Zhuang Rui stumbled over Hu Rong's words and almost tripped over the stones scattered on the ground.
"300 kilograms multiplied by 10,000 equals 300 million kilograms? That's 3,000 tons!"
Zhuang Rui is very good with numbers and immediately converted 3 million kilograms into a more intuitive 3,000 tons. However, even so, he still couldn't imagine what such a large piece of jade would look like.
"We've heard about this jadeite. A piece this big must have come from a primary mine. Let's go take a look..."
Upon hearing Hu Rong's words, Professor Feng was filled with excitement; the fatigue of the past two days seemed to vanish in that instant. He pulled Hu Rong along, and they walked briskly up the mountain.
Zhuang Rui knew that primary minerals refer to a type of mineral that first existed in the Earth's crust and remained in the soil after weathering. Usually, the jadeite produced from these primary minerals is mostly colorless.
Moreover, the quality and texture of primary mineral jadeite are often quite average, far inferior to jadeite produced from secondary minerals such as iron and copper. This is because the formation of jadeite's color requires the presence of secondary minerals, so the environment in which those brightly colored jadeites grow must have associated minerals.
Five minutes later, the group rounded a mountain path and were immediately stunned by the sight before them.
From that side, the mountain still appears intact, but after going around the mountain path, the landscape in front of you is flat, with half of the mountain having been leveled and several deep pits remaining underground.
Upon seeing the approaching group, several soldiers guarding the perimeter immediately surrounded them. After negotiating with Hu Rong's men, they did not demand a body search, but instead stood at attention, guns drawn, watching their every move.
"This...this is all jade?"
In a large pit that was over fifty meters long and forty meters wide, Zhuang Rui climbed a ladder to the bottom of the pit and looked at the stone "jade" in front of him in disbelief. The surface of this jade, which was as big as a small mountain, was covered with white crystalline substances. If you looked closely at these crystals, you could occasionally find some green, but the texture and water content were extremely poor, not even reaching the level of bean jade, and it belonged to low-grade jade.
Zhuang Rui walked around the giant jadeite, which was tens of meters long and wide, and found that there were deep holes drilled into various parts of the jadeite, presumably to check the quality of the jadeite inside.
However, this piece of material was consistent inside and out. Zhuang Rui observed it with his spiritual energy and found that it did contain a large amount of jadeite, but the quality was the same as what he saw on the outside, which was a low-grade jadeite variety.
If this piece of jade were cut open, the material would only be enough to make small ornaments worth a few dozen dollars at most. It would be better to just leave it as is. If the Burmese government could find a way to move it out and build a museum to display it to the public, they could make a fortune.
"It's 36.58 meters long, 12.6 meters high, and extends inwards by 8.9 meters. It's incredible! The reason this primary ore has its color is probably due to crustal movement during the later stages of jadeite formation, when liquid intruded and caused ionization, resulting in these green vein-like jadeite. This also damaged the overall structure of the jadeite. However, such a large piece of jadeite is essentially a small vein. It's unbelievable..."
Professor Feng and Professor Chen went down to the bottom of the mine and started measuring with a tape measure. It took them more than 10 minutes to finally measure this "King of Jade"!
The size of the jade was measured, and the reason for its formation was explained to Zhuang Rui and Peng Fei, who went down into the mine together.
"It's big, but the material is too poor. The finished piece will only be worth ten or eight yuan. If it were glass-type jade, it would be worth a lot of money..."
Zhuang Rui said with a smile, but his words drew disdainful looks from the two professors. Glass type? Are you kidding me!
If this were a piece of high-quality jadeite, it could buy the entire Myanmar government. Why would it be left here unretrievable? Given how poor the Myanmar government is, they would have already dismantled it into countless pieces and sold it off.
"Just kidding, just kidding..."
Zhuang Rui smiled awkwardly. He knew it was impossible. Otherwise, let alone Hu Rong's face, even if George W. Bush came, he might not give him face.
"Let's go, Zhuang Rui, come on up..."
More than half an hour later, Hu Rong called out to a few people upstairs. He had invited Professors Feng and Chen here mainly to help him find mineral veins, and bringing them here for a visit was just a side thing. This old mine had already stopped production, except for this so-called "King of Jade"!
There's nothing else to see.
Zhuang Rui was in the same car with two experts. After looking at the jade, the two were in high spirits and didn't feel the bumpy ride anymore. They kept talking about the jade.
Zhuang Rui, who was standing next to him, also learned something. He used to only know that jadeite was mined from stones, but now he at least understands some of the factors and environments that contribute to its formation.
After descending the mountain, the convoy left the Wulu River and turned onto a side road. The road became increasingly difficult to navigate. After nearly two hours, they stopped at the entrance to a barren mountain, but it was surrounded by lush forests.
At the foot of the mountain, there were several large trucks, more than twenty wooden houses, and more than a dozen armed men walking around. When they saw the convoy arrive, they all gathered around.
"Everyone, let's get off the bus and take the cable car up..."
This mountain path is very steep, and it won't be easy to climb it.
The cable car that Hu Rong referred to was a four-track railway built from the bottom of the mountain to the top, with electric switches controlling the cable car's movement up and down, somewhat like the coal mine in the Hong Kong movie "Police Story".
Chapter 492 The Beggar Holding a Golden Bowl
It would be more appropriate to call it an electric railcar than a cable car. The railcar was about 1.5 meters wide, with a large cargo bed that could accommodate three or four people standing side by side. Hu Rong accompanied Professors Feng and Chen onto one of the railcars. The power switch was turned on, and the railcar slowly rose up the mountain.
Zhuang Rui and Peng Fei were in the second wave to go up. There were only the two of them on this train, and it was quite spacious inside. Although the train was not fast, it rose to the middle of the mountain after a few minutes. The figures of people below the mountain had become smaller.
"Brother Zhuang, about thirty kilometers from here is the location marked on the map where that batch of gold is buried..."
Peng Fei's words startled Zhuang Rui. He quickly looked up and down and saw that the two railcars were still dozens of meters away from him. Then he looked in the direction Peng Fei was pointing.
"That's the Savage Mountain?"
In the direction Peng Fei pointed, Zhuang Rui could only see the continuous mountain ranges and lush forests. The towering trees that rose from the ground gave a sense of mystery and tranquility.
"Yes, that's the direction, there's no mistake..."
With the people in front and behind him far away, Peng Fei wasn't worried about being overheard. Pointing to a distant hilltop, he said, "If I'm not mistaken, thirty kilometers is roughly the distance from here to that hilltop..."
"hiss……"
Although Zhuang Rui was mentally prepared, he still gasped when he saw the mountain. He didn't think that just because he could see it from here, he could easily find it. As the saying goes, "looking at a mountain makes a horse run itself to death," and this 30-kilometer distance was much more difficult to travel than he had imagined.
"Actually, this place is already considered part of the Savage Mountain. You can get there from the foot of the mountain, but I don't know if there's a trail. Otherwise, it would probably take three or four hours to make the round trip..."
Peng Fei frowned. The entire route from here was mountainous and densely forested. Peng Fei wasn't afraid of getting lost, but the wild animals, venomous snakes, and miasma in the jungle could be deadly. He wasn't very confident he could protect Zhuang Rui if he took him along. "We'll see," he said. "Maybe we'll be back tonight..."
Hearing Peng Fei's words, Zhuang Rui's heart sank. Although gold was tempting, his life was more important. Zhuang Rui was not short of money. He had only come here out of curiosity. Now, seeing the situation, he was already having second thoughts.
Peng Fei nodded silently. He only cared about Zhuang Rui's safety. Although he was curious about the gold, he was not greedy. Just think, he had never been tempted by drugs worth hundreds of millions in the past.
The train ascended very slowly. The mountain didn't look very high, but the slope was very long. It took half an hour to reach the top.
The entire mountaintop has been leveled and turned into a huge platform, where thousands of people are working busily. There are still seven or eight excavators on site. I really don't know how Hu Rong managed to transport them up here.
The work on the hilltop was divided into several types. Some people followed behind the excavator to inspect the jadeite rough stones, some people drilled holes and blasted on the mountain, and some people went up and down in several deep pits. In short, apart from Zhuang Rui and Peng Fei who had just come up, even Hu Rong and the two professors were busy.
The two professors were squatting on the ground examining the excavated rocks to determine their age and the state of the earth's crust at the time, in order to analyze whether this was an environment conducive to the growth of jade. They estimated that they would have to go down into the mine to investigate later.
"Well, brother, this is the jade mine. This is our territory. You can look around as you please. Nobody will stop you. Also, help your brother see if this is an abandoned mine."
After seeing Zhuang Rui come up, Hu Rong called over one of the people in charge on the mountain to accompany the two professors, and then walked over to Zhuang Rui himself.
"Brother Hu, I'm just here for fun, I don't have the skills to inspect any mines..."
"It's alright, feel free to wander around. At most, they'll just shut down the mine..."
Hu Rong gave a bitter smile. It was easy to say, but if it were really shut down, the Hu family would suffer a great loss.
"If the investment isn't large, shutting it down isn't necessarily a bad thing..."
Zhuang Rui said casually.
Upon hearing this, Hu Rong nearly jumped up like a cat whose tail had been stepped on. His composure vanished as he glared at him, saying, "Not much investment? Brother, I've invested a full eighty million US dollars! Aside from the money paid to the government, these infrastructure projects alone have cost nearly twenty million US dollars. If we can't mass-produce jade this time, I'm in big trouble..."
Zhuang Rui was one of their own, so Hu Rong wasn't afraid to expose his weaknesses and finally said what he had been holding back for a long time.
"Eight...eighty million US dollars? That much?"
Zhuang Rui was startled upon hearing this. According to the current market exchange rate, 80 million US dollars is roughly equivalent to 650 million RMB. This number is truly enormous. His own jade mine in Xinjiang was only worth about 1.5 billion RMB, with an investment of only tens of millions. He never expected that the investment in this jade mine would be so huge.
"Sigh, brother, I miscalculated this time..."
Hu Rong sighed and explained the whole story to Zhuang Rui.
It turns out that this new mine was jointly explored by major jade companies and the government in Myanmar. At the time, various exploration results indicated that the mine contained extremely rich jade veins and could be called Myanmar's largest mine. Therefore, it attracted a lot of bids from major companies during the later bidding process.
Since the Hu Rong family's original old mines had been almost fully exploited, they were expanding their business by opening new mines. Furthermore, some members of the Hu family company were involved in the exploration of this particular mine. They unanimously agreed it was a rich deposit, so Hu Rong paid a considerable price to acquire the mining rights.
In addition to paying nearly $20 million in exploration fees to all the original companies combined, they also paid a $30 million deposit to the Myanmar government. Adding in the various initial investments, the total cost has reached $80 million. If there is no return, Hu's company will suffer a huge loss this time.
Because the Burmese military government still holds a 10% stake, the tender document clearly states the minimum dividend amount. Even without production, Hu's company still needs to pay the government unless it sells the mine. However, given the current situation, no one is foolish enough to take it on.
"Brother Hu, isn't the price you paid for this mine a bit too high? Paying exploration fees is understandable, and paying a deposit is normal, but the government's 10% stake and waiting for dividends is too harsh. Who can guarantee a profit until the jade is mined?"
After understanding the ins and outs of the matter, Zhuang Rui shook his head repeatedly. The jade mine he was cooperating with the Jade Prince had nothing to do with the government at all. However, he heard that a document had recently been issued, and the government was going to start to rectify the situation. But the mines that had already been mined in the early stages would not be touched.
"Sigh, the competition was too fierce back then. If I hadn't added that condition, I wouldn't have been able to secure the mine at all..."
Even without Zhuang Rui's prompting, Hu Rong was already filled with regret. However, the contract had already been signed, and if he unilaterally broke it, he would face suppression from the Myanmar government and all mining companies. The consequences of that would be far more serious than simply paying the Myanmar government a small amount of money each year.
"Brother Hu, didn't the government contribute any money to your initial investment?"
"Let them pay? What a joke! They're so poor they're hoping to get money out of our pockets..."
Hu Rong said irritably.
The military government in Myanmar, to put it bluntly, doesn't care about anything. In Myanmar, there isn't even the concept of taxation, so the Myanmar government is almost as poor as a beggar. In order to support the army, it can only desperately sell resources.
The main source of government revenue naturally comes from these resource companies. To mine new mines, you must obtain government approval and offer sufficient benefits. They only care about money and don't ask any questions. Even if you mine the entire country of Myanmar, they won't ask a single question.
"This...this will work?"
Zhuang Rui was dumbfounded.
"What's so special about this? If we're talking about trade between Myanmar and China, that's even more outrageous. Do you even know what the trade distribution model between the two sides is like?"
Zhuang Rui shook his head.
"That means the Chinese take everything, and the Burmese get nothing..."
While speaking, it was unclear whether Hu Rong should feel proud of his motherland or saddened by the Myanmar in which he lived.
Zhuang Rui was completely dumbfounded. So doing business this way was possible?
As mentioned earlier, Myanmar is essentially a semi-divided, anarchic country with a central government annual revenue of only 2.5 billion yuan. In China, this amount of money could probably build half a university or 20 kilometers of high-speed railway. In short, for a country, this amount of money is practically nothing.
Therefore, the Burmese government is neither capable of quelling separatism—war is an unimaginable luxury for it—nor can it cope with disasters. In contrast, the Chinese government often spends hundreds of billions of dollars to cover the cost of an earthquake. Furthermore, Burma is incapable of maintaining its economic sovereignty; any large Chinese enterprise is far wealthier than the Burmese government.
Meanwhile, since Myanmar has traditionally had no tax burden, the military government, in order to maintain political stability, dared not levy any taxes, resulting in the tax law being rendered ineffective and the national treasury having no source of revenue.
Given Myanmar's specific national circumstances, the government even struggles to maintain the financial resources necessary to keep the state a mere formality. Therefore, from the central to the local level, the only way out for governments at all levels is to sell resources.
Chapter 493 Kindness
Zhuang Rui never imagined that Burma, which had always been a tributary state of China in ancient times, would be so poor.
Myanmar has a small population and a large land area, but it is extremely rich in resources, especially precious timber and underground gemstones, which rank among the top in the world.
According to Hu Rong, the main content of the current China-Myanmar border trade is as follows: Burmese people dig out jadeite ore from deep in the mountains, cut down precious trees such as teak and yew, and sell them to Chinese merchants who are waiting nearby. The Chinese then transport the jadeite back to China to make jewelry and furniture, and use the money earned to help the Burmese build roads... so that they can dig for more jadeite and cut down more trees in the deeper mountains.
As a result, the Burmese people used their labor to extract their own resources and gave them to the Chinese. In the end, all they got was a road, and this road is likely to be controlled by Chinese businessmen. In the future, the Burmese people's descendants may have to pay money to use this road!
"Brother Hu, you can't be telling the truth, can you?"
Zhuang Rui had never dreamed of the things Hu Rong described. It seemed our country was incredibly powerful. Of course, the methods used were rather underhanded.