While drinking, Blanchett asked Li Du how he wanted to develop in Lightning Ridge.
He said, "Bob told me that you are harvesting black gold abalone on King Island? This is the real gold industry. You guys are fishing for gold in the water. It's enviable. "
Li Du smiled and said, "It may be enviable, but it's not worth mentioning here. What you guys are looking for is more valuable than gold."
Blanchett took a sip of his beer and sighed. "Yes, but only if we can find gems."
"I'm confident about that. That's why I'm here. I believe that if we look carefully, we will find something," Li Du said.
Blanchett smiled bitterly. "I hope so, but don't get your hopes up, or you'll be disappointed. By the way, man, you're not here to be a miner, are you? Are you rich enough to buy a gem mine? "
Li Du said, "Yes, that's my plan."
Blanchett immediately asked, "Do you have a place in mind? If you do, let me know, and I'll help you get in touch and see if I can buy it. "
Li Du shook his head and said, "I walked around the town today and still don't know much about the local situation. I'm going to buy a mine to practice."
Hearing this, Blanchett said, "Is that what you're going to do?"
He thought for a moment and said, "If you don't have a particularly good mine, I can introduce you to one, but I can't guarantee its yield. I can only say that the mine is very good, and many people are coveting it."
Li Du was interested and asked, "Then I have to thank you. What's the situation with this mine?"
Blanchett introduced him to the mining area around Lightning Ridge, which was a very complicated topic.
Black opal has been on the luxury market for some years. Over the past thousands of years, Maori and Australian aborigines have been digging for it.
It is now said internationally that black opal is only produced in Lightning Ridge, but that is not the case. It is just that Lightning Ridge has the largest mine in the world and still produces it today.
At first, black opal was produced in areas in Australia and New Zealand, but as people exploited it, many mines were destroyed.
There used to be some good mines along the coast of Australia, but at that time the mining technology was not good, and people could only dig underground.
This led to a series of problems, such as the underground cavern.
The coastal area was rich in groundwater, and the underground cavity eventually became an underground water hole due to severe water seepage. For safety reasons, the government prohibited further mining, and no one dared to mine anymore.
After all, money was precious, but life was even more valuable!
The Lightning Ridge mine appeared relatively late and was only discovered in the 20th century, but it was the largest black opal mine in history.
In the 20th century, mining technology had been perfected. People knew how to hire engineers to plan their mining, and the machines they used were also more advanced.
In addition, Lightning Ridge was located in the west-central region of Australia, where it was relatively dry and the groundwater had not flooded. Therefore, the mining area was relatively well protected and could still be exploited today.
Blanchett told Li Du that Lightning Ridge contracted 80 percent of the world's black opal.
Li Du exclaimed, "This production is really amazing."
Blanchett shook his head. "No, production has been decreasing. In fact, more than a decade ago, 95 percent of the world's black opal was produced here."
The reason for the decrease in output was that the entire mining area had almost been excavated once. He said, "Within a radius of 60 kilometers around Lightning Ridge, almost all of the underground has been mined, so it's not that easy to find anything."
Li Du felt that what he said was a bit too alarmist. Yesterday, he released the little bug to search underground. Although he did not find any black opal deposits, he found that many places had not been mined.
Blanchett continued, "I'll introduce you to this place. It is an area that has not been mined much. It was bought by a guy who had other business and did not have time to develop it."
He took a sip of beer and said, "Now his business seems to be in some trouble. There is a problem with the capital chain, so he wants to sell the mine. If you want to buy a piece of land, I bet this is the best choice. "
Li Du asked, "What does this guy do? What is the size of the mine? What is the approximate price? "
Blanchett leaned closer to Li Du and whispered, "Keep your voice down, Li. The sale of the mine has not been announced yet. Don't let others know, or the price will be raised."
Li Du wondered, Is it useful to keep my voice down? If the other party wanted to sell the mine, he would definitely release the information for bidding.
However, he was not familiar with the area, so he nodded and listened to Blanchett.
Blanchett said, "His name is Chris Bontra, and he works in urban greening in Sydney. The mine has an area of about 20 acres. I think you can buy it for 500,000."
This price was considered low. The price of the mine was recorded in Bob's notebook, which generally cost 30,000 to 50,000 per acre.
If a certain mine had produced a large number of gems, the price was hard to say, and it was possible to sell it for hundreds of thousands per acre.
Blanchett continued to introduce the mine. After explaining the location and the mining situation, he asked, "Are you interested in buying it? If you are interested, make your decision early. If the news gets out later, you will have to pay 800,000 or even one million. "
Li Du thought about it and decided to see the mine. He was very interested in the information Blanchett had introduced.
That was the main gain of the night. Finally, when Li Du was about to leave, he ran into Aubrey and the others, who had a conflict with him, in the parking lot.
Li Du laughed and said, "What's wrong? Do you want to continue fighting?"
Aubrey snorted and said, "For the sake of buying us drinks tonight, let me tell you something. Blanchett is a cunning b * stard. Don't get too close to him!"
After saying this, they got in the car and left.
Li Du did not care. After returning to the hotel to rest, the next day, he went to a breakfast shop in town to find Blanchett.
Blanchett, who was expected to go to the mine that day, changed into a coarse denim jacket. When they met, he said, "Don't eat breakfast first. Hurry up and find Chris. I heard from his son that he wants to release the news of selling the mine today."
The two drove straight out of town. About ten kilometers away from the center of town, Blanchett's pickup truck drove into a small road and entered a fenced mine.
Inside the mine, there was a wooden hut, and a white man with a mustache was on the phone.
Blanchett frowned and said, "Damn, he is releasing the news. We have to hurry up and do it."
After saying that, he went up and hugged the mustache man's shoulder. "Hey, Chris, I brought you a friend. Come and see."
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