Sail across the sea

Chapter 470 Avoid Unpleasant Situations
“Of course it’s a good thing for you, but we can’t stand it,” Zhong Jiangang said with a mournful face. “Your Zelian only uses three or four hundred tons of ore a year, and not all of it is purchased from our Gunan. We produce thousands of tons a year, mainly for export to Japan.”

“If Japan doesn’t want it anymore, our county’s finances will collapse immediately, and all those farmers who have invested money in mining will go bankrupt.”

"Hey, didn't you just say your output was 720 tons?" Gao Fan revealed.

“Uh…” Zhong Jiangang was speechless.

When reporting income, understate it; when talking about difficulties, exaggerate it. Isn't this the norm for local officials? You, Gao Fan, don't seem out of touch with reality. Is it really necessary to nitpick like this?

Pei Hengxue was more reasonable, and he chimed in, "County Chief Zhong, don't listen to the Japanese nonsense. If they don't buy rare earth from China, where else can they buy it? Are they planning to shut down their factories?"

“They said they would buy it from Türkiye, and that rare earth elements in Turkey are cheaper than those in our Gu'nan,” Zhong Jiangang said.

“That’s true,” Pei Hengxue nodded.

"Is that really true?" Zhong Jiangang was taken aback. He thought the Japanese were trying to trick him, but even Pei Hengxue said that rare earth elements were cheaper in Turkey. Could it be that the Japanese were really going to abandon him?
Pei Hengxue said, "The rare earth elements in Turkey are light rare earth elements, the same as those in our Baiyun City. The rare earth elements in Baiyun are more than 80% cheaper than ours. Do you think the rare earth elements in Turkey can be more expensive than ours?"

"You mean Türkiye's rare earth elements are different from ours?"

"Of course they're different. Turkey's rare earth elements are mainly lanthanum and cerium. A ton of 4N-grade lanthanum oxide costs less than $2, while a ton of 4N-grade yttrium oxide costs $11. How can they be the same?"

"Yes, yes, I remember that the main component of rare earth in our Gu'nan is yttrium, which was what we were referring to as heavy rare earth at the time."

“Turkey has also discovered ion-adsorption type heavy rare earth elements, but they are not rich enough to form mineral deposits. If we were to use Turkish heavy rare earth elements, the cost would be at least 10 times higher than ours,” Gao Fan added.

"But……"

Zhong Jiangang was still somewhat hesitant.

Zhong Jiangang was skeptical of what Pei Hengxue and Gao Fan had told him. He had previously heard experts from the Zeyan Institute say that the ion-adsorption type heavy rare earth elements in southern China were unique. At that time, he had just listened casually and thought that whether they were unique or not was irrelevant to him; he only needed to care about whether the rare earth elements could be sold.

But now, the government has suddenly imposed a special resource tax, which has tripled the price of rare earth ore. Representatives of Japanese businesses have lodged a protest with the prefecture and claimed that they will purchase rare earth from other countries.

At this point, Zhong Jiangang became very concerned about whether it was unique. If what the experts said was true, then Gu'nan County would not face any crisis. At worst, they could talk to the Japanese and concede some other benefits. The Japanese would still have to buy his rare earth, because there was no other way.

However, if the experts at the Zeyan Institute are just boasting, or if they themselves are not skilled enough to know whether the same rare earth elements exist abroad, then there will be a big problem. If the Japanese really do walk away and go to purchase rare earth elements from Turkey or some other country, the great situation that Gu'nan has worked so hard to build will be ruined.

"County Chief Zhong, rest assured, the Japanese can only buy our rare earths; they have no other choice. As for the resource tax, that's a national policy, and you can't resist it. I came to Gunan this time to pave the way for the Ministry of Geology and Mineral Resources, and also to give County Chief Zhong a heads-up."

"According to intelligence obtained by relevant national departments, some Japanese companies are bribing illegal mine owners in our country, planning to smuggle our rare earth resources. The Ministry of Geology and Mineral Resources will be working with other departments to carry out law enforcement operations in the coming days. We hope that our county can cooperate and avoid any unpleasant incidents," Gao Fan said leisurely to Zhong Jiangang.

Zhong Jiangang quickly nodded and said, "Thank you, General Manager Gao. Don't worry, the cadres and people of Gunan County are all conscientious and will absolutely not collude with the Japanese businessmen."

“Old Zhong, let me add something for Gao Fan,” Pei Hengxue said. “This joint law enforcement operation is of a very high level; it was personally arranged by central leaders. Do you understand what I mean?”

Zhong Jiangang was stunned again, and then his expression turned rather unpleasant.

When Gao Fan reminded him earlier, he treated this enforcement action as one of the types of operations that were frequently carried out in the past, thinking that as long as he lay low for a while and didn't embarrass his superiors, the matter would pass.

Rare earth smuggling had existed before, but on a smaller scale. This time, with the government levying a special resource tax, the price difference between the ore delivered by mine owners to the county and the price on the overseas market was significant, naturally creating a strong demand for smuggling.

Zhong Jiangang had already heard about several mine owners smuggling rare earth exports, but the county lacked strong law enforcement capabilities, and various personal relationships made it difficult for the county to take drastic measures. Thus, the matter remained unresolved, with the authorities not investigating unless the public reported it. Zhong Jiangang had sent someone to deliver a message to those mine owners, telling them not to go too far, and that was all.

Now, Pei Hengxue told him that this joint law enforcement operation was personally arranged by the central leadership, and the enforcement力度 ​​was naturally very strong. Those smuggling mine owners had run into trouble.

Pei Hengxue specifically pointed this out to remind him not to try to tip off anyone, and even more so not to try to cause trouble when the law enforcement team arrives, otherwise the consequences would be severe.

"Japanese businessmen were also involved in some of these matters..."

Zhong Jiangang said vaguely.

Gao Fan said, "Don't worry, no matter which country the merchants are from, they will be severely punished for engaging in illegal activities."

I'm not comfortable with that!

Zhong Jiangang muttered to himself.

These Japanese businessmen are the lifeblood of Gu'nan County. If they're caught by law enforcement, who will dare to do business in Gu'nan County in the future?
At that moment, Zhong Jiangang made up his mind that as soon as Gao Fan and the others left, he would send someone to inform those Japanese merchants to lay low for a while.

He didn't dare report the small mine owners, and it wouldn't do any good anyway. As long as the law enforcement team investigated, they could find evidence of these small mine owners' smuggling activities, and the small mine owners wouldn't be able to escape.

But the situation is different with Japanese businessmen. As long as they temporarily leave Zeshan City and go to Pujiang or Guangzhou, the law enforcement team cannot possibly track them down and arrest them. Once the small mine owners are arrested, they will definitely confess to the Japanese businessmen bribing them, but since the Japanese businessmen are not in Zeshan, the law enforcement team is too far away to reach them, so they generally won't interfere.

(End of this chapter)