Hermione, join me as Minister of Magic!

Especially for the pump inspection of production wells, it costs tens of thousands of pounds for one inspection. If it is necessary to replace the worn equipment, the cost of lost time must also be considered. The double loss of equipment and production directly affects the production efficiency of the oil well.

No matter how much a general company cheats, they will not forget to incorporate these things. Professionals may be able to see the problem, but ordinary investors will never be able to see it.

But the Sniff Drilling Company is an obvious insult to everyone's IQ. Even if some investors want to play the "stupid game of gambling", I am afraid there will not be such a fool to take over the offer. Therefore, after the Sniff Drilling Company is listed, Naturally, it failed to cause any big waves in the market.

Therefore, when 40% of the company's shares were suddenly acquired jointly by several major British oil companies, the consternation of investors was obvious.

Not only that, even the stocks in circulation on the market seemed to be robbed overnight, which made many people puzzled.

Could it be that the executives, directors and major shareholders of these big companies have also suddenly gone crazy?

Until then, those "well-informed" people in the investment world jumped out and started

Start to publicize the relevant background of this company.

Experienced people didn't realize until now that it turned out that people in the oil circle were just playing with themselves, and they didn't plan to bring ordinary people to play with them.

In addition to the secret hatred, the small fish and shrimps still left in the market were naturally swept away by these people. The stocks issued by the sniffing drilling company were basically sold out, and the mission of the securities company was completed ahead of schedule. .

Oil Insiders Throw a Reception to Celebrate the "Collaboration" After Niffler Drilling

As part of the cooperation, Lockhart will of course bring several major shareholders of the company to attend to show his sincerity.

It was a given that Mr. Farley would go, but Lucius Malfoy also decided to attend the reception, which somewhat surprised Lockhart.

But since the major shareholder insisted on going, Lockhart could only agree, who made him just a wage earner with stocks.

Although it was the first time for Farley and Malfoy to attend a Muggle reception, they were no strangers to such occasions.Although Lockhart was a little worried that they would say the wrong thing, the pure-blood families really did not embarrass the wizards in terms of etiquette, and the knowledgeable bosses present did not doubt their identities at all.

As land aristocrats, their performance is completely in line with the personality that Lockhart created for them - personable, polite, but with a little arrogance and a condescending feeling, and at the same time special Conservative, like to miss the time hundreds of years ago.

Although I have never heard of where "Farley Village" and "Malfoy Manor" are, people don't really care about it. Anyway, such an old "noble" caught in the UK - a lot, I'm afraid it's no better than cod in the North Sea less.

Seeing that the two have fully integrated into the "upper society" of Muggles, Lockhart is not worried.

He thought that they would merge because of this, and he was promoting this matter entirely with a speculative attitude.

I don't know if they can still be as calm as in the original book after they enjoy the benefits of this, and then face Voldemort's order to abandon everything.

P.So nothing happened, just set the wrong timing

Chapter 270 Five, whatever you want.

When the reception was slowly coming to an end, Prime Minister Major, who was also invited, quietly approached Lockhart.

"Man... if your drilling company is really that good, can you do me a favor?" he asked Lockhart in a low voice.

Originally, the matter Major wanted to consult should fall into the category of "unsolvable", but if he was a wizard, he might be able to find something.

"What's busy? Personal or business?" Lockhart replied calmly.

"It's all sorts of things," Major whispered. "Well, have you ever heard of a company called Bre-X?"

The Prime Minister's question overwhelmed Lockhart.

"I've never heard of it," Lockhart replied honestly. "I don't even know what they do."

"They are also an exploration company." Major revealed the mystery himself, "It is a Canadian company. Last year they said they discovered a gold mine in Indonesia, and this year's new exploration report said that the gold mine may have a large amount. It can reach more than 100 tons, and the ore grade is very high.”

"More than 100 tons!" Lockhart was also taken aback.

— If more than one hundred tons are steel or copper ore, then this figure is a bit ordinary, but if it is gold, it is a bit scary.

After all, the world only produces about 3000 tons of gold a year. If we put it in an older age, such as the period of great voyages, Spain defeated the Inca Empire through untold hardships, and the total amount of gold extorted from the Inca Emperor was only about ten tons.

At today's gold prices, the gold, if mined, would always be worth $20 billion -- and that was $90 billion in the 20s.

"This is a good thing. Is there anything we can do for you? Your Excellency." Lockhart was very interested in this.

But Major frowned: "It's hard to say it's a good thing."

"how?"

"It's like this...Although the company announced that it has discovered a gold mine and issued a report, and Indonesia's gold production is also high, several exploration companies have drilled holes in that mining area before, but what did they say? None found..."

Lockhart understood. "You mean, you suspect there's something wrong with them."

"Yes, but the Indonesian government suddenly said that they would cancel their development rights and monopolize the gold mine, and senior officials of the Canadian government also came to me, saying that they want us to put pressure on the Indonesian government and are willing to let us invest and have a part of the equity ...Can you help us take a look at what's going on in that gold mine?"

Lockhart thought about it, and felt that this was not very difficult.

"No problem, we will try to give you an accurate result within a week." Lockhart promised.

"Really? A week?" Major was overjoyed.

"Well... there are goblins over there, after all," said Lockhart.

With the communication of this kind of thing, it is possible to get the result within three days, but Lockhart also gave Major a margin.

Major obviously breathed a sigh of relief: "Great, this is a big deal after all, we have to be cautious...more than 100 tons..."

Major toasted Lockhart another glass of wine, and then went to entertain others with a happy face.

Of course Lockhart knew why he was so concerned.

Although the United Kingdom is expensive as the "five constants", the gold reserves of the British are really not enough.

That's a lot, not to mention comparing it with the United States, that mere [-] tons of reserves ranks first in the world.

Ten can't get in.

And as far as Lockhart knows, in 1999, the British did a stupid thing - because they were so cash-strapped, the Chancellor of the Exchequer - and later Prime Minister Gordon Brown - sold gold when the price of gold was at its lowest. Half of it was sold off, and in the end there were only 310 tons of gold left in Britain.

Although there are 4600 tons of gold stored in London's underground vaults, most of them belong to other countries and they have no right to use them.

What is more than 300 tons of gold enough for?Of course nothing is enough, not even a stable currency value.

And it is not even known whether the more than 300 tons is a real number-some sharp-eyed media discovered that the gold bars in the London underground vault actually have cracks, and such cracks usually only appear in gold with more impurities.

In other words, even the last bit of gold may not necessarily be "99.9% pure gold" as the British say.

Lockhart was not a big official before, so he didn't have access to such secrets, but he was still a "person in the system". If you think about it with common sense, as long as it is something that the British government tries to deny, he will Put a question mark in your heart.

Therefore, when the Venezuelan Maduro government later came to power, it asked the British to extract 31 tons of gold they had stored in the UK. The British resolutely rejected their request and firmly refused to recognize the legitimacy of the Maduro government.

In addition to the factors of cooperating with the "allies" of the United States, the main reason may be that the British authorities want to swallow the gold, even at the cost of damaging credit.

Lockhart had reason to suspect that the Bank of England knew that they couldn't afford that much pure gold, so in order to avoid scandal, they decided to be shameless.

Of course, the British are still shameless now, and Brown's 300 tons of gold have not been sold yet.So when the Canadians wanted to share the ownership of the gold mines with the British, Major would be lying if he said he was not interested.

After the plane crash, Britain really needs gold to give its people confidence.

But the premise is that the gold must be genuine.

Lockhart decided to do Major this favor and make another good match.In this way, when Britain has to sell the 300 tons of gold in the future, Lockhart can buy part of it cheaply on behalf of the wizarding world.

After Lockhart becomes the Minister of Magic, besides personnel and judicial powers, the most indispensable thing is financial power.With this batch of real money in hand, Lockhart's confidence in the wizarding world can also be strengthened a lot.

Five days later, Lockhart came to the prime minister's office again after being briefed by the portrait.

"Sorry, sir, there is no gold ore in that "gold mine" in Indonesia: or rather, there is no gold ore worth refining. said Lockhart regretfully to Major

The disappointment on Major's face was palpable: "Really? So that means, the Canadians lied to us?"

"Hmm... maybe they didn't mean to either."

While talking, Lockhart took out a small glass bottle from his arms:

"Our people took samples at the place where they put the drill bit. As a result, there is a huge gap between the measured data of the ore at the same location and the grade they announced. We believe that the company and the third-party exploration agency have constructed fakes. Even the Canadians and Indonesians believed it, otherwise they would not have fought for this worthless mining area.

Major didn't doubt Lockhart's words, but he was a little too disappointed now

"It seems that we can only mine the gold mine in the Koroniz mining area first, although it is a little less." He said angrily.

But after hearing his words, Lockhart had a strange expression.

You mean, the goldfields in Scotland's Tyndrum? "he asks

Major raised his eyebrows: "Why, you also know that piece."

Lockhart didn't answer his question directly, but asked instead: "I wonder how much gold you want to get from that gold mine?"

"Uh..." Major reflected, "I remember the mining company saying that, according to their estimates, there were at least five tons in it."

"I'm afraid there are not so many..." Lockhart said regretfully, "After all, it is also in the Scottish Highlands, which belongs to the intensive activity area of ​​wizards. It is also a gold mine developed by goblins earlier. Gringotts has a lot of gold reserves. It all comes from there."

Major didn't understand what he meant at first, but when he figured it out, he found himself standing up.

"Hey... you're secretly... I mean, you don't have the right to embezzle what belongs to the state..."

"We mined this gold mine in the 14th century. Not to mention Scotland, even Wales has not yet become part of the Kingdom of England." Lockhart reminded, "Your accusations are unreasonable."

Chapter 270 Serving the Royal Family

Probably thinking that the person in front of him was a wizard, Major had no choice but to sit down again feebly.

His expression looked irritated, and he looked like he was angry but couldn't express it.

Seeing him like this, Lockhart obviously didn't know what was going on in his heart.

People, they are afraid of being disappointed after having hope, even if Lockhart's information can indeed save them from losses, the problem is that in the mind of the Prime Minister, this gold is "gained and lost", not Never have.

"If you're having trouble with this question, why don't you ask us a little more?" Lockhart started fishing.

Hearing that there was something in his words, the prime minister regained his spirit instantly.

"Is there a gold mine? Where is it? Is it easy to dig?" He couldn't wait to ask.

"Easy to dig, but not easy to dig." Lockhart replied in an official tone.

Major laughed exaggeratedly, as fake as he could be: "Okay! Do we need to pay attention to these things in our relationship? Just say it - this gold mine is in our territory up?"

"It's still there, but it's hard to say in a few months." Lockhart sighed pretendingly.

Major flew into a rage, and this time he really wasn't pretending.

"Who? The rebels of the Ming Dynasty want to divide our country?" He growled angrily, "This is the territory bestowed on us by God, and every inch of glory belongs to Her Majesty the Queen. Anyone who dares to give it up, even if it is just a little Grab the dust, we also have to...

Lockhart had to interrupt him: "That gold mine is in Northern Ireland, sir

Major's angry roar, comparable to that of the head of state, suddenly stopped, and he himself was like an osprey whose neck was strangled, choking so hard that he couldn't spit out anything, and couldn't swallow anything.

Under Lockhart's playful gaze, Major pretended to be calm and poured himself a glass of water, and swallowed what he wanted to say but didn't say out into his stomach along with the water.

"Northern Ireland?" repeated Major. "Is there gold in Ireland too?

If I am not mistaken, he and the Northern Irish parties are still in a state of superficial consultations and substantive wars, and Prime Minister Major has always tended to take a tough attitude towards the Northern Irish.If there is a split, the one most likely to split it is Prime Minister Major himself.

Lockhart was amused in his heart, but he was still serious on the surface.

"Of course there is gold in Ireland. Among the various cultural relics unearthed in the Bronze Age, the proportion of gold in the original Irish civilization is the highest. And if I remember correctly, when Queen Maeve trained wizards in Ireland, her source of funds was also gold. Mine... To be honest, we are also surprised that you Muggles haven't found these gold mines."

Major didn't notice the slight thorn in Lockhart's words, because he was now fully committed to the big gold mine: "Can you tell me roughly, where is that gold mine? "

"There is an island of fire in Northern Ireland. Under one of the dead fires, there are ores that can produce about 210 tons of gold. According to the goblins, the thickness of the ore layer is 40 meters, and the grade is very high. The average grade is 30 per ton of ore. There is a 9-meter-thick ore seam in the core local area, and the gold content here is 900 grams per ton.” He told Major.

"Oh, my God," Major sighed.

Then he suddenly thought of something: "Then why don't you..."

"Because we have too much gold, and we don't need that much at all." Lockhart knew exactly what he was asking.

"Too much?" Major seemed to have heard some interesting words, "Will someone think too much gold?"

"In other words, it is too much compared to our total economic volume." Lockhart replied half-truthfully, "Our wizard's currency is gold, silver, and copper. If there is a large amount of gold Not only will it cause inflation, but it will completely destroy our monetary system and turn it into a "limping standard"

Although Lockhart's analysis is true, in fact, the wizard never thought of those things.

The goblins of Gringotts, in particular, didn't mine those gold mines simply because they couldn't do anything about the thick masses of igneous rock.As for inflation, they have never had anything to do with them. Anyway, after they dig up gold, they basically hide it in the vault and don't circulate it very much.

"So that's it." Major was finally relieved, "Ha, we didn't even get the gold and silver double standard right, yet you guys managed to come up with a triple standard."

After he was relieved, his heart was occupied by something called "greed" - 210 tons, this number is too tempting.

Since it is a gold mine in the UK, it means that these British people can eat all the gold and don't distribute it to foreigners.

Although the vast majority of these gold mines are smelted into gold bars and then used as national reserves, there are still many places where they can be operated.

For example, they can sell part of it as jewelry, which will generate far more profits than simply smelting it into gold bars. Mine pits and river water can also be used to attract gold diggers to travel, not to mention the stock market, futures and financial markets. It is impossible not to fluctuate because of the discovery of a large gold mine... so 100 tons of gold can be taken out of this batch

It's good to have a reserve.

Even better, these were all the British's own, so Major could reap a lot of benefits from the domestic tycoons.