Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 249 Gold Rush (Monthly Pass Plus!)
The news of the discovery of gold in the Congo territory quickly spread to Spain and to other parts of Europe outside Spain.

The news of the gold mine immediately attracted the attention of the nobles. Some of the nobles had plantation businesses in the Congo territory. They immediately sent people to the area where the gold mine was discovered to look for other gold mines. Some people did discover new gold mines, but the scale of the new gold mines was not as large as they had imagined.

The gold mine is located in the northeast of the Congo Territory, which is absolutely inland in Africa. It can be said that apart from the Spanish colonists, there are basically no colonists from other countries who have set foot in these areas.

This also allowed Spain to widely publicize the gold mines discovered in the Congo territory. This was basically the fat meat in Spain's mouth, and other countries had no right to have a share.

As Secretary of State for Colonial Affairs, William was personally responsible for promoting the discovery of gold in the Congo. Regardless of the size and reserves of the gold mines, as long as they were found in the Congo, they were all packaged and publicized in a high-profile manner.

The small gold mine that was first discovered was an alluvial mine. The gold content of the shallow river sand reached 7-8 grams per ton, and the average gold content of the deep ore reached about 17 grams per ton.

Not all gold mines can reach this level of gold content, but this does not prevent the Colonial Affairs Department from promoting this small gold mine with a high gold content and using it as a representative of the gold mines in the Congo Territory.

Because the relevant news only announced the estimated reserves of each gold mine, there is no clear range for the gold content of the gold mine.

This led the public to take it for granted that the first gold mine discovered in the Congolese territory was the gold mine, and they believed that the gold mines in the Congolese territory were basically gold mines with a gold content of at least 7 to 8 grams.

Assuming that 1 pound is worth 7.33 grams of gold, each ton of ore in these gold mines is worth more than 1 pound.

The amount of currency issued by each country is calculated based on the amount of gold held, which also means that the value of this gold can at least be multiplied several times.

Not to mention the gold diggers, even the Spanish nobles were shocked by this.

The Congolese territory has a large indigenous population, and these indigenous people can be forced to mine gold for them.

每天挖出一吨的黄金矿石，收益就可能达到3到5英镑。要是每天挖100吨黄金矿石，收益就会达到300到500英镑，也就是7800到1.3万比塞塔左右。

This was also a huge income for the Spanish nobles, and it also made more nobles start to pay attention to the news of the Congo territory.

At this point, the Colonial Affairs Department gave another assist. The Colonial Affairs Department announced that the Spanish had the right to own the minerals they discovered in the Congolese territory, and the royal family recognized this property sovereignty.

The Spaniards only need to pay a mining tax to the royal family and the Congolese territorial government to legally mine the minerals they discover. The profits they obtain only need to pay taxes legally and they can put them into their own pockets safely.

This made the nobles and gold diggers no longer have to worry. As long as they could discover gold mines in the Congo territory, they would naturally have sovereignty over the Congo territory.

Of course, only Spaniards have the right to own minerals. If a foreigner discovers mineral resources, he or she has no right to own them.

The main target here is still the nobles. After all, only these nobles have enough power to organize people to explore minerals and develop the Congo territory.

As long as gold mines are discovered in the Congolese territory, more people will definitely be organized to mine the gold mines. After mining the gold mines, gold needs to be refined. With more people, the population of the Congolese territory will naturally increase.

Previously, the various policies promulgated by the Congo Territory only attracted a part of the nobles to invest. However, after the news of the discovery of gold was announced, many nobles took the initiative to go to the Congo Territory to invest, with the purpose of gaining a large amount of unexpected wealth by discovering gold mines in the Congo Territory.

The Colonial Affairs Department also vigorously promoted successful nobles. Among them was a lucky baron who gambled almost all of his wealth because of his family's decline. Fortunately, he discovered a small gold mine in the Congo territory.

The gold content of this small gold mine is still very high, with the highest gold content reaching 23 grams per ton and the average gold content being around 6 grams per ton.

The discovery of this small gold mine instantly turned the baron into a millionaire, and he was only one step away from becoming a multi-millionaire.

Although it would take a long time to convert all the gold mine into cash, at least the baron had managed to preserve his fortune and had the hope of making his family even richer.

There were many nobles like this baron who gambled their fortunes, because many nobles in Spain had fallen into poverty.

Because of the large number of Spanish nobles, the lowest titles such as earl and baron have little presence in Spain.

After Prime Minister Primo's reforms, the nobility lost all their privileges. Some nobles who used to be able to make ends meet by collecting rent from their land also lost their former glory after the reforms.

The gold mines in the Congo territory are indeed their chance to make a fortune again, at least this opportunity is relatively fair.

As long as they can find gold in Congo, they will make money. If they are lucky enough to come across a gold mine with large reserves, it may only take a thought to regain their glory.

Among these nobles there were some who were lucky, and of course some who were not so lucky.

Some people formed regular exploration teams but never found gold in Congo. Some people were luckier and found gold reserves that were small, but at least they could not lose money.

Regardless of whether these people were lucky or not, as long as they successfully discovered gold mines in the Congolese territory, they were all publicized by the Spanish media.

The news that a noble or commoner became rich overnight during the gold rush has become the most frequently mentioned news in Spanish newspapers in the past few months.

As for how many nobles went bankrupt because of gambling their own fortunes, it is unknown because no one cares.

Carlo underestimated the attraction of gold. When gold is placed next to a currency of equal value, I believe any normal person would choose gold.

The wave of gold hunting in the Congo Territory did not stop with time, but intensified with the progress of time. Since the first gold mine discovered by the nobles, gold mines of all sizes have been discovered one after another, and the scope of gold mines is not limited to the northeast of the Congo Territory.

In addition to gold mines, the nobles also discovered silver mines in the eastern part of the Congo territory. However, compared to the more attractive gold mines, few people cared about the low-value silver mines.

Newspapers that publicized the gold mines in the Congo Territory only briefly mentioned the silver mines, with the sole purpose of enriching the list of precious metal minerals in the Congo Territory.

The nobles were looking for traces of gold mines, and Carlo was naturally not idle either.

In fact, as early as the establishment of the Congo Territory, Carlo had people explore the mineral reserves of the Congo Territory.

Carlo has long known the value of the Congo, and there are naturally gold mines here. At present, some larger gold mines have been discovered and mined by Carlo, and those small and medium-sized gold mines that Carlo does not value are truly released to those nobles and gold diggers.

Although gold mines are attractive, we have to admit that the price of currency in this era is indeed expensive.

The value of 1 pound is 7.33 grams of gold, which also destined the pound to be the most valuable currency in the world. 1 pound can be exchanged for 26 pesetas, which makes the peseta look worthless.

In fact, the value of 1 peseta is equivalent to 0.282 grams of gold, so the peseta still has a very high value.

A gold mine with a gold reserve of about 1 ton is actually worth only about 350 million pesetas.

What is one ton of gold? If the gold content is about 8 grams, a total of 12.5 tons of gold ore must be mined to extract one ton of gold.

The gold mines currently discovered in the Congo territory are basically small gold mines with gold reserves of less than 3 tons. The maximum value of a gold mine does not exceed 1000 million pesetas. There is really no need for Carlo to pay attention to it.

Currently, both the Royal United Bank and the Royal Steel Company provide the royal family with a net profit of more than 3000 million pesetas each year.

It would be better to leave these gold mines to the nobles and gold diggers, which would make them more obsessed with the gold mines in the Congo territory and invest more money in the Congo territory.

You know what, this really works.

In just a few months, the population of the Congo territory increased by nearly 5000 people, most of whom were sent by Spanish nobles.

Of course, there are also gold diggers from all over Europe. Their purpose is to find alluvial mines in the rivers in the Congolese territory and make income through illegal mining.

Of course, Carlo also allowed these gold diggers to exist. After all, these gold diggers were also population to the Congo territory.

As long as a portion of people can stay, the population of the Congo territory will naturally grow and develop.

As nobles and gold diggers flocked to the Congo territory, the Royal United Bank and the National Bank also opened branches in the Congo territory.

The purpose of these two banks opening branches in Congolese territory is naturally to provide loans to gold diggers and mine owners.

Exploring and mining gold mines requires a lot of costs, and not everyone can afford these costs. However, these gold diggers and mine owners are high-quality customers of banks. They can use the newly explored gold mines as collateral to obtain bank loans.

Even if they can't pay back the money, don't worry, the gold mines they explore will become the bank's property.

Of course, such loans are only granted to people with certain assets. Gold diggers who have nothing are not eligible for bank loans.

In addition to issuing loans, banks also have the business of purchasing gold ore. After the gold ore is mined, refining the gold is also a hassle.

Fortunately, the mine owners have enough equipment and capital to extract gold. However, those gold diggers who mine secretly may not be able to extract gold.

At this time, the bank can provide convenience. They can sell the gold sand they have mined to the bank, and the bank will buy the gold sand in their hands with pesetas equivalent to gold.

Currently, there are only two banks in Congo, namely the Royal United Bank and the National Bank. In the absence of competitors, some illegal immigrants have no choice.

Doing so would allow the collection of as much gold as possible and expand Spain's gold reserves.

The more gold Spain has, the more pesetas it can issue. Before deciding to use the gold rush to attract a part of the population, Carlo had already made sufficient plans.

In fact, exploring and mining gold may not necessarily make money. If you cannot find the gold mine, you may lose all your money.

Even if you are lucky enough to find a gold mine, the initial exploration costs and subsequent mining costs are huge expenses.

While many nobles and gold diggers were out looking for gold, Carlo did the opposite and let the two banks provide logistical services to these gold diggers and nobles, which was actually the most profitable.

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(End of this chapter)