Sail across the sea

Chapter 480 I usually occupy this space.

"Hello, Senior Sister Xia, I often hear Gao Fan talk about you."

"Hello, Junior Sister Lin, I... uh, this is the first time I've heard Gao Fan mention you."

"Hehe, Senior Sister Xia, let's go inside and chat."

"Great! This is the company Gao Fan used to work for, right? I haven't visited it yet."

The two girls instantly became acquainted, though it was unclear what kind of chemistry happened. Lin Ruoyi led the way, with Xia Shihui following beside her, as they walked together into the stairwell, leaving Gao Fan behind.

After passing several department offices, they arrived at an office without a nameplate. Lin Ruoyi pushed open the door, beckoned Xia Shihui inside, and introduced the office:

"This is Gao Fan's office, but he's usually in Maolin and not here often, so I usually occupy it."

Xia Shihui smiled without saying a word. She could naturally guess some things, but she didn't need to say them.

Gao Fan followed her into the house. Lin Ruoyi invited Xia Shihui to sit down, then went to get a cup to make tea for Xia Shihui, saying, "You two chat, don't worry about me, I'll take care of serving you."

Xia Shihui thanked Lin Ruoyi, then turned to Gao Fan, who had just sat down, and said, "By the way, should I start calling you General Manager Gao now? I saw your business is very large when I walked through the hallway earlier. It's a big company now."

"It's so-so," Gao Fan said. "Didn't I tell you, you're here to do scientific research and build your careers, and I'll be responsible for making money for you and providing logistical support. I rented this office space in the resource building mainly to serve the faculty and students of Peking University. Right now, there are no fewer than 100 teams at Peking University using the funds we provide for their research. By the way, your geology department's team is one of them."

Xia Shihui said, "I only heard that your company is in the Resources Building because I went back to the Geology Department to handle some paperwork. I didn't know if you were in Beijing or not, I just came here with the idea of ​​giving it a try. I thought that even if you weren't in Beijing, at least someone in your company would have your contact information."

“I mainly travel between Maolin and Beijing now, and sometimes I go to other places as well. Our company’s production is mainly in Maolin, while the business in Beijing involves marketing and R&D, as well as some government relations,” Gao Fan explained.

"What does your company mainly do now?" Xia Shihui asked with interest, while glancing casually at Lin Ruoyi, who was sitting in the corner.

After pouring tea for Xia Shihui, Lin Ruoyi sat down to work. There was a computer there, and Lin Ruoyi was typing away, either writing a report or a program, it was unclear.

Just as she had told Xia Shihui, this office belonged to Gao Fan, with a boss's desk in the middle. Lin Ruoyi only had a computer desk in one corner, as her own territory.

However, judging from the many girly decorations in the room, Lin Ruoyi must have spent a lot of time here, and she clearly didn't see herself as an intern. Her way of addressing Gao Fan just now speaks volumes.

"Our company's business is mainly focused on chemicals," Gao Fan explained. "One of our businesses is biochemicals. We started with vitamin C and vitamin E, and now we have developed six or seven categories. Vitamin C is still the most important, with an annual output of 1.5 tons."

"I remember you mentioned that you had an agreement with Lloyd's of Germany stipulating that production should not exceed 5000 tons." "That agreement was for a period of five years, and it expired two years ago. After it expired, Lloyd's did not renew the contract with us, so we were no longer subject to the 5000-ton production limit."

"Is it that you don't want to sign with them?"

"No, not really. Actually, I was planning to renew the contract with them, as long as they agreed to transfer some more pharmaceutical technology to us. However, when we were about to renew the contract, something happened. German companies collectively refused to cooperate with Chinese companies, so the contract renewal fell through."

Xia Shihui nodded; she knew what Gao Fan meant.

"Our second business is rare earth refining. We have invested in six rare earth refineries, and these six refineries now have an annual production capacity of 3000 tons, including rare earth oxides and rare earth metals. Our market share in the international market is close to 40%," Gao Fan continued.

He recalled that Xia Shihui was not at school when the resource tax was levied, probably already in Africa, so she might not know the follow-up. Therefore, he gave a brief introduction.

Initially, many companies worldwide were engaged in rare earth smelting, but several of the larger ones were based in Japan. Following the Plaza Accord, the yen appreciated significantly, leading to a decline in the competitiveness of Japanese products. Furthermore, the emergence of a financial bubble in Japan resulted in a clear trend of industrialization away from the real economy.

In recent years, several major Japanese rare earth smelting companies, including Yttrium Corporation, have experienced a downturn, with a large portion of the market being captured by Chinese companies. Japan's rare earth smelting technology has also stagnated for several years, and the most advanced rare earth smelting technologies are now in the hands of Chinese companies.

"That's wonderful!" Xia Shihui exclaimed sincerely after listening to Gao Fan's story.

It was she who encouraged Gao Fan to get involved in the rare earth issue. Her initial motivation was simply that she felt distressed by the rampant exploitation of rare earth resources in the area, and in a moment of desperation, she urged Gao Fan to take action.

In her mind, it would be good enough if rare earth development could be put on the right track and resources could not be wasted. Who would have thought that Gao Fan had actually set up such a big scheme, directly aiming to eliminate foreign rare earth smelting capabilities, and that this goal had already been 40% achieved.

"The third part is the production of surfactants," Gao Fan said. "We expanded our original chemical cleaning agent business, first launching a full range of household and commercial cleaning agents, including those for cleaning oil fumes, cleaning grime, cleaning pots and pans, washing fruits, washing clothes, and washing hands."

"Later, we started producing surfactants for various industrial applications. One product, developed by my college classmate Wu Zixian, is used for oil field extraction, and it is now being used in oil fields in Canada and Venezuela."

“I understand that,” Xia Shihui said. “If crude oil is too viscous, it cannot be extracted from the ground. In this case, surfactants need to be injected to reduce the viscosity of the crude oil.”

Gao Fan laughed and said, "I knew you would know this. This is also knowledge from your geology department. The surfactant developed by Wu Zixian has a more than 20% stronger emulsifying effect on heavy oil than traditional surfactants, so it has been widely welcomed since its introduction."

"Vitamins, rare earth elements, and surfactants—that adds up to at least tens of millions a year, right?" Xia Shihui guessed.

This number was pretty much the limit of her imagination; after all, she knew Gao Fan's company was just a private enterprise. Earning tens of millions a year was already quite remarkable.