Chapter 259 Platinum Age (Ch 827310454)

November 25th.
Jiang Miao and his wife are still in Beijing.
However, Jiang Miao always pays attention to the company’s domestic and international affairs, and spends at least two hours every day to check and deal with these matters.
“The CEO of the mercury mining company in Spain had a car accident? Haha, have you reacted?” He looked at the content on the laptop screen and sneered in his heart.
Open the company’s internal resource reserve database.
Over the past four months, Hailufeng Company’s shell subsidiary has imported a total of 12,700 tons of high-purity cinnabar ore from various overseas channels, equivalent to 10,000 tons of pure mercury.
These mineral sands are stored in small coastal cities in Qiongzhou, Lingnan, Liaodong, Qi and Lu.
Jiang Miao had long anticipated the instability of foreign import channels. After all, mercury is a relatively rare and seldom used mineral. The international community passed the Minamata Convention in 2013, which restricted the mining and use of mercury and its products.
As for finding alternatives, the 147 laboratory of Hailufeng Company is currently conducting research in this area, and there are indeed some results. That is, the use of gallium alone can also be combined with specific nano-silicon tubes to form a room-temperature superconductor.
The problem is that the world’s currently discovered gallium reserves are only 280,000 tons, of which about 190,000 tons are in serene.
However, gallium ore is not a simple mineral. It generally exists as a associated mineral in bauxite, iron ore, coal mine, lead and zinc mine. Therefore, the core method of producing gallium is mainly through secondary refining of tailings after bauxite electrolysis of aluminum.
If gallium is extracted from bauxite alone, only about one ton of gallium can be produced for every million tons of bauxite. This energy consumption can cause most companies and countries to collapse.
You should know that producing one ton of electrolytic aluminum requires 14,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity and about 5 tons of bauxite. Processing 1 million tons of bauxite requires about 2.8 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity.
If the gallium production line is added to the electrolytic aluminum production system instead of being included in the system, the production cost of gallium metal will skyrocket.
So who is currently the world’s largest electrolytic aluminum producing region?
The answer is self-evident.
Because electrolytic aluminum consumes a lot of electricity, whoever is the world’s largest power generation region will be the world’s largest electrolytic aluminum production region. These are tied together.
According to data from the International Aluminium Institute (IAI), global electrolytic aluminum production is expected to reach 74.63 million tons in 2026. Among them, Seres’ electrolytic aluminum production is expected to reach around 46.97 million tons, accounting for about 60% of the global production, making it the world’s largest electrolytic aluminum producer.
Without the electrolytic aluminum industry, there would be no gallium metal production industry.
At present, the global electrolytic aluminum industry has not only failed to shift to Southeast Asia and India as the West imagined, but has become increasingly concentrated in Serbia.
The reason is that electricity bills have dropped.
As energy storage bases are put into use one after another.
Electricity prices in some areas have dropped a lot. For example, electricity prices in Yunnan Province have dropped. The electricity cost of Yunnan Aluminum Group’s electrolytic aluminum has been reduced from 0.47 yuan per kilowatt-hour to 0.36 yuan per kilowatt-hour through self-built energy storage systems and photovoltaic power generation.
The electricity cost of Yunnan Aluminum Group’s electrolytic aluminum has also dropped from around 6,345 yuan per ton of electrolytic aluminum to around 4,860 yuan per ton at present.
The decline is very obvious.
This further widens the gap between China and foreign electrolytic aluminum companies, reducing the cost-effectiveness of foreign electrolytic aluminum and making it difficult for China to compete with Seres’ electrolytic aluminum.
However, although China is the world’s largest producer of gallium metal, Jiang Miao has no intention of using gallium metal as the raw material for room-temperature superconductors.
After all, the market price of gallium is about 1.8 million per ton, while mercury with a purity of 99% is only about 840,000 per ton.
In addition, gallium is widely used in the electronics industry, aerospace, precision instruments and other industries. If it is now used as a room-temperature superconductor, the price will probably skyrocket.
Mercury is relatively better.
Of course, if word leaks out that mercury can be used to produce room-temperature superconductors, the price will also skyrocket.
Jiang Miao looked at the map in the study, focusing his attention on the southeastern part of Gansu Province, which he had passed by some time ago. As part of the Qinling Mountains, there are many mercury mines here, including several large veins with a total reserve of no less than 260,000 tons.
We can find ways to develop some of these mining areas.
As for foreign import channels, although they are very unstable, Hailufeng Company will not give up and will continue to import in the future.
Although there are problems with the mercury ore import channels in Spain and Italy, this is not necessarily the case in other regions. After all, some regions do not have many other minerals and they need money themselves, so exporting mercury ore has become their economic lifeline.
Birds die for food, and people die for money.
Western capital forces cannot stop the local people’s desire to make money.
As long as Hailufeng Company does not disclose the use of the mercury mine, it can continue to import mercury mines at a lower price.
The industry that develops room-temperature superconductors can only use them internally for a short period of time, and can only use them in some confidential industries to prevent the information from leaking.
After thinking about the industrial layout, Jiang Miao made a phone call and instructed the investment department to invest in the southeastern part of Gansu Province, with a focus on obtaining several prospecting rights in the Qinling Mountain area.
These mercury minerals will definitely be comparable to platinum in the future.
At the same time, he also instructed the Vest Purchasing Office to increase the import of various rare elements, especially those that the company will need in the future or are currently using. They should be imported as much as possible, even if they cannot be used up, they can be stockpiled.
On the contrary, Hailufeng Company has shown little interest in energy minerals such as coal, oil and natural gas.
The status of these energy minerals will certainly continue to decline in the future as the new energy industry undergoes a transformation, leaving only the chemical industry as their only use.
Even its chemical use will be further weakened.
After all, bean silk products can replace many plastic products, and the new variety of rubber grass that will be planted on a large scale in the southern part of the desert next year will produce huge amounts of natural rubber, further squeezing the proportion of synthetic rubber.
This will definitely have varying degrees of impact on petroleum and coal chemical products.
On the contrary, as for rare elements, no matter how the times develop, the value of these rare elements will not drop too much. As human technology becomes more advanced and sophisticated, the demand for rare elements is also showing an increasing trend.
Therefore, it is a better choice to continuously import rare elements from abroad.
In fact, it is not only Hailufeng Company that is increasing imports. Other domestic companies with sufficient cash flow and the government are also trying to increase the import of rare elements.
These import actions have further increased the international prices of many rare elements, but this is also beneficial to the trade balance.
Many regions have formed a new economic cycle model by selling mines and then purchasing large quantities of industrial and agricultural products from Seres.
This puts Western forces in an unsustainable dilemma in their plans to obstruct Seris companies’ mining operations around the world.
After all, when it is profitable, the local tyrants in many regions are increasingly unwilling to cooperate with Western forces to do things.
Unless the big Western conglomerates are willing to purchase these minerals at a similar price, no matter who becomes the local boss, they will not give up this business.
To cut off someone’s business is like killing his parents.
If you want others to be obedient, you have to give them food to eat.
Although Hailufeng Company’s entry into the durian market has caused the domestic durian price to drop to around 15 to 22 yuan per kilogram, the scale of durian imports from Southeast Asia has not decreased, only the profits have decreased.
The current durian planting scale promoted by Hailufeng Company is 2.5 million mu, producing about 15 million tons of fresh durian every year, 10 kilograms of fresh durian per capita. Calculated at a pulp yield of about 35%, that means 3.5 kilograms of durian pulp per capita every year.
This consumption is not large.
Especially when averaged out to 365 days per year.
Moreover, Malaysia’s Musang King and the like still occupy the high-end market, but they are not as arrogant as before and dare not act recklessly.
After the impact of Hailufeng’s durian, all parties in Southeast Asia know clearly that if they still don’t know whether to live or die, Hailufeng can always promote the localization of other varieties of durian, and even catch all tropical fruits such as mangosteen and rambutan, and directly collapse the entire international market.
By then, the fruit industry in Southeast Asia will be doomed.
Durian shock was just a small lesson.
After June this year, the number of domestic companies that obtained mining licenses in Southeast Asia increased by 16% in a short period of time, which obviously shows that the local mining restrictions have been relaxed.
Mineral deposits of various minor metals and rare elements are constantly being discovered.
Like Hailufeng Company, many companies have gradually established their own resource reserve systems. After all, there is no way to eliminate the trade deficit without purchasing more minerals.
In order to expand the sales of industrial products, expanding the import of mineral resources has become the only feasible option at present.
Thinking about the rare elements and minor metals in minerals, Jiang Miao thought of another “platinum” product.
That’s soybeans.
The soybean meal, soybean oil, soybean silk and other derivative products it produces have basically become a kind of “white gold” as domestic soybean production capacity increases rapidly.
In the past, cotton was also called platinum because of its very important applications in the textile and chemical industries.
Soybeans are now also called platinum by many domestic practitioners.
Especially in the northwest region, with the transformation of several desert farms this year, a bumper harvest was achieved in the fall. The industrial upgrading brought about by soybeans has begun to have an overall impact on all walks of life in the country.
On the Internet, many current affairs bloggers call this year the beginning of the “Platinum Age”.
Of course, among the soybeans in the platinum age, the fairy silk soybeans are the real “platinum”, and the value of its bean silk protein can reach about 6,000 yuan per ton.
The current price of Xiansi soybeans sold by the farm is about 4,000 yuan per ton.
Every ton of silk soybeans with a moisture content of 15% can produce about 200 kilograms of soybean oil and 650 kilograms of soybean meal, from which about 450 kilograms of soybean protein can be extracted.
These products are of considerable value.
At present, various places in the Western Regions are trying to find connections in Beijing, hoping to meet Jiang Miao. Obviously, they hope that Hailufeng Company can invest in the local area and introduce high-value Xiansi soybeans to the local area.
Jiang Miao has met many people these days, but he did not immediately agree to invest. If he wants to invest in a region, he must investigate the local conditions in advance.
Currently, areas suitable for growing Xiansi soybeans include the southern and northern parts of the Western Regions. However, considering confidentiality requirements, the Tarim Basin in the southern part of the Western Regions, which has a relatively high degree of isolation, is more suitable.
However, in addition to closedness, water resources are also a requirement.
Although Hailufeng Company already has efficient and low-cost water purification technology and can use the city’s domestic wastewater for industrial production, the local water resource limit still needs to be considered.
A more ideal investment method is to invest in the construction of soybean farms and a small part of soybean deep processing industry locally, and then export most of the soybeans to the eastern region via transport airships.
Just after Jiang Miao dealt with some things today.
Shuya came into the study with a plate of cut fruit.
“Are you done?”
“Yeah, I just finished my work.”
He forked up a piece of pineapple and took a bite. “Aya, how do you feel about going to Wudaokou University for academic exchange today?”
“Fortunately, China PBC University has accumulated good knowledge in basic fields, and they even invited me to visit some of their research results.” Shuya said calmly while rubbing his shoulders.
Jiang Miao didn’t care too much: “After all, it is a top university in the country. It must have accumulated a large number of talents. It is normal to have some achievements.”
“I saw a promising project. Perhaps the company could consider investing in it.”
“Really? Sometimes a technology has a promising future, but that doesn’t mean it’s worth investing in.” Jiang Miao picked up another piece of mango and asked, “Tell me, what project is it?”
Shuya did not refute this. She smiled and said, “That project is the nanosensor project.”
“Nanosensor?” Jiang Miao put down his fork.
“Dr. Gao Shuyuan, the leader of the research team for this project, introduced me to some details of their project. Their project was established several years ago, but it was not until this year that a breakthrough was made.” Shuya sat down and talked about what she had seen today:
“Their projects can achieve breakthroughs, and they are still related to our company.”
Jiang Miao raised his eyebrows: “Silicon carbide nanotubes?”
“I knew that you would definitely guess it as soon as I mentioned this.” Shuya smiled and continued, “Although Dr. Gao’s team had already produced nanosensors, they had always been unable to ensure that the nanosensors could operate stably for a long time due to material problems. This made the cost of the nanosensors very high, and the reliability was not improved.”
“It was not until September this year that they came into contact with the silicon carbide nanotubes produced by our company, which enabled the project to make rapid progress.”
Jiang Miao lay on the sofa and rubbed his eyes gently: “In what specific field are the sensors of their project applied?”
“Human body detection.”
“Human body detection?”
Shuya slowly explained: “They use technical means to deposit, sinter, and combine specific structures inside silicon carbide nanotubes. These structures are specific sensors.”
Hearing this, Jiang Miao also became a little interested: “What can be measured?”
“At present, they have completed the testing of many blood indicators, including common blood glucose, triglycerides, blood uric acid, etc. 15 blood indicators can be measured.”
Jiang Miao stroked the stubble on his chin: “What about the accuracy?”
“According to Dr. Gao’s description, the accuracy depends on the density of the needle insertion.”
“Needle density?” Jiang Miao immediately understood the general technical direction of the project: “Is the accuracy of their single sensor not high, so they plan to increase the overall accuracy by densely arranging nano-needles?”
Shuya smiled and replied, “That’s right. The accuracy of a single sensor is only about 20% to 30%, and it is easily interfered by other components. Therefore, Dr. Gao’s team uses dense nanoneedles, specially developed algorithm models, and AI assistance to improve the overall accuracy.”
“Currently, blood glucose detection sensors require about 15 nanoneedles to ensure an accuracy of about 98%; blood uric acid requires 22 nanoneedles to achieve an accuracy of 98%; other indicators are also within the range of 15 to 25 nanoneedles.”
Jiang Miao thought about it and realized that if we follow this indicator, it is actually very good.
Although it seems that there are a lot of them, these are nanometer-level needles after all. Even if hundreds of them are added together, their diameter is only a dozen microns.
How big is a dozen microns in diameter?
The average diameter of a human hair is only 40 to 400 microns.
You won’t even feel pain when such a tiny needle is inserted into your body.
In addition, the hardness and strength of silicon carbide nanotubes are very high, so they will not break easily even if they are hit, pressed, or impacted violently.
Ordinary silicon carbide materials have a very high hardness, but their strength is not good and they are easily broken. However, silicon carbide nanotubes are different and their strength is also very high.
This prevents the nanosensor from remaining in the body after it breaks.
It should be known that during the production process of silicon carbide nanotubes, its protection level is the same as that of the production and processing of asbestos products.
Because the tiny nanoneedles formed by silicon carbide nanotubes are difficult to be decomposed and excreted by the human body after entering the body, their danger is almost the same as asbestos.
Fortunately, this thing is very strong and not easy to break into pieces. After processing and fixing, as long as its structure is not forcibly destroyed, the danger will be greatly reduced after it decomposes naturally.
“They shouldn’t be short of investment, right?” Jiang Miao suddenly asked.
Shuya nodded: “Wudaokou University is indeed not short of funds, but after all, silicon carbide nanotubes are our company’s patents. They hope to introduce our strategic investment in the form of shares.”
“Okay, you can hand this matter over to the investment department tomorrow and ask them to contact this team.”
“Do you need a controlling stake?”
Jiang Miao shook his head: “That’s not necessary. 20% to 30% of the shares will be enough, and we will just do financial investment.”
“Okay, I’ll explain it tomorrow.”
Although this kind of project is valuable, Hailufeng Company is not greedy. Although the medical equipment has great potential, Hailufeng Company has mastered the basic raw materials of the technology and does not need to worry about the other party turning against it.
The other party even has to worry about whether Hailufeng Company will imitate it. After all, the technology for detecting nanoneedles is not difficult. It all comes down to a material issue, which is precisely Hailufeng Company’s strength.