Zhuang Rui was incredibly excited. A jade mine that was 160 or 170 meters long and at least 4 meters wide—how much could such a mine be worth? A billion? Two billion? Zhuang Rui couldn't even imagine it.
The data mentioned above does not mean that a piece of jade is more than 100 meters long, but rather that the jade grows relatively concentratedly within this length of more than 100 meters, with jade present at intervals, which is called a vein.
Hu Rong's earlier statement that this was the largest mine in Myanmar, based on exploration, was not an exaggeration. However, he hadn't found the right location yet and had instead turned the area where the ore vein appeared into a track for transporting raw stones. If they dug in a few dozen meters from here, the ore vein would immediately become visible.
However, Zhuang Rui's idea was a bit simplistic. The slope of this mountain was nearly 1,000 meters long, while the place where Zhuang Rui discovered the mineral vein was located at an altitude of about 600 to 800 meters.
Because the mountain is entirely composed of rock, it is very difficult to drill hundreds of meters down from the summit using drilling methods. Therefore, accurately finding a mineral vein on such a vast mountain is extremely difficult, almost like finding a needle in a haystack.
Although some international experts have speculated that jadeite forms in a low-temperature and high-pressure environment, there is still no definitive conclusion. To date, there is no universally accepted explanation for the growth environment of jadeite, and in actual mining, jadeite veins are also elusive and difficult to determine.
Take the mineral vein that Zhuang Rui just saw, for example. It's actually located halfway up the mountain. Low temperature and high pressure should be more consistent at the foot of the mountain or the top, but it just happened to be halfway up. I wonder what kind of inferences the geological experts will draw when they find out about this later.
In the few hundred meters of the mountainside below, Zhuang Rui found no more jade veins. He regained his composure and began to think about how to tell Hu Rong the news.
Being able to see but not talk about it has always been a source of frustration for Zhuang Rui. He couldn't very well drag Hu Rong to the mountainside with the mineral veins and tell him directly that there was jade more than 20 meters deep inside, could he? That would be suicidal.
Moreover, the rocks exposed on the mountainside were all normal, showing no signs of jadeite. I couldn't just tell like I did with the jade king in Xinjiang, claiming that I could see jadeite in a certain spot; there was absolutely no basis for it.
The forty or fifty people living at the foot of the mountain are all fully armed mine protection teams. The workers on the mountain usually don't come down. There are simple accommodations on the mountain, and there is also a master chef to cook. Apart from the strong mountain wind at night, there are far fewer mosquitoes than at the foot of the mountain.
Following Zhuang Rui were the foreman Zhu Fanpo and a young man. They weren't supposed to come down the mountain, but Hu Rong had specifically called them down using a walkie-talkie so they could accompany Zhuang Rui into the Savage Mountain tomorrow.
Two bonfires had already been lit at the foot of the mountain. Some members of the mining team had gone into the mountains in the afternoon to hunt a wild boar and some birds. They had already been skinned and roasted on forks over the fire. On another small bonfire, a pot was set up, and something seemed to be cooking inside.
Although Hu Rong had her own thoughts, she still mustered her spirits and invited Zhuang Rui and the two professors to sit on the prepared ground. A low table was placed in front of them, and people would bring the barbecued food to the table from time to time.
Chapter 495 Investment (Part 2)
The liquor they were drinking was brought out by a mine security guard; it was bulk spirits in a large, transparent glass container. However, the colorful, spotted snake inside, as thick as a baby's wrist, startled Zhuang Rui.
"Come on, let's drink this to thank the two professors..."
Hu Rong stood up and toasted the two professors. The two elderly people's work attitude after arriving here is very admirable.
"Brother Zhuang, this wine is fine to drink. It's made by soaking poisonous snakes in alcohol, which can treat rheumatoid arthritis. The more poisonous the snake, the better the wine will be. It won't harm your health..."
When Peng Fei saw Zhuang Rui's eyes glancing at the container of wine from time to time, he knew exactly what was going on. Although Peng Fei didn't drink alcohol, he had eaten plenty of snake gallbladders and knew they were a good thing.
Upon hearing this, Zhuang Rui took a sip. Apart from a slightly sweet taste, he didn't seem to feel any discomfort. He then began to eat and drink heartily, as he was quite hungry after a long afternoon of travel.
Many people came forward to toast them, and the two professors soon became unable to hold their liquor. Hu Rong called for people to help them to the wooden house to rest. Zhuang Rui and Peng Fei immediately became the target of everyone's attention. The men who guarded the mine all came to Zhuang Rui with their wine bowls.
The liquor was described as strong, but it was actually just homemade rice wine from Myanmar. The alcohol content wasn't high, and Zhuang Rui drank about two jin (1 kg) without getting drunk, though he was a little tipsy. Peng Fei, however, was quick to react and had already hidden far away.
"Boss Zhuang, I'd like to propose a toast to you, you absolutely must drink it..."
A voice reached Zhuang Rui's ears, instantly sobering him up considerably. Looking up, he saw the Thai gentleman gazing at him with affection. Despite the temperature being in the mid-twenties, Zhuang Rui couldn't help but shiver.
"Drink, drink..."
Looking back, Zhuang Rui realized that his loyal friend Peng Fei had long since disappeared. He picked up his bowl, tilted his head back, and drank the rest of his drink before collapsing onto the table. "I can't run away, I can at least pretend to be drunk, right?"
Who knew that this rice wine tasted good and had a low alcohol content, but if you drank too much of it, the aftereffects were no less than those of Erguotou (a type of Chinese liquor). Zhuang Rui collapsed onto the table and immediately felt dizzy and fell into a daze.
Fortunately, Hu Rong had the mine protection team carry him into the wooden house; otherwise, if the "cook" had taken advantage of him, Zhuang Rui would have suffered a huge loss.
After several hours of noise, the mountains returned to calm, and the roaring campfire went out. Only in the darkness did a few lights occasionally appear, which were the people on night watch of the mining team smoking.
Hu Rong's emphasis on this mine goes without saying. He had already set up seven or eight sentry posts, both visible and hidden, along the one-kilometer-long access road into the mountains, so that his men could rush there immediately at the slightest sign of trouble. ...
In the middle of the night, Zhuang Rui woke up. His headache had subsided, but his mouth was incredibly dry, and he had a strong urge to urinate. He threw off a blanket that someone had placed over him and sat up on the bamboo bed.
There was a pleasant fragrance in the room; it was mosquito coils made from mosquito-repelling grass, a specialty of Myanmar. One stick of incense could keep a room free of mosquitoes.
"Who is it? Brother Zhuang, you're awake?"
Peng Fei's voice rang out from a corner of Zhuang Rui's wooden house.
"Okay, I'm fine. You can go back to sleep. I'm going to take a break..."
After groping his way to his shoes on the ground and putting them on, Zhuang Rui pushed open the door of the wooden house and walked out down the six or seven wooden steps.
To protect against summer flash floods, the wooden houses built by the Burmese are often one or two meters above the ground. They use thick logs as pillars, and then build the frame of the house on top using a mixture of bamboo and wood. Finally, they put on the roof. There is a wooden staircase between the door and the ground.
When summer floods come, they impact the timbers that form the base of the houses, but they cannot destroy them. Such buildings are common in Myanmar, Laos, and Thailand.
These wooden houses are mostly made without nails, but are bound together with oil-soaked ropes, making them very sturdy. The bark on the wood is not removed, and they look very rugged in the moonlight.
After Zhuang Rui had a good, satisfying pee behind the wooden house, he was about to find some water when he saw a man sitting in the open space surrounded by the wooden house, silently smoking. Upon closer inspection, he recognized him as Hu Rong.
"Your mouth must be dry, here, have some water..."
When Hu Rong saw Zhuang Rui approaching, he picked up a green military water bottle from beside him and handed it to Zhuang Rui.
"Gulp... gulp..."
Zhuang Rui was extremely thirsty. After taking the water bottle, he drank the whole bottle of water in a few gulps. The water in the bottle was spring water from the mountains, which was very sweet.
"Brother Hu, why aren't you sleeping?"
Zhuang Rui sat cross-legged on the ground and casually placed the kettle aside.
The dense, tall trees in the distance appeared dark and menacing. In Myanmar at this time of year, there seemed to be no insects chirping. The surroundings were very quiet, so quiet that it felt somewhat oppressive, as if one were the only person left in the world.
"I can't sleep. I wish I could be like you, get drunk and not care about anything, and just sleep soundly. But there's a group of people who have been with the Hu family for decades. I can't let them go..."
Hu Rong took a deep drag on his cigarette, the butt flashing briefly in the night before he stubbed it out on the ground, a look of worry on his face.
“Brother Hu, there’s no need to worry too much. This mine has been surveyed by so many people, so there should be a vein. As long as we dig, we’re sure to find jade…”
Although Zhuang Rui knew the location of the jade vein, he couldn't say it openly. When Hu Rong heard this, it was more of a comforting remark.
"Keep digging? Ha! Two or three months might be manageable, but I can't hold on any longer..."
Hu Rong gave a wry smile. These frustrations had been weighing on his mind for a long time, and now he had finally found an outlet to vent them, so he continued to talk to Zhuang Rui at length.
It turns out that the Hu family, which seems to be doing well now, is actually struggling to survive because this jade mine has almost drained all of the Hu family's funds. Moreover, the daily expenses for the hundreds of workers are a considerable sum. If Hu Rong hadn't made some gains at the recent Myanmar jade auction, they probably wouldn't be able to continue operating now.
The price of jadeite skyrocketed starting in the 1980s, and in those 20 years, Mr. Hu accumulated the equivalent of more than one billion RMB. Of course, this figure is quite large in Myanmar.
However, Hu Rong has made some investments in Southeast Asia in recent years, spending hundreds of millions of yuan. Coupled with the current expenditures on this jade mine, it has almost emptied all of Hu's capital. Therefore, the Hu Rong family's cash flow is now almost unsustainable. If the mine does not produce jade, the consequences will be quite serious.
Even if Hu Rong abandons the jade mine now, his financial situation will not improve in the slightest. By the time his investments in Southeast Asia and Taiwan yield returns, the Hu family will probably be unable to sustain themselves.
At this public auction, Hu Rong's desire to smuggle a batch of jadeite rough stones to Qin Haoran was partly motivated by a desire to raise funds. Although it wouldn't be a large sum, it would at least alleviate some of Hu Rong's financial pressure. However, due to Zhuang Rui's interference, who helped Qin Haoran gamble on several good pieces of jadeite, the plan was not successfully completed.
After listening, Zhuang Rui asked in confusion, "Brother Hu, even if this jade mine has now produced a vein, you still won't be able to turn this jade into cash in a short period of time, right?"
The Myanmar military government now strictly controls the export of jadeite rough, so even a big jadeite merchant like Hu Rong can only rely on jadeite auctions to sell large quantities of jadeite rough.
As for the smuggled rough stones, not only are they cheap, but the quantity is also not large, so they do not fundamentally help Hu Rong's current economic situation. That's why Zhuang Rui asked this question.
Hu Rong shook his head and said, "It's different. As long as this mine isn't abandoned, this situation can be reversed immediately..."
Zhuang Rui was unaware that in Myanmar, jade is money, and there are business dealings between major jade companies. Using jade as collateral to raise funds is a very normal business practice.
However, no veins have been found at Hu's mine, and many jade companies are waiting to see it fail, refusing to accept Hu's jade or driving down the price to an extremely low level.
This resulted in Hu Rong having jadeite in his possession, but being unable to convert it into cash in a short period of time. However, if the jadeite mine started producing large quantities of raw jadeite, it would mean that the Hu family had overcome their predicament, and those companies would naturally change their strategies against the Hu family.
"Brother Hu, how long can your current funds last?"
"If we're frugal, we should be able to make it to the next Myanmar gold auction. But if no veins are found by then, then... then..."
Hu Rong didn't continue, but Zhuang Rui understood. This was a bottomless pit. As long as no mineral vein was found, it would keep swallowing up large amounts of money. Hu Rong wanted to quit, but he couldn't bear to give up his initial investment. He was in a dilemma.
Thinking about the more than 100-meter-long mine vein, Zhuang Rui suddenly had an idea and asked, "Brother Hu, can Myanmar accept foreign investment?"
"Sure, some of the jade companies in Myanmar are foreign-owned, but there are many restrictions. In the past few decades, they've only attracted about 500 to 600 million euros in foreign investment. Brother, you wouldn't be thinking of investing in this mine, would you?"
As Hu Rong was speaking, he suddenly raised his head and looked at Zhuang Rui in surprise.
Chapter 496 Investment (Part 2)
Myanmar started in 1988. Now, approximately 17 years later, the total foreign investment attracted to the mining sector is still less than 500 million euros.
Keep in mind, this is an entire country. Five hundred million euros might only be enough for three or five projects in China, perhaps not even enough to build a port. But for Myanmar, a country rich in resources, it is an incredible investment.
Upon hearing this, Zhuang Rui couldn't help but feel a pang of sympathy for Myanmar.
"Brother Hu, I wanted to ask if there's any possibility of this. After all, this mine has been explored by many jade companies, and they are very optimistic about it. Perhaps if we persevere for a few more months, we'll find jade?"
What the Myanmar government was like was none of Zhuang Rui's business; he quickly turned his attention to the mine.
“Investment is certainly possible, and I can transfer shares internally, bypassing the Myanmar government, which would save a lot of money. However… however, Brother Zhuang, this is no small matter. What if it really is a dead mine? All the money will be lost…”
Hu Rong had considered attracting investment earlier, but in Myanmar, all the mining companies knew about the condition of the mine, and no one was willing to take it over or invest money in it.
In the eyes of those jade companies, this mine is a bottomless pit that has already dragged the Hu family company into a quagmire, and they don't want to repeat the same mistake.
However, attracting foreign investment is very troublesome because the government also has to get involved. Otherwise, given Myanmar's natural resources, how could the total investment amount only be a few hundred million euros over decades?
Most importantly, Hu Rong is no longer optimistic about this jade mine. He has already leveled nearly 50 meters of hilltop and has not found any veins, which is unimaginable for a rich mine.
Although Hu Rong was verbally advising Zhuang Rui, he still hoped that someone would invest some money to share the risk, which would greatly reduce his pressure. However, he hesitated if it was Zhuang Rui.
In short, Hu Rong is currently experiencing a great deal of inner conflict. He wants to bring in investment, but he also doesn't want the person to be Zhuang Rui, since the two families will soon be related.
"I'm broke right now. To be honest, Brother Hu, I've put all my savings into this Myanmar auction..."
Zhuang Rui's words relieved Hu Rong, but also brought a look of disappointment to his face. It seemed that he would have to clean up this mess by himself.
Zhuang Rui suddenly changed the subject and asked, "By the way, Brother Hu, if this mine produces jade, how fast is the cash flow?"
"Of course it will be soon. I'm afraid all the jade companies in Myanmar will be begging me for help by then. Besides, Myanmar holds three jade auctions a year. If there are enough rough stones, even after deducting the government's cut, making hundreds of millions of euros at a single auction wouldn't be a big deal..."
In Myanmar, major jade companies regularly exchange goods and services. It's not that you can only buy rough jade from a particular mine; other companies can also purchase it as long as they have the money. As long as the jade remains within Myanmar's borders, the government doesn't interfere in these matters.
"Brother Hu, how much money does this mine need? Can it last another year?"
"It needs at least 40 million euros. I only sold a little over 20 million euros worth of rough stones at this auction. After adding the fees collected by the government, the remaining amount can only last for six months at most..."
These were the company's most confidential matters to Hu Rong, but he had no defenses against Zhuang Rui. Firstly, Zhuang Rui was a foreigner, and secondly, the two families had a long-standing relationship, so he wasn't afraid that Zhuang Rui would go around talking about it.
"So, another 20 million euros is enough to last another year? Brother Hu, if I put in 20 million euros, what percentage of the shares would I get?"
Zhuang Rui frowned slightly. He was penniless, with only a little over 10 million RMB left. However, he was still unwilling to give up this opportunity, after all, the dazzling jade had actually appeared before his eyes.
"Brother, you...you weren't broke, were you?"