After not seeing each other for a long time, Yang Yuan looked a lot more energetic than before.
On the one hand, it was reflected in his complexion, and on the other hand, it was specifically reflected in his skin color.
Although he was the CEO of a subsidiary, the nature of his work and the persistence of a technician made it impossible for him to stay in the office all the time. Instead, he often had to travel to the mines in MLL Island and Madagascar. It was precisely because of this that his skin color looked much darker than before.
The incident with his ex-girlfriend Sophie hit him hard, but now it seemed that he didn't collapse because of it. Instead, he reinvigorated himself and climbed to a new height in his career and ability.
When old friends met, after some small talk, Yang Yuan didn't waste any more time. He immediately took out a stack of reports from the office and began to talk about work.
"The analysis results of the ore sample are out."
"The results are quite amazing! In addition to the main iron and siliceous components, we also found an astonishing amount of titanium ore in the asteroid's core! And the taste is frighteningly high! "
"We've picked up a treasure! The mining and refining must be done by our department. We have the equipment and the technology! The specific data is here. I can't say for sure. Take a look yourself! "
When Yang Yuan spoke, his face was full of excitement, and he almost waved his fist in excitement. Jiang Chen could clearly feel that his current mood was even more excited than when Jiang Chen handed over the exclusive mining rights of MLL Island to him.
"Don't worry, all the projects related to the mine are yours."
Jiang Chen took the report from his hand and flipped through it. The expression on his face was also slightly moved.
First was the overview of the Bennu asteroid. This part of the data was measured by the Space Launch Center. The diameter was about 500 meters and the volume was about 36.8 million cubic meters. According to its average density determined by spectroscopy, the density of the asteroid was about 4.5 times that of water, or 4.5 tons per cubic meter, and the mass reached a terrifying 165 million tons.
He flipped to the most critical part of the mineral reserves.
According to the appraisal of the ore sample and various returned data by Future Mining, the asteroid's iron reserves were more than 40 million tons, and the grade reached an astonishing 80!
This was a number that could not be achieved on Earth because it meant that part of the iron existed in the form of simple iron! It was impossible for the oxidizing environment on Earth to produce this mineral. Almost all the iron in the crust existed in the form of oxides in nature.
But space could.
These 40 million tons of iron ore could be refined into more than 30 million tons of steel at extremely low smelting costs. Not only was it enough to maintain the industrial parks of Ange Island and the New Malaysia Special District for several years, but it could also be exported to the international market on a large scale to earn foreign exchange!
Although iron ore was valuable, it was nothing compared to the titanium ore in the core.
High-performance titanium alloys and titanium-based composite materials have high specific strength, high corrosion resistance, high durability, low weight and other characteristics that other metals are unable to match. However, Celestial Trade didn't have a lot of titanium ore. In addition to the debris recovered from the apocalypse, most of the external structures of Celestial City used high-strength aluminum alloys.
As everyone knew, titanium ore was abundant on the surface. It could only be considered a rare metal and not a precious metal, but titanium alloys were quite rare. There were two main difficulties hindering the development of titanium alloy technology. One was the smelting of titanium alloy, and the other was the processing of titanium alloy.
The first step was smelting. Aside from the dozens of complicated processing processes, titanium was chemically quite active at high temperatures. After the titanium ore was processed into titanium sponge, it had to be smelted once or twice in a vacuum electric furnace to produce high-purity titanium ingots!
Due to the complexity of the production conditions, the cost naturally increased.
It was precisely because of this that the price of titanium ores varied greatly depending on the grade. Low impurities meant lower smelting difficulty, and too many impurities made it worthless to process. But in general, the price of titanium ore was still around 1000 yuan. As for the processing of titanium ingots, the price skyrocketed.
The second step was processing. It was useless to just produce titanium ingots. It was even more difficult to process titanium ingots into pipes, plates, screws, bearings, and even aeroengines.
Up until now, only Russia and the UA's titanium alloy welding technology had passed. Because the Russians' titanium alloy welding technology was good, and the titanium ore reserves in Siberia were also very high, the wealthy Russians even used titanium alloy to build several nuclear submarines, which were the legendary Alpha-class attack nuclear submarines that had been full of controversy from their construction to their final service! It was not afraid of magnetic mines, and could even outrun MK-48 torpedoes at full throttle.
Because of the extremely high cost of titanium alloy production and processing, some people jokingly called it "goldfish."
Only in the strange era of the Cold War could such an absurd and powerful weapon be born.
But now, with nearly 30 million tons of high-grade titanium ore, Jiang Chen also had the opportunity to become a "nouveau riche". Not to mention building a submarine with a titanium alloy shell, even if the aluminum alloy material of the entire space elevator was replaced with standard titanium alloy, it would be more than enough!
The titanium ore found on the Bennu asteroid was not only rich in reserves, but the key was that the quality was extremely high. Naturally occurring titanium was even found in the ore sample! The cost of smelting was also far cheaper than the titanium ore produced by any titanium mine on Earth. Even the rich ore in the cold areas of Siberia couldn't compare!
Just based on the 30 million tons of high-grade titanium ore, Jiang Chen had to firmly grasp this asteroid in his hands.
"I'll leave the smelting of the ore to you. Future Heavy Industries will complete the production of the second Stingray P-1 as soon as possible, and it can be delivered to Future Mining's port in Celestial City next month. You should also train qualified pilots as soon as possible. The production of the Bennu asteroid must be accelerated, especially the titanium ore, which is very important for our space colonization plan! "Jiang Chen returned the report to Yang Yuan and immediately ordered the task.
When Yang Yuan heard Jiang Chen's words, he grinned and patted his chest.
"Don't worry about this. Space mining is the strategic development direction of Future Mining! Several mining experts in our company have been training at the astronaut training base on Ange Island for almost half a year. It won't be long before they can pass the Stingray P-1 pilot qualification test. "
Hearing this, Jiang Chen also nodded with a smile.
Although the Stingray P-1 under construction on the Bennu asteroid was owned by Future Mining, the pilot was rented from Celestial Trade. The main training was the A-1 attack type and the C-1 transport type. If the person driving the tank was the mining vehicle, the mining efficiency would certainly not be high.
Today, he came to the headquarters of Future Mining for a total of two things. Now that one of them was completed, there was only one left.
"There is one more thing I want to ask you."
"Some time ago, I completed the design of the external ore processing unit. How is the preparation going?"
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