1036 Funding
Cole did as he was told, and quickly assigned Li Du a team that would help him contract
out a mine in South Africa.
There were two parts of the team. One was a group of lawyers, who were responsible
for solving legal problems of land contracting and for the main work process.
Another part of the team was the personnel such as the field engineer, gem expert, and
geological expert. They were in charge of the practical side, such as estimation of gem
content in the field.
Li Du was confident about digging the mine. He used the little bug and searched
meticulously. He found the trace of many diamonds in subterranean ore. The spot was
rich with diamonds.
Therefore, he felt that they need not use the second part of the personnel at the
moment. The team could just go and inspect the mine after he bought it.
However, these men were not quite without work. He had a geological problem to
discuss, so he called a few experts and showed them the strange ore he had brought
back from the mine.
He wanted to know the identity of this ore as he had never seen such ore before and
had a faint hope that this was something new and valuable.
Who knows what precious gems can be extracted from this ore?
After several experts saw the ore, they divided it up among themselves, crushed some
of it and looked at it under a magnifying glass, and also did some simple chemical
analysis.
More than two hours later, a geological expert named Louis Byrd approached Li Du and
gave him an appraisal report.
"What did you find out?" Li Du asked.
Louis Byrd nodded and said. "Based on our observations of the ore's appearance, our
examination of its physical and chemical properties, and our comparison of results, we
think it is a product of an asteroid."
Li Du's spirits rose. "You mean, it comes from another planet?"
He was now immersed in the gem market. After he learned about alien meteorites, he
knew that they could sell well in the international market. If there was scientific value,
the price could be even far beyond that of diamonds.
"No, not alien meteorites," said Louis Byrd. "This type of ore is the result of an asteroid
hitting a mountain rock on the ground and melting away the layers of rock.
"Based on the results of the comparison, there is a strong similarity, as high as 98%,
between this kind of ore and one from Bavaria in southern Germany.
"Based on a mineral analysis of the Bavarian ore, geologists speculate that about 15
million years ago, a fallen asteroid hit the southern German state of Bavaria, creating a
huge depression that extended more than nine miles.
"The ore, which is so common in the depression, is named meteorite, a compact breccia
or coarse rock containing angular fragments of glass, crystal, and diamond."
Li Du said, "So this kind of ore contains diamonds?"
Louis nodded and elaborated, "But the diamonds here are small, scattered particles with
no commercial value, and such rocks are common in impact craters in Bavaria."
Apart from this general information that he had given Li Du, and more specific details
were included in the report.
The asteroid had weighed about 3 billion tons, but much of its mass was lost due to
atmospheric friction.
Asteroids were rich in diamonds, but diamonds melted at very high temperatures. They
combined with sand, gravel, and melted silica. Their size was too small, no more than
0.1 millimeters. Thus, they only had scientific, non-commercial value.
Disappointed, Li Du said, "In other words, this kind of ore is not valuable?"
He understood that this kind of meteorite sulfonate was abundant in Germany. Only rare
things were expensive, so this would not be worth money.
Louis nodded. "Yes, in itself it's worthless, but if you find it around a mine you want to
acquire, the mine would definitely be invaluable."
Li Du knew what he meant because the diamonds in the meteorite were too small, but
he clearly found them in the Amanda Mountains, where diamonds were of good quality.
He would have to wait for the answer to the later inspection. Li Du thanked Louis and
told the team to proceed with the purchase of Amanda Mountain.
South African authorities were slow in their job, but when it came to money their
efficiency was high.
In early October, the mine acquisition team sent a message to Li Du, saying that the
plan was going well and that the South African government was willing to sell the
mountains of the Amanda region for mining purposes.
The price of the land was modest, about $10,000 an acre, because there was no record
of any diamond ore found in Amanda and the surrounding area.
Just to be on the safe side, Li Du decided to buy it all. His territory covered about four
square kilometers, or a thousand acres, and he paid more than eleven million dollars.
The money wouldn't stop him. He was ready to pay what it took to acquire the land.
Next, he provided funds and materials to purchase the mountain.
Twenty days elapsed between the discovery of the diamond mine and the purchase.
In mid-October, Li Du returned to the United States as the owner of a diamond mine.
Now he had no money with him. Though he got some money from Good's safe, it was
only $1.2 million. For Li Du's mining business, this money was a drop in the bucket.
There was no pressure on him, though, because he was going to have a lot of money
coming in!
He had to land in Los Angeles airport when he got back to the United States. He
smoothly passed the customs. Li Du called Cao Fan and got Tang Chaoyang's and
Song Baozi's contact information from him.
Then he called Tang Chaoyang. He stated his intentions as soon as the call got
through. "I have a batch of diamonds here, but I don't have any certificates. If you want
them, I can sell them to you."
He got a lot of diamonds from Good and Remonin, in a heavy suitcase, which he stored
in black hole space.
The diamonds were so difficult to handle that Delbis and other diamond marketing
groups have teamed up to protect their interests by using the strongest means possible
to crack down on smuggled diamonds and blood diamonds, making it difficult for the
likes of Remonin or Good to dispose of the stones.
To sell them through normal channels, Li Du would have to find a reliable mine and
slowly make the diamonds legal.
However, it was difficult to do so. The profits would be stripped off the mine, and the
mine digestion capacity is limited, so disposing of all the diamonds in his hands would
take several years!
Li Du did not have so much time to waste. As it happened, Tang Chaoyang and Song
Biaozi seemed to need a lot of diamonds, so he chose to sell the diamonds to them.
Coincidentally, both of them have come back to Los Angeles. They drove by for
immediate inspection after they received the call from Li Du.