whether from the perspective of investment or for the stability of the supply chain of the battery industry, it is necessary to invest in some of its own lithium mines.

Even cobalt and nickel ore are worth investing in.

During the "demon nickel" period, the price of nickel also created a record high.

At the craziest time in the battery industry, almost all the materials needed to produce batteries were rising wildly.

There is no highest price, only higher.

In order to ensure the supply of batteries, major OEMs have signed various "alliances under the city" with battery suppliers.

It is common to buy out the production line, sign a guarantee agreement and so on.

This approach is definitely a huge shock to the traditional automotive industry.

At this time, have you ever seen a supplier who dares to tell the OEM that we are going to sign a number of units guarantee agreement, if you can't guarantee how many tens of thousands of parts you will buy from me, how much more will you have to pay me?

But in the era of batteries, almost every battery manufacturer dares to say so!

Even then, sometimes there are supply problems.

It's no wonder that the bosses of some OEMs always complain that they are working for battery factories.

In fact, battery manufacturers also feel that they are very wronged.

They're actually working for the "mines"!

Most battery companies, the profit margin is not very high, and even many are losing money.

But lithium mining companies, their profit margins ......

It's like a money grab.

In this case, Cao Yang must be planning lithium mines in advance.

By the way, the situation of nickel ore and cobalt ore is also laid out.

Nickel-cobalt-manganese, which is the main raw material of ternary lithium batteries.

"You're right, whether it's lithium mines, cobalt mines, or nickel mines, they haven't received enough attention from everyone."

"Relatively speaking, they are not as eye-catching as iron ore and coal mines."

"However, our group has now begun to enter the battery industry, and with the development of new energy vehicles in the future, the production capacity of batteries will continue to increase."

"In the future, the demand for lithium, cobalt and nickel ore will continue to rise."

"In the case of depleting existing capacity, the price of these minerals will not change particularly drastically."

"But once there is an imbalance between supply and demand, it is time for the price of these minerals to skyrocket."

"We only need to come up with $1 billion to buy a lot of related mines."

"Even directly bought the shares of some lithium mining giants."

"Whether it's at home or abroad, you can start preparing for it."

Cao Yang directly gave his own instructions.

Nanshan Investment wants to invest in minerals?

OK!

But the objects are lithium, nickel and cobalt, and the others are in the back line!

"In terms of development prospects, lithium mines, which are minerals related to battery production, are worth looking forward to in the future."

"But according to the current situation, at least in three to five years, the battery industry is unlikely to usher in explosive growth, which means that our investment is unlikely to usher in huge gains in three or five years."

"It is even certain that these investments will not be as good as the income of iron ore in three to five years."

"Mr. Cao, should we wait for the output of Nanshan batteries to rise to a certain level before starting to lay out these minerals?"

Although Lin Ling's professional level is relatively high, she has not experienced those crazy scenes in later generations after all.

So if she had to choose now, she still didn't want to choose lithium mines.

The output of batteries is not like steel, which is hundreds of millions of tons a year.

When will the price of lithium soar?

"Although there may not be a particularly good profit in three or five years, it will certainly not lose money."

"And in the long run, the investment is definitely worth it."

"A lithium mine worth $2,000 now may sell for $1 billion in a decade."

"We buy one more lithium mine and nickel mine at home and abroad, and as long as one is successfully transferred, the cost will be fully recovered."

"More importantly, as I just said, Nanshan Investment serves the development of Nanshan Group, not simply a profit-oriented institution."

"In the future, a complete industrial chain will be formed around Nanshan Battery, and Nanshan Battery will become bigger and stronger, and perhaps the market value of a Nanshan battery will exceed 100 billion US dollars."

"Compared to these prospects, the money to buy the mine now is nothing at all."

Cao Yang directly threw out a flatbread.

Nanshan battery has a market value of more than $100 billion?

Even if you are bold and confident in Nanshan Battery, you will never believe that its future will be so huge.

But if you think about the trillion-dollar market value of King Ning in the future, you will actually find that Cao Yang's big cake is not actually a blind painting.

However, people today are not aware of this.

Sure enough, Lin Ling didn't want to argue anymore after listening to Cao Yang's words.

The boss feels that these investments are closely related to the future of Nanshan Battery, and these investments are indeed impossible to lose money in the long run.

So she had no reason to refute anything.

Nanshan Investment is based on the development of Nanshan Group.

Today, she has a deeper understanding of these words.

"Mr. Cao, then I will go to learn about the situation of lithium mines and nickel mines at home and abroad, and I will also pay attention to the cobalt mines."

"However, whether it is these mines or related mining companies, they are generally still in a relatively chaotic situation, unlike iron ore that has formed several giants."

"So it's inevitable that there will be a mix of fish and dragons, and it will take some time to screen."

Lin Ling took a deep breath and was ready to implement Cao Yang's instructions.

"Don't worry, it's only December, and I think the impact of the financial crisis will only get bigger and bigger in the next three months."

"The prices of related mineral resources are in a downward phase, and there is no possibility of a significant rebound."

"But don't delay it too long, the relevant acquisitions must be completed by June next year at the latest."

Cao Yang didn't want to dream a lot at night, so he hurriedly bought the relevant mines at home and abroad.

Spending $1 billion to buy mines now could easily buy tens of billions of dollars in the future.

Of course, apart from cashing out some of the crazy moments, most of the mines actually need to be reserved for their own use.

The low-cost lithium ore resources can be regarded as laying a solid foundation for Nanshan battery in the future competition.

The technology is good and the cost is low, even if other battery manufacturers lose money, they have no way to compete with Nanshan battery, right?

When the time comes, throw the Nanshan battery into the stock market and toss it......

Thinking about a bright future, Cao Yang doesn't feel sorry for the current $1 billion at all.

However, Nanshan Battery has not yet made any big names, so it spent such a large amount of money first, and Cao Yang naturally wanted to call Lin Cheng over to talk about it and see how Nanshan Battery has been doing recently.

"Mr. Cao, we now have a mass production line for FHEV hybrid batteries and a trial production line."

"In addition, there are two PHEV plug-in hybrid battery trial production lines for the technical research and development of corresponding parts."

"In addition, the pure electric battery production line has also built two trial lines, which are used to produce lithium iron phosphate batteries and ternary lithium batteries respectively."

"Basically, FHEV batteries have formed a lithium-based development pattern, and PHEV batteries and pure electric batteries have formed a pattern of simultaneous development of lithium iron phosphate and ternary lithium."

"As long as there is market demand, we can invest in large-scale mass production lines on the basis of trial production lines."

"It's just that the acceptance of models with batteries in the market is not particularly high, so the production capacity of Nanshan batteries has not been directly raised."

Lin Cheng is actually quite satisfied with the current situation of Nanshan battery.

The foundation has been laid, and now is a good time.

"What is the level of automation of our battery production line and battery technology in the country and the world?"

Although Cao Yang has also personally participated in the research and development of batteries, he is very confident in the technology he has come up with.

But after all, there are some things that Lin Cheng brought people to implement.

He didn't know exactly what the final effect would be.

"Mr. Cao, the degree of automation of our battery production line is definitely the highest in China, and even in the world, it is also the mainstream level."

"Not to mention that BYD's battery production line can't be compared with us, even if we take out the battery production lines of Panasonic and LG manufacturers, we are not bad."

"At this point, Nanshan equipment is very good."

"And in the future, we will further improve the automation level of the battery production line in our mass production line."

"Basically, except for the mixer that adds materials, which requires some labor, the entire cell production line has been fully automated and does not need to be operated manually."

"As for battery technology, that's even more to say."

"Our lithium iron phosphate battery and ternary lithium battery are unique in the industry, and more than 100 patents have been registered this year alone."

"The current Nanshan battery is really just a chance away."

Lin Cheng's eyes were full of anticipation.

He's full of energy right now.

"The group's mobile phone industry will begin to exert its strength next year, and Nanshan Battery's business in consumer electronics should also be carried out as soon as possible."

"Then I thought about it, in terms of passenger cars, in addition to hybrid batteries that can consume part of the production capacity, it is estimated that the sales of electric vehicles will not increase immediately in the short term."

"So it's okay to consider working on commercial vehicles."

"During this year's Olympic Games, the electric buses developed by the Imperial University of Technology in cooperation with several manufacturers were put into some venues of the Olympic Games, and I wondered if we could communicate with the Asian Games to produce a batch of electric buses or electric buses specifically for the 2010 Yangcheng Asian Games?"

As soon as Cao Yang said this, Lin Cheng immediately became excited, and said, "Mr. Cao, I think this plan is completely feasible." ”

"We now have a full set of hybrid system technology, and the technology accumulation in electric vehicles has been almost done, and we can find a platform to implement it."

"Aren't we cooperating with Yangcheng Automobile Group as a commercial vehicle company?"

"In addition to producing trucks, we can also produce buses and buses in this company."

"The Asian Games will definitely be interested."

"Even we can be bold and unite Yangcheng City, Yangcheng Automobile Group, and Yangcheng Bus Group to make Yangcheng's buses electric vehicles first."

"For these buses, their mobile lines are fixed, and the charging problem is easier to solve."

"If we try it out in Yangcheng first, we can quickly participate in solving any problems."

"There should be almost 10,000 buses in the whole Yangcheng, and if all of them are replaced with electric buses, this will definitely help Nanshan Battery complete the initial production capacity ramp-up and successfully stand at the forefront of the industry."

"For electric vehicles, whether it's an electric bus, an electric bus, or an electric passenger car, the system is pretty much the same."

"When the time comes to integrate this set of technologies into passenger cars, the maturity of our electric vehicle technology will be improved at once."

"We can even further promote it to see if we can cooperate with Nanshan Hongqi and Yangcheng Trumpchi to produce a batch of taxis and replace all the taxis on the market with electric vehicles."

"This is very meaningful from the general direction of energy conservation and emission reduction, or from the level of improving the technical level of Nanshan Group."

"Isn't it often asked what we need from Yangcheng City?"

"I think this time I can put forward these demands and let Yangcheng come forward to help coordinate them."

"With Yangcheng Automobile Group following the light, I think it should not be very difficult to carry out this project."

Lin Cheng found that his train of thought was opened up at once.

Nanshan battery is now empty, but it can't find a very suitable stage to play.

If there is no way to put battery technology into use in mass production, it is sometimes difficult to continuously improve the technology.

Because the output can't go up, some problems can't be found at all.

You don't even know what the current technology is, what are you talking about about technology improvement?

"Is there a full guarantee for the safety of ternary lithium batteries now?"

"Buses and coaches are special, and any accident is unacceptable."

Cao Yang didn't want to see a fire on a bus with a Nanshan battery installed every once in a while, which would be very fatal.

After all, a vehicle of this nature is a big deal when something happens.

You can't do it if you want to press it down, and there's no point in diverting your attention.

"If you want to be safe, you can first use lithium iron phosphate batteries in buses and buses, which are relatively large in size and do not have such great requirements for the weight and volume of the battery."

"But in terms of electric taxis, you can try our ternary lithium battery, which has a much higher energy density, and for taxis, battery life is still very important."

Lin Cheng quickly gave a solution.

In this regard, Cao Yang naturally immediately began to act.

The 2010 Asian Games are not long away.

(End of chapter)