Britain only wants to use southern Africa as her raw material source and product dumping ground, and really does not think about developing the industry of southern Africa, the largest iron mine in southern Africa is not in the Limpopo River, but in the Saishen area in the north of the Cape and the western part of the Transvaal, the iron ore in the Transvaal is forgotten, and it has not been discovered yet, and even if it is discovered, no one is interested, because the gold mine in the Transvaal is too attractive.

The iron ore in the Seshen area can only be mined and sold to local steel companies in the UK, and the British government has never thought of setting up a steel enterprise in the Seshen area for local processing, even if the cost of transporting iron ore is higher.

Therefore, the Favart steel plant is the first serious steel enterprise in southern Africa, and even in the whole of Africa, and this significance cannot be overemphasized.

Of course, it is beneficial for southern Africa, but it may not be good for the British mainland, the establishment of the Favart steel plant marks that the dependence of southern Africa on the British mainland is further reduced, in other words, the influence of the British mainland on southern Africa is getting weaker and weaker, so Ade and Philip tacitly do not mention this matter, only focus on the steel plant itself.

"We can only produce ordinary steel now, but we have our own R&D department, and we will also get involved in the special steel industry in the future to produce special steel with higher value, and our Transvaal mineral resources are still very rich, not only gold mines can produce gold." Henry is like a mining giant, and when it comes to development planning, it is also the first thing to do.

Southern Africa is quite rich in mineral resources, especially solid mineral resources.

Almost all of the world's proven minerals are found in South Africa, and many of them are among the highest in the world.

South Africa is the world's largest producer of platinum and gold, and in addition to gold, South Africa also has the world's largest chrome ore and manganese ore, each accounting for more than half of the world's reserves.

More than 80% of the world's manganese ore reserves are distributed in Chuanswa (north of the Vaal River, in the Transvaal), in addition to manganese ore, there are rich copper ore, asbestos, coal mines, iron ore, platinum, chromium, diamonds, the Transvaal has the largest coal mine in Africa in the east, and the west is an important source of marble and fluorite in addition to producing platinum group metals.

Southern Africa has many world-class large deposits, such as gold-uranium deposits in the Witwatersrand Basin, iron, manganese and asbestos deposits in the Transvaal Basin, platinum, nickel, chromium, magnetite, vanadium, tin, fluorite deposits in the Bushveld Complex, copper, apatite, vermiculite and magnetite deposits in the Parabola Complex, as well as diamond deposits.

It can be said that even if there is no gold mine in the Transvaal, with the abundant mineral deposits in the Transvaal, the Transvaal has the opportunity to develop industry, but the gold mine obscures the value of other deposits, resulting in people only willing to develop gold mines, and other deposits are not concerned.

Roque would certainly not be so short-sighted, so Christian set up a resource exploration company at Roque's behestage a long time ago.

Now Christian's resource exploration company is strong, employing more than 100 professional exploration personnel, manganese ore, coal mines, iron ore, etc. in the Transvaal, many of which have been purchased by Christian Resource Exploration Company, it can be said that it only takes an opportunity for a powerful mining group to emerge.

"Very good, very good, we can not be satisfied with the initial stage of providing raw materials, the primary processing of raw materials, you can obtain higher profits, and there will be no conflict with our local steel companies, you can try to contact Krupp, if you can buy patent authorization, the production of special steel is still very good." Ade still doesn't want to conflict with local steel companies, the UK has a large demand for special steel, and if Favart Steel Plant can produce special steel, it will also be a good supplement for local steel companies in the UK.

No matter how much special steel is produced, it is not enough, such as marine steel, the United Kingdom has the world's largest and strongest shipbuilding industry, but the world's best marine steel is produced by Krupp, so the British local steel companies can only buy marine steel patent authorization from Krupp, but the production of marine steel still cannot meet the needs of British shipyards, so it is also necessary to buy marine steel from Krupp in large quantities every year.

If the Waffart Steel Works can produce marine steel, then at least the British shipyards will welcome it, regardless of whether the British steel companies will object to the sale of steel to the British mainland.

"We've already been contacted, Krupp won't give us a patent license-" Henry's expression was a little sad, but quickly adjusted: "But we also contacted Carnegie in the United States, and Carnegie promised to give us a patent license, and now we are still talking, and the specific results may take some time." ”

Krupp and Carnegie are the most famous steel companies in the world, and given the relationship between Germany and Britain, it is not unusual for Krupp not to authorize the Wafalt steel plant.

Carnegie in the United States did not have this concern, and American companies can sell products if they can sell products directly, and it is not bad if they can't sell products but they can sell services, and patent licensing is also a kind of service, as long as the price given by the Wafalt Steel Plant is high enough, the Americans can sell God to the Wafalt Steel Plant.

"Dale Carnegie — that's not bad either." Ade was also a little disappointed, but Ade didn't understand the situation, so he didn't say much.

While Henry and Ade were communicating, Roque and Philip were not idle.

Unlike Ade's lofty position, Philip's focus is more realistic.

"There are other mineral resources around Johannesburg as well?" Philip has been driven crazy by money during this time, and in order to get more money, Philip has reached the point of unscrupulous means.

The damage caused by the plague to Johannesburg is still huge, Johannesburg's tax revenue, to help Pretoria and Orange repay the loan, Philip also has to develop Johannesburg, just the gold mine tax is really not enough.

Don't be surprised, it's really "point".

Although everyone knows that Johannesburg's gold mine is very profitable, but there are gold owners behind Johannesburg's gold mines, and those gold owners have huge energy, and some people can't even mess with Ade and Philip, so the tax revenue of the gold mine has been maintained at a relatively low level, which makes it seem that Johannesburg is very rich, but in fact, the money has nothing to do with the city government, so Philip wants to open source.

"Yes, there are quite a few, manganese ore, coal mines, iron ore, but it is a bit difficult to develop, technology and management are part of it, and manpower is part of it." Roque reasoned with the facts, there are mines underground, and they must be able to dig them out.

"Isn't the hydropower station already built?" Philip hit the idea of a hydroelectric power station.

At its peak, there were more than 20,000 workers on the Crocodile Bay Reservoir site, and now that the hydropower plant has been built to provide electricity to Johannesburg, more than 20,000 people have become surplus labor, which can be used to develop the mines around Johannesburg.

"The workers have been evacuated from the Crocodile Bay reservoir in batches, some have gone to Pretoria to develop farms, some have gone to Nyasaland, and Cecil has also asked me for someone, and I have no one to give him." Roque will definitely not let the Chinese go to mining, the living conditions of the miners are still very bad these days, just look at the mines near the Wafalt steel plant.

Iron mines, coal mines and gold mines are not the same, compared with iron ore mines, gold mines are still more profitable, so mine owners take out part of the profits to improve the living environment of workers are not distressed, the gold mines in the Transvaal, now the living environment of workers is generally not bad.

Iron ore and coal mines are the hardest hit areas of mining accidents until the 21st century, and the situation will only be worse in 1902.

As far as Roque knows, the iron ore and coal mines near the Wafalt Iron and Steel Plant have only been in operation for less than a month, and there have been no less than five mining accidents, and the number of casualties each time is about dozens, that is, there is no supervision department in this era, and no one cares about the iron and coal mines near the Wafalt Iron and Steel Plant.

Hearing Roque's refusal, Philip didn't speak, and looked at Roque with disdain.

Roque couldn't resist the contempt from his father-in-law, rubbed his nose and still helped find a way: "I'll go back and think of a way, it's not easy to hire people from Zululan now, those Zulu people are slowly learning to be smart, and those who are willing to come out to work are basically out of Zululan now, and if they don't want to come out to work, even if they are invited, they can't be invited." ”

Developing industry is really a good idea to kill two birds with one stone, and there are some reasons that cannot be described in too much detail, and Philip must know it.

However, on this issue, Philip's attitude is different from Roque's, Roque wants to reduce Africans in southern Africa as much as possible, but Philip thinks about sustainable development on this issue, so Philip's words are very shocking: "You hire Zulus, or don't squeeze them too hard, nothing can be achieved overnight, economic development must also be slow, some time ago the South African company built a railway, I heard that 900 people died in a kilometer of railway, this is too unusual, at this rate, it will not take a few years, the Zulu people will die." Where can I find enough labor when the time comes? Do you want the Chinese to build the railway? ”

"How can there be so many, they are all spread by falsehood, and they are not so serious." Roque couldn't laugh or cry, it wasn't like that at all, of course there were dead people, but not so much.

Of course, the actual situation, in fact, Roque is not clear, it may not be as serious as the rumors, or it may be more serious than the rumors, and now this matter is no longer well documented.

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