When Li Du came to Lightning Ridge, he had studied the black opal mine market. He knew this kind of auction, but mine auctions were not warehouse auctions, and such opportunities were hard to come by.
It took a total of five years for a mine to stop paying taxes and be taken back. During these five years, taxes could be paid at any time, and as long as the taxes were paid, the mine could avoid being auctioned.
In order to save trouble, banks did not auction every mine they took back. They often accumulated a batch of mines and auctioned them together, which was similar to warehouse auctions.
There was no doubt that accumulating mines was much more difficult than accumulating warehouses.
The reason why banks did not hold an auction every time they took back a mine was that these mines were difficult to auction off. Mines that were abandoned by their owners were often bullsh * t mines.
This was easy to understand. As long as the mine produced gems, the mine owner would not abandon it, let alone abandon it for taxes.
Generally speaking, there were two types of mines that were auctioned. One was the ultimate bullsh * t mine. For example, several mine owners had bought it and eventually failed to dig out gems from it. This ultimate bullsh * t mine was worthless.
The second type was that the mine owner had financial problems, or for other reasons, could not control the mine. This kind of mine may have produced gems and had some value.
The mine owners attended the auction for the second type of mine. No one would buy the first type of mine.
However, the mines that were put on the auction shelves were mainly of the first type …
Li Du asked Aubrey to collect information about the mines to be auctioned, and then he went to do a site survey.
This was easy. Aubrey got him a list that day. There were 14 mines, the nearest of which was Li Du's neighbor, the number 120 mine.
Li Du had used the little bug to survey the surrounding terrain. There were veins deep in the mines, but they were scattered and difficult to find.
There were also veins in the number 120 mine. The little bug could not complete an all-terrain search. Li Du did not know how many gems there were underground, but there must be more than 30.
The first mine to be auctioned was not a bullsh * t mine, which encouraged Li Du and made him more confident in his future investigations.
When Steve learned that he was going to investigate the mines to be auctioned, he did not go down the well but followed him to participate in the investigation.
He said, "I'm definitely going to buy a mine in the future, so I'll learn how to pick a mine from you first."
Li Du smiled bitterly. "To be honest, Steve, I'm not being selfish. I really don't have any special skills. I just rely on my intuition."
Steve grinned and said, "Then how about you help me choose a mine based on your feelings?"
Li Du nodded. "No problem, as long as you are willing to trust me."
He was happy to help in this regard. As long as he helped Steve, Steve would owe him a favor.
When they were in Sydney, so many people desperately wanted to befriend Steve, and they only wanted to befriend Steve. They never thought that they could get his favor. From this, it could be seen how valuable it was to have Steve owe them a favor.
"Do we need a helicopter?" Steve asked.
Li Du shook his head and said, "There's no need for that. We can just drive there and check it out."
In the next two days, an off-road vehicle wandered around the mine.
There were a lot of mines up for auction this time, which attracted a lot of mine owners. There were also a lot of miners who were ready to bid.
Most of the mines listed for auction were cheap. Some miners who had saved up money wanted to take advantage of this opportunity. They could buy a mine for tens of thousands of dollars, up to hundreds of thousands of dollars, and if they dug out gems, they could become millionaires.
After looking around the mines, Li Du was very depressed. He sent the little bug to do a rough search. Except for the number 120 mine, there was no gem found in the other mines!
However, there was good news. This time, it was not only the mines that were up for auction, but also a leasing company, which was next door to the company where Li Du had rented mining tools.
Li Du had used the little bug to look in the company. Although there were no leasing tools in the company, there was a helicopter waiting to be assembled!
He didn't know why there was a helicopter in the leasing factory, but it was true. Now he could still see the helicopter with the little bug.
The leasing factory was also sold as a mine because it was located on top of a mine and was rebuilt from a sh * t mine. The owner of the factory had not paid taxes for many years, and now it was taken back by the bank.
Li Du was going to the auction on the weekend.
Steve changed into a suit and asked, "Did you find anything from these mines?"
Li Du said, "I found something, but I won't know the specifics until the mine is auctioned."
Steve looked interested and asked, "Is there anything I can help you with?"
Li Du pondered for a moment and said, "You know what I used to do in the United States, right?"
"Yes, warehouse auctions. You've introduced yourself," Steve laughed.
Li Du said, "Mine auctions and warehouse auctions are actually the same. If you're interested, I can take you to participate, because warehouse auctions often require partners."
Steve was interested in this new thing, and he immediately replied, "That's great, man. I'd like to be your partner, just like Sherlock Holmes and Watson."
Li Du saw that he was quite excited, so he shrugged and said, "You'd better not get your hopes up. It's just a boring job. It's not interesting."
Steve said, "You don't know, Li. For some reason, my parents arranged for me to live in a fixed area, and the things I was exposed to were monotonous and boring. Things like gem mining and warehouse auctions may be just work to you, but to me it's a novelty. "
Li Du understood what he meant. The first time they met was when Steve bought his dodo specimen.
At that time, Steve was frantically collecting all kinds of bird specimens, and from what he said, one could imagine how much he envied the free life outside.
The two of them got into the car and headed for the town's trading hall, where the auction would be held.
On the way, Li Du said to Steve, "Man, our targets are mine 120 and mine 645. Mine 120 belongs to you, and mine 645 belongs to me. These two mines are the most valuable."
"You see that there are gems in the mine, don't you?" Steve asked excitedly.
There was no point in hiding some information now, because when the mine was auctioned, the truth would be revealed.
So Li Du said, "There are gems in mine 120, there's no doubt about that. There's a helicopter in mine 645, but only God knows if there are gems."
Steve was stunned, and his face showed a puzzled expression.
However, he did not pursue the matter, but changed to a more subtle question. "So, how should I cooperate with you?"
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