Sail across the sea

Chapter 453 It’s done
"I do not have……"

Ke Shuilong quickly changed his tune:
"Actually, I really admire Gao Fan. Gao Min also has a great personality. Don't let her vocational school education fool you; I think she knows more than the undergraduates we recruited."

Chen Linfa said, "Gao Fan's father is a college graduate and a leader, so Gao Fan and Gao Min must have a lot more experience than others. Look at Gao Fan, he was already so capable before he went to college. When he first came to our factory, the way he spoke and did things was as experienced as someone in their fifties or sixties."

"Maybe their whole family has superpowers," Chen Xingquan commented, half-jokingly and half-seriously, before adding, "Let's not talk about this anymore. I reckon once the news comes out in the newspaper, we'll start getting orders. I'm planning to take the sales department out to contact hardware and chemical companies in various places."

He had barely finished speaking when the phone on his desk rang. He answered it and heard someone say:

"Hello, is this Xinglong Coatings Company, the manufacturer of Xinglong brand water-based environmentally friendly interior wall coatings? I'm from the purchasing department of Pujiang Hardware & Chemical Company, and I'd like to inquire about your coatings..."

Chen Xingquan gripped the microphone tightly and answered in as calm a tone as possible, "That's right, that's right. We are the company mentioned in the newspaper that paints classrooms for Peking University. Our paint is non-toxic, environmentally friendly, beautiful, high-quality, and inexpensive. If you are interested, I will mail you detailed information right away."

The person on the phone said, "There's no need for mailing. Just give me an address. We also have a purchasing agent in Shuainan. I'll have one come to your company for a face-to-face meeting."

"It's done!"

After hanging up the phone, Chen Xingquan slammed his hand on the table and burst into laughter:

"The phone number for Pujiang Hardware & Chemical Company! Even people in Pujiang know about our company now, this deal is done!"

"Really!" Ke Shuilong's eyes lit up.

He had also gone on business trips with Chen Xingquan and knew how powerful the companies in Pujiang were. They usually looked down on even the state-owned enterprises in Shuainan Province, let alone township enterprises like theirs in the county.

But who would have thought that just because of a news article in the newspaper, Pujiang Hardware and Chemical Company would call directly and say they would send someone to come and discuss it in person.

It's easy to guess that the other party's main purpose in sending someone to their door was to see Xinglong Company's capabilities firsthand. But regardless, this was business that came to them proactively, completely different from business that salespeople painstakingly brought in.

To be honest, when Xinglong Company first started making marine antifouling coatings, there was a period when customers came to our door to buy them, but these were mostly fishery brigades and similar organizations. Later, because competitors appeared in the market, these customers blocking our door stopped happening.

But now, even big companies from Pujiang are coming to our door. How can we not be overjoyed?

"Quickly, notify the entire company to clean up. These next few days, no, starting now, everyone better dress smartly. I reckon it's not just the Pujiang company; other hardware and chemical companies in other areas will probably send people over too," Chen Xingquan ordered.

While Xinglong Company was in a chaotic rush, Gao Fan was also working hard in an old factory on the outskirts of Zeshan City.

This factory building originally belonged to Zeshan Tractor Factory.

Zeshan Tractor Factory was established in the 70s during the large-scale agricultural mechanization movement. At that time, many cities and counties across the country established similar factories, using nationally standardized blueprints to produce several different models of tractors. In the early 80s, the agricultural machinery system underwent restructuring, and some small-scale, low-tech tractor factories were shut down, including Zeshan Tractor Factory. Later, the factory's equipment was divided among other factories, and its staff were reassigned to other enterprises, leaving the factory buildings idle.

After Gao Fan spoke with Zheng Linong, they decided that Canghua Science and Trade Institute and Zeyan Institute would cooperate to build a rare earth refinery. Gao Fan asked the Provincial Economic Commission to act as guarantor, using the following year's vitamin sales revenue as collateral, to borrow 5000 million yuan from the Provincial Industrial and Commercial Bank. Subsequently, Zheng Linong coordinated another 5000 million yuan loan for Gao Fan, guaranteed by the national treasury. The two loans combined totaled 1 million yuan.

With 1 million yuan in funding, Gao Fan immediately started the construction of the rare earth refinery.

With the help of the Zeyan Institute, the Zeshan Municipal Government was persuaded to use the idle workshops of the tractor factory as workshops for the rare earth refinery. With the help of the expert team from Peking University invited by Gao Fan, the design of the refining process was completed at the fastest speed, and the construction of the refinery began in full swing.

Cascade extraction involves connecting several identical extraction devices together. A rare earth raw material solution containing the target element flows between the devices, and an extraction reaction is carried out in each device. Impurities are gradually replaced, and the purity of the target element becomes higher and higher.

Since the extraction devices at each level are identical, although there are many devices, the design is not complicated. Basically, hundreds of sets of the same equipment can be manufactured repeatedly and then connected together with pipelines.

Gao Fan mobilized the resources of Maolin Chemical Machinery Factory and Shuainan Chemical Equipment Factory to produce extraction devices day and night, which were then transported to Zeshan for assembly, truckload by truckload.

In just over a month, the entire system was completed. The next step is to determine the relevant parameters through trial production, which is a highly technical task and the core technology of cascade extraction.

"Can you do five nines?"

Standing before the steel maze composed of hundreds of tanks and countless pipes, Gao Fan asked Xiao Ping, the director of the Zeyan Institute, with a smile.

Xiao Ping is the most authoritative metallurgical expert at Zeyan Institute. After the refinery began construction, he volunteered to serve as the chief engineer of the refinery and made a bold statement, saying that he would rather live 20 years less than fail to obtain 6N grade high-purity rare earth and bring his professional career to a perfect end.

"My goal is six nines," Xiao Ping said to Gao Fan with great enthusiasm.

"When can we get it out?" Gao Fan asked.

"At most one year," Xiao Ping replied.

Although it can be theoretically proven that increasing the number of extraction stages can improve the purity of the extraction, the specific concentrations and flow rates of the organic phase, feed solution, and washing solution still require repeated calculations and experiments, which is a very time-consuming task.

Xiao Ping said that achieving 6N level extraction purity in one year is considered very fast.

Gao Fan shook his head and said, "Director Xiao, I can't give you that much time. We must achieve the capability to mass-produce 5N-level products by the end of September. The Atlanta Electronics Show is in October, and I want to promote our high-purity rare earths at that show."

(End of this chapter)