Chapter 359: Purchasing Ores
Translator: _Min_ Editor: Rundi
…
There were at least ten newspapers on Jiang Chen’s table, each displaying an interesting perspective. Especially the Economic News, they did a close up of Zhang Yapin’s distorted face. Jiang Chen wondered what he would think when he saw the image.
As to the narratives… Some remain neutral, some turned the topic domestic, some favored a certain country while others disagreed. Of course, all the opinions were within Jiang Chen’s expectation. Since something like this happened, country F would be more cautious. As to how this foreign relationship problem should be handled, and how they would use the international court platform as well as the 41 captives to scam country F, it was president Zhang’s worry.
The door was knocked on gently.
“Come in,” Jiang Chen said as he threw the newspapers into the corner.
Ayesha in a maid uniform walked in and put coffee in front of Jiang Chen’s table. The white lace skirt, as well as the absolute territory hidden underneath the skirt, made Jiang Chen feel a bit thirsty.
The reason why she wore this was not because it was Jiang Chen’s fetish, but purely because Ayesha wanted to.
That’s right, it was her hobby.
Since they returned from Kane, Ayesha developed a keen passion for pretty clothes. But because of her traditional perspective, she was unwilling to wear revealing clothes in front of other people. So the five full closets became her “pajamas” and when there was no one home, Ayesha’s choice of clothing became “odd”.
The maid uniform was okay, but sometimes she would wear a bikini to do chores, and wear only an apron to cook…
“Thank you.” Jiang Chen took the coffee.
Ayesha smiled back. Walking behind Jiang Chen, she gently massaged his shoulders.
“You’re working every day, take a break once in a while.”
“Once everything is on track, I will be free.” Jiang Chen put the cup down after taking a sip of his coffee, closed his eyes, and enjoyed Ayesha’s massage.
“Mhmm… Only if I could help you,” Ayesha said with slight disappointment.
In her mind, she always thought women like Xia Shiyu was more ideal for Jiang Chen. Not only could she help him with his business, but her looks were also more suited to Asia’s beauty standard. But her, other than the ability to kill as well as the apathy towards life, she had no other abilities.
This was the reason why she wanted to drag Xia Shiyu to Jiang Chen’s pillow side…
“What are you saying? You have helped me a lot,” Jiang Chen denied her statement without hesitation.
Ayesha didn’t respond, but from her gentle smile, it looked like she was comforted.
“I am planning to head to Australia at noon, do you want to come along?”
When she heard that Jiang Chen planned on taking her with him during this trip, Ayesha happily curled up her lips.
“Of course. Let me go change.”
She then turned around and left.
…
Steel is the foundation of the industrial industry, even in the highly advanced 22nd century.
To develop industrial capability, raw materials were necessary. But the limitation of the wasteland’s industrial capability was precisely the scarcity of raw materials. Although they could obtain aluminum, copper, iron, as well as other rare metals through recycling, the highly processed nature of the raw materials was not only cumbersome but was also costly. It was for this reason that the power armors had such a high cost. The special plastic steel covering the T-3 power armor was not cheap.
When he was back in the country, it was unrealistic to purchase large quantities of metal as it was much riskier than purchasing food. But now there were fewer concerns. He could buy whatever amount he desired, and no one would investigate him.
The iron production of the world was controlled by three mega-companies. The first being Brazil’s Vale S.A with 39% of total production, ranking second was Rio Tinto and third being BHP, who accounted for 38% of total production. The first one was too far away in South America; the two latter ones were all in Australia with only New Guinea in between. Based on the consideration of cost, Jiang Chen chose BHP as his partner.
There was only one flight to Melbourne. While there was an increase in the number of tourists, tickets remained plentiful as Ayesha easily purchased them.
When they arrived, they checked in at the same hotel.
“Nice to meet you, Mr. Jiang.” When he saw Jiang Chen, the Australian with a hooked nose extended his hand.
“Nice to meet you too.” Jiang Chen gave him a warm handshake.
Oliver, one of the presidents of BHP. He was the acting executive director of the West Australia division.
Compared with the mega-company with a 210 billion market cap, Future International was just a small ant. Of course, no one would question the potential of the little ant, just like Microsoft in its early days.
After a brief introduction, they were quick to head into the main topic.
“One hundred thousand tons of iron, two hundred thousand tons of aluminum, one thousand tons of 45% purity molybdenum per month…” Oliver scanned through the contract Jiang Chen handed over repeatedly as his eyebrows began to raise.
“The iron and aluminum are okay. But the molybdenum is a rare metal and production remains low. All of its production per year has been reserved.” Oliver showed an apologetic expression.
“I see.” Jiang Chen raised his eyebrows.
Molybdenum has a low reserve on earth accounting for only 0.001% of the mass of the crust, but it had a wide range of applications. Such as microcomputers, microprocessors, offshore oil and gas pipelines, and even fertilizers.
But a significant use of this was yet to be discovered. Mainly the neural connection of the virtual reality equipment to the human body must use this. Although they could acquire some through recycling in the apocalypse, to mass produce it, they would have to obtain it in the modern world.
“With molybdenum, I recommend you try your luck in Hua. Hua is the biggest producer of molybdenum right now. Iron and aluminum, our company can provide.”
“I’ll see. Let’s put the molybdenum aside for now and discuss the price of iron and aluminum,” Jiang Chen said reluctantly.
The Wang family would not let him purchase molybdenum easily. It was too easy to prevent him from buying the metal. From extraction to transportation, and customization. With the Wang family’s power, a connection in any part of the system would easily stop him from doing business.
Where could molybdenum be easily acquired from? Potentially places like Antarctica and the Moon.
International treaty prohibited one of them, while the other one was unreachable by current technology.
He would have to search for other means… Jiang Chen deliberated.