Sail across the sea

Chapter 375 Solve the immediate difficulties first
While Gao Fan was speaking, Xu Ying kept a close eye on the expressions of the people from the Geological and Mineral Resources Bureau in the conference room. Seeing Hao Caibao frown, Xu Ying chuckled softly and asked Gao Fan:
"Gao Fan, have you conveyed Minister Zheng's opinions?"

"I've finished relaying the message," Gao Fan replied.

Actually, what he said wasn't Zheng Linong's opinion, but his own idea; he was just using Zheng Linong's name as a cover. He had discussed this with Xu Ying beforehand, and Xu Ying knew the inside story, but she was just giving Hao Caibao the runaround.

Xu Ying turned to Hao Caibao and said, "Director Hao, Xiao Gao just relayed some of Minister Zheng's opinions. I wonder what the Department of Geology and Mineral Resources thinks about this."

Hao Caibao laughed and said, "Of course we will study Minister Zheng's instructions carefully and implement them resolutely. How could we have any opinions? Director Xu is just joking."

Xu Ying said, "Minister Zheng made the request from the perspective of our chemical industry system. As for your geological and mining system, you may have your own considerations or some difficulties. Director Hao, please feel free to speak."

Hao Caibao feigned a troubled expression, hesitated for a moment, and then said, "Minister Zheng's instructions are definitely correct. Orderly development, improving resource utilization, and encouraging the export of single oxides are all principles that must be adhered to in mineral development. Our work at the Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources has always revolved around these principles."

Xu Ying smiled without saying a word. Gao Fan's suggestion was to stipulate that only single oxides could be exported, prohibiting the export of unrefined mixed oxides. Hao Caibao subtly changed this to "encouraging the export of single oxides," which is essentially leaving a loophole for the export of mixed oxides.

However, Xu Ying wasn't in a hurry to correct Hao Caibao's statement, nor did she have the authority to demand anything of the Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources. Even if Zheng Linong were present, separated by a system, he couldn't issue orders to the Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources; everything could only be negotiated.

Therefore, what Xu Ying needs to do right now is to listen to what the other party wants to do.

Hao Caibao certainly didn't make a slip of the tongue. He could barely accept the first two of Gao Fan's three points, and he had even thought of ways to brush off the less suitable ones. But he absolutely could not accept the third point.

The characteristic of rare earth ore of southern ion adsorption type is that it is a mixture of multiple elements. In the same ore, more than a dozen metals such as lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium, neodymium, yttrium, europium, terbium, and dysprosium are included.

Mining uses a method called "pool leaching," which involves excavating soil containing rare earth elements from the mountain and placing it into a cement-built leaching pool. Soil solutions such as sodium chloride or magnesium sulfate are added, which are called leaching agents.

Ionic rare earth elements in the soil react with the leaching agent to form rare earth chlorides or sulfates. Then, after precipitation, calcination, and other steps, solid rare earth oxides are finally formed.

The rare earth oxides formed through the above steps are a mixed state, including various substances such as yttrium oxide, europium oxide, and neodymium oxide. The rare earths exported from Maung Lam Province are this mixed state of rare earth oxides.

After importing these rare earth oxides, foreign users will use separation technology to separate the various metals into individual yttrium oxide, europium oxide, etc.

As an official of the Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources, Hao Caibao was well aware that the price of single metal oxides was far higher than that of mixed oxides. However, the current domestic rare earth extraction and separation capabilities were weak, and costs were too high to absorb such a large quantity of rare earth minerals. Most importantly, the export of mixed rare earth oxides was considered a mineral product export, and the foreign exchange earnings would be attributed to the Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources. However, if the mixed rare earth oxides were sold to domestic refining plants for further processing and then exported, the foreign exchange earnings would be attributed to the refining plants, while rare earth refining was a task within the metallurgical system.

To illustrate, if there's an iron mine in a certain area, directly extracting the ore and exporting it is considered mineral revenue. If the ore is refined into steel and then exported, it's considered metallurgical revenue.

Although the latter's income is much higher than the former's, this is not due to the mining sector.

Gao Fan was thinking about this issue from a national perspective. Why would he consider whether the credit should be given to the Department of Geology and Mineral Resources or the Department of Metallurgy?
Gao Fan might not think that way, but Hao Caibao couldn't. Even if he personally didn't care who got the credit, how could so many people in the Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources not care about this?
"but……"

As expected, Hao Caibao took a turn and began to speak eloquently:

"Our Maolin Province is a relatively underdeveloped province. Since the discovery of rare earth resources in Zeshan City, provincial leaders have issued instructions on many occasions, requiring our Department of Geology and Mineral Resources to actively promote the development of rare earth resources, increase farmers' income, help local governments increase fiscal revenue, and help the province complete its export and foreign exchange earnings targets."

"The issue of rare earth smelting and purification that Xiao Gao just mentioned is an excellent and very important question. However, as everyone knows, Maolin Province has a relatively weak industrial base, and its rare earth purification technology is relatively low. In particular, achieving the three nines purity that Xiao Gao mentioned is almost impossible."

"If we ask for help from other provinces, firstly, their purification capabilities are also very limited, and secondly, some conflicts are likely to arise during the cooperation process. For example, the issue of how to divide the foreign exchange earnings is very tricky."

"Therefore, our consideration is that, on the one hand, our two families will work together to negotiate with the Metallurgical Bureau to try to get a purification plant with sufficient production capacity up and running as soon as possible. On the other hand, we need to solve the current difficulties and help the people of Zeshan City get rid of poverty as soon as possible."

After listening to his rambling and vague explanation for a long time, Gao Fan finally concluded that he still wanted to sell mixed ore, which meant he was just going through the motions. He said he wanted to negotiate with the Metallurgical Bureau to set up a refining plant, but in reality, he wanted to shift the blame to the Metallurgical Bureau and let them solve the problem.

Gao Fan's lips moved, as if he wanted to refute Hao Caibao's words. Xu Ying, standing beside him, stopped him and said with a smile to Hao Caibao, "Director Hao is indeed experienced; he immediately grasped the key issue for the development of our Maolin Province. In my opinion, Minister Zheng's proposal to pursue single oxide exports is a medium-term plan, and it's probably impossible to achieve it hastily."

"How about we finalize the first two things first? As for the last one, we can discuss it with the Metallurgical Bureau later. Our Chemical Industry Bureau has worked with the Metallurgical Bureau on rare earth extraction and purification for a while, and I've heard they have some basic knowledge on the subject."

"Yes, yes, let's discuss this with the Metallurgical Bureau first," Hao Caibao agreed, thus putting the extraction and purification issue aside.

(End of this chapter)