Zhao Yi had no plans to make any big moves before the Lantern Festival. He mainly stayed at home and rested. Lin Hexia was also lazy and planned to go to Hong Kong to take charge of the work after the Lantern Festival.
Zhou Jinyu didn't feel conscious at all. Seeing Lin Hexia and Zhao Yi chatting with each other, still staying leisurely beside them, they didn't take it seriously at all and didn't feel any embarrassment.
Anyway, as long as you are not embarrassed, others will be embarrassed, so Lin Hexia and Zhao Yi are embarrassed and can't say anything to express their feelings. However, everyone is used to Zhou Jinyu's character, so there is nothing to worry about.
And now Zhou Jinyu is also alone. Zhou Zhigang and his wife went back on the third day after Zhou Jinjue got married, and Zhou Jinjue also followed them back to his hometown. They needed to hold another banquet to entertain relatives and friends.
Since the banquet held in their hometown was not very grand, Zhao Yi and Zhou Jinyu did not follow them. As long as the two protagonists, the bride and groom, were there, no one cared whether the others were there or not.
However, he didn't do nothing during the year. He still took the time to improve the previous sand-fixing agent to make the sand-fixing time longer, making it easier for Xinhui Energy Company to build photovoltaic power plants in the desert.
All this actually takes less than a few hours. His main focus now is on designing a fully automated mining submersible to prepare for mining deep-sea gold mines.
After the design was completed, it was directly handed over to Haiyan Shipping Company to help build it. It looked very much like a submarine, but the equipment and structure inside were completely different from that of a submarine.
Since it needs to dive into the deep sea below 10,000 meters, high-strength materials must be used to withstand high-intensity water pressure. This kind of material has not been available in China Military Industrial Company before, and it must be specially developed.
In fact, if you want to dive that deep, it is not impossible with the existing materials of Cornerstone Materials Company, but the submersible cannot be made too big. If you want to make it larger than a large submarine, the current materials will not work.
Therefore, the design drawings and various material technologies that are required to be matched are all handed over to Cornerstone Materials Company to be responsible for follow-up production. Since there is a full set of technical support, it is not very difficult.
According to Zhao Yi's request, Cornerstone Materials must produce key materials and provide them to Haiyan Shipping Company within 2 months, and Haiyan Shipping Company must produce the submersible before June.
Because it is fully automated, there is no need for undersea cooperation, and the communication requirements are not very high. It does not even need to contact the ground, but you can't contact it if you want to.
Moreover, the submersible does not require humans to operate it. Zhao Yi plans to install a junior artificial intelligence clone directly on it to replace manual operation. At the same time, there is also a seabed information map to identify his position.
Of course, it is not enough to rely on these seabed information maps. It is precisely because of this that a junior artificial intelligence clone is needed as a control system, which can make quick decisions on unexpected situations.
In addition to the submersibles used for mining, Haiyan Shipping Company was also asked to manufacture two small submersibles. The main purpose was to survey the seabed terrain and serve as the lead party for large-scale mining submersibles.
After completing the task of leading the way, these two small submersibles will be placed on the seabed all year round to draw seafloor maps and prepare for subsequent mining. They can also be given to the China Military Industrial Company for use by the naval forces.
As for ordinary offshore mining platforms, Tianshu Machinery Company has ready-made equipment and technology, but it has not been put to use before. Only a few offshore oil production platforms have been sold to CNOOC.
This time Zhao Yi plans to use a 1 billion-ton submarine iron ore mine for mining. The mining volume does not necessarily have to be large, but this reserve can definitely act as a deterrent.
With this 1 billion ton high-grade seabed iron ore, international iron ore giants do not dare to increase prices arbitrarily. Even if the price increases, it will not exceed the cost of offshore mining.
In other words, Zhao Yi used offshore mining technology to set an iron ore price ceiling for international iron ore giants. As long as this ceiling is exceeded, it means that their export business will suffer a huge blow.
In fact, there are a lot of iron ores in the Pacific Ocean. No fewer than 10 mineral deposits with a billion-ton level have been discovered. As time goes by, more iron ores will be discovered.
In addition to the rapid rise in demand for iron ore in our country, the demand for other metals is also very large, but it is not as conspicuous as iron ore, and the degree of monopoly is not as high as iron ore, so it is not particularly urgent.
Zhao Yi stayed at home with the two beauties, either working out or playing games. In short, time passed quickly, and the first lunar month was out and the Lantern Festival was over inadvertently.
After the Lantern Festival, Lin Hexia flew to Hong Kong to take charge of the work there, while Zhou Jinyu went to work. He would only come over for dinner in the evening, and the house suddenly became deserted.
This made Zhao Yi not used to it, so he could only devote more energy to work. The first task at the beginning of the year was to establish Tianxing Mining Company to prepare for seabed mining.
The person in charge of Tianxing Mining was replaced by the person in charge of the previous Rare Earth Mining Company, and Rare Earth Mining Company became a subsidiary of Tianxing Mining Company.
Zhao Yi gave this company high expectations. Although it is only engaged in seabed mining at this stage, he hopes to mine in the universe in the future, so he chose the name Tianxing.
Zhao Yi does not need to worry about the establishment of a new mining company. It can be left entirely to the person in charge of the company. What Zhao Yi needs to be responsible for now is to negotiate relevant agreements with the government.
Since the cost of seabed mining is still higher than that of land mining, if it is carried out in a normal way, such high-cost iron ore cannot be sold at all.
In this case, there are only two ways to go. One is to personally participate in the iron ore-related smelting industry and produce high value-added products, which can offset the disadvantage of the high cost of iron ore.
The other is for the government to reduce relevant taxes. Zhao Yi mainly negotiates on this part, because tax incentives are generally not targeted at one company, so the difficulty is naturally greater.
In fact, although the cost of offshore mining is higher than that of land, it is not much higher, although seabed mining is more difficult, requires high equipment technology, and requires a lot of equipment investment.
However, the advantages of offshore mining are also very obvious, that is, unlike land mining, there is no need to build special railways and ports to transport ore to the port, which saves a huge investment.
Offshore mining only requires the iron ore to be dug out, and after necessary selection, it can be directly loaded onto a transport vessel and shipped to the mainland, without the need for too many intermediate transportation links.
The offshore mining equipment is basically manufactured by Tianshu Machinery Company. It has high technical content and high equipment prices, but this part of the profit also goes into his pocket.
Although calculated as a single enterprise, Tianxing Mining Company's offshore mining costs are slightly higher than those on land, but in terms of overall accounts, the costs are actually lower than onshore costs.
Because offshore mining does not require the construction of a large number of railways for transportation, the size of the mineral deposits is not required. Even for iron ore below 100 million tons, the cost will hardly increase.
But that's not how business is calculated. Nowadays, Tianxing Mining Company's costs are high, so it is very reasonable to strive for profits. As for the high profits earned by other companies, that is their ability.
In addition to the matter of Tianxing Mining Company, there is the issue of seabed gold mining, because Zhao Yi does not intend to hand over the gold mining business to Tianxing Mining Company.
It's not that Zhao Yi is greedy for money, but that the reserves of the gold mine are too huge. If any news leaks to the outside world, the impact will be too great.
The first is that the collapse of the international gold price is inevitable. Although he can use this opportunity to short gold futures in the international financial market, these are one-time transactions after all.
Secondly, the role of gold as a financial safe haven will be greatly reduced. The global currency is already very fragile. If gold collapses, the foreign exchange reserves of each country will only be the national currency of the world's powerful countries.
The country that occupies the dominant reserve currency status has even more advantages. This situation is currently very unfavorable to our country, at least until we are ready for the relevant preparations.
Thirdly, the jewelry industry that Zhao Yi wanted to start has been completely disrupted. If gold is worthless, will others still pursue it so much? This is a very real question.
Therefore, after these huge amounts of gold are mined, they can only be kept in bank vaults to eat dust for a long time, and will only be considered for use in emergencies.
In fact, the gold reserves on the earth are estimated to be 6 billion tons. In ancient times, most of the gold was on the surface of the earth. However, due to the movement of the earth's crust, it was buried inside, resulting in very little gold reserves that can be mined.
The gold deposit that Zhao Yi plans to mine this time is located in the Mariana Trench. It is in an absolute recess of the earth, relatively close to the bottom crust, and it is also a volcanic crater. The underground mineral deposits are easy to flow out with the magma.
Therefore, the emergence of this seabed gold deposit is the result of a combination of factors. Other gold deposits that have been detected are much smaller in content and reserves. Compared with this deposit, they are not worth mentioning at all.
This is still the preliminary conclusion that Zhao Yi has reached through satellites. The specific situation requires further investigation, and there is a high probability that there will be many more conclusions than what has been reached now.
Moreover, Zhao Yi also has a set of technology that can affect the concentration of mineral deposits. After the gold that can be mined is mined, this set of equipment is installed in this extinct volcano crater, and the nearby gold can be slowly gathered again to form a new of mineable gold deposits.
Of course, this technology is not available everywhere. There must be relevant metal deposits within the range it can affect, otherwise it will be useless.
After Zhao Yi sorted out the information in his hand, he called the counselor directly, hoping to discuss the issue of seabed mineral mining with him when he had time.
Since the counselor has many things to do every day, unlike Zhao Yi who is free at any time, he must say hello first and wait until the counselor is free before detailed discussions can be carried out.
Originally, he thought that the counselor must be very busy at the beginning of the year and the time to arrange a meeting would be very late. However, after he called, he got a clear answer the next day. The counselor was free in the afternoon and arranged to meet with him.
In the afternoon of the next day, Zhao Yi brought his survey data to the office of the Senior Minister. After the secretary served tea, he handed the survey data of an iron ore deposit to the Senior Minister for viewing.
In order to make the survey data easy to understand for the advisor, he also gave detailed explanations of various survey indicators so that the advisor would not look obscure.
Time passed slowly, and an hour later, the counselor finally read the entire survey report, picked up the teacup and took a sip of tea, and said: "I read the report. The 3 billion tons of mineral deposits have very high mining value.
But is current technology capable of such large-scale seabed mining? If so, how soon can the substantial mining phase begin? "
"In fact, Tianshu Machinery Company has been researching related seabed mining technology for a long time, and basically has all the technologies and equipment. However, it has not started this business before, and the outside world does not know much about it.
PetroChina's offshore oil drilling platform was developed by Tianshu Machinery Company. It is at the world's leading level and is currently operating very well.
As for how long it will take to enter the actual mining stage, I have asked Tianshu Machinery Company to provide a full set of equipment. After Tianxing Mining Company is established, we will recruit enough manpower to start the construction of the offshore platform.
Estimated according to the past construction speed, substantial mining can be carried out in June this year at the latest, and the daily ore output will be about 100,000 tons by then. " Zhao Yi said.
In fact, the daily output of 100,000 tons is only the daily output of one offshore platform. If you want more, you can build a few more, but Zhao Yi thinks it is completely unnecessary.
"What is the cost of mining?" asked the counselor.
"The mining cost is about 20% higher than the current mining cost of land mineral deposits. I came to you this time mainly because I hope to get certain discounts and narrow the cost gap. Otherwise, domestic steel companies will definitely not purchase ." Zhao Yi said.
"If you have any ideas, just say it so we can discuss it carefully," the counselor said.
“My first priority is to provide tax concessions so that I only need to sell the iron ore and there will be less trouble.
If this doesn't work, I plan to set up a steel company myself, develop high-profit products, and offset the impact of higher raw material prices by increasing terminal profit margins. " Zhao Yi said.
If calculated based on the current iron ore price, there is actually not much profit from offshore mining, but if the price of iron ore was as high as in the previous life, the profit would be much greater.
The price of iron ore fell sharply in the past few years, only about US$30 per ton, lower than US$40. With the increase in my country's iron ore imports, it has now risen to US$40 per ton.
If sold at this price, Tianxing Mining Company can only maintain capital operations. It is basically impossible to make large-scale profits. However, as the price of iron ore increases, the profit margin of seabed mining will have a huge advantage.
Because seabed mining must have a very high level of automation, less labor is needed, and labor costs are very low. As the price of iron ore rises for other mining companies, labor costs will also rise, otherwise workers will cause trouble.
The counselor thought for a while and felt that it would be more appropriate to grant tax incentives. First, because the mining volume is not large, with the annual mining volume being only more than 30 million tons, even if tax incentives are given, the government's losses will not be large and it can be tolerated.
Second, if Zhao Yi enters the steel smelting industry, it will have a huge impact on the current domestic steel smelting pattern. Regardless of what he just said, it means digesting self-produced iron ore. In fact, the counselor does not believe it.
Everyone knows that once Zhao Yi enters an industry, it will not be a small matter. At that time, other steel companies that will be squeezed will not be able to survive, and a major reshuffle of the industry will inevitably occur.
In addition to Zhao Yi's technical advantages, more importantly, the China Housing Company is in his hands. The steel smelting company he established has no worries about sales and only needs to desperately expand production capacity.
At that time, the product purchases of other steel companies will definitely be reduced. At present, domestic steel companies are just having a better life. After this blow, they will really be unable to recover.
In fact, from a government perspective, it is naturally a good thing for Zhao Yi to enter this industry, because technology and management will be greatly improved, and it will play an important role in the development of my country's smelting technology.
But you can't just look at one side of things. Our country's steel companies support a very large number of workers, and Zhao Yi's company is famous for its high efficiency. Although it can absorb some of it, it will never absorb all of it.
Moreover, Zhao Yi already monopolizes enough industries. The rough steel processing industry does not require Zhao Yi to personally participate in the battle. If he really wants to promote the development of domestic smelting technology, he does not need to establish a steel company.
For example, Cornerstone Materials currently has a large amount of resmelting business. It is currently the largest resmelting company in the world. Their finishing products can be said to be sold all over the world and they have become an important international provider of high-end steel products.
According to the assistant government, even if he does this kind of hard work, he will not have to do it. He should still give full play to his own advantages and use his technical advantages to earn money for high-profit products.
After listening to the advice of the senior adviser, Zhao Yi certainly had no problem. If it were not for selling iron ore, he would not like to enter the field of rough steel processing. The profits are low and there are many things to do, which does not meet his positioning of himself.
"Do you plan to mine offshore minerals on a large scale? According to your habits, the daily mining volume of 100,000 tons seems unable to satisfy your appetite." The counselor asked with a smile.
“We don’t have this plan yet. It is estimated that the price of iron ore is still relatively low at present. It is more cost-effective to buy from other countries. It can also balance our country’s trade surplus and reduce international trade frictions.
The reason why I want to mine offshore minerals is, on the one hand, to reserve technology for research and development, and on the other hand, to act as a deterrent, so that if international iron ore giants want to increase prices, they need to carefully consider it. " Zhao Yi said.
After listening to what he said, the counselor nodded in agreement. If it was in Zhao Yi's own interests, he would of course hope to mine as much as possible, so that he would make more money.
But when we think about the problem from a national perspective, we can draw a completely different conclusion. Mineral mining actually has low technical content and is not an area that must be developed for our country.
This is one of the reasons why the government particularly likes to cooperate with Zhao Yi, because Zhao Yi is not like other businessmen who are only interested in profit, even at the expense of the country's interests. He has an overall view and sometimes even thinks more than the government. (End of chapter)