Chapter 507: Mature Deepwater Mining Technology
Translator: _Min_ Editor: Caron_
He was dressed in a sharp-looking suit and shoes. He had a reflective head, a round face with wrinkles beginning to appear, and a smile that didn’t make him feel disgusted.
The girl standing beside him had curly blonde hair, complemented by a black dress that outlined her beautiful figure. It certainly made a clear contrast with the man’s balding head and beer belly.
“And you are?” Jiang Chen looked at him, confused.“Luke Joyce. Speaking of which, we are business partners.” Luke raised his wine glass and toasted Jiang Chen.
[Business partners?]
Jiang Chen didn’t recall having a business partner with this name.
Luke acutely recognized the confusion in Jiang Chen’s eyes as he added:
“Looks like Mr. Jiang Chen doesn’t seem to like to study the shareholder structure of your business partners. I’m a shareholder of BHP.”
Earlier, Future Group signed an iron and aluminum ore export agreement with BHP. Although Future Mining was formed at a later date with a major breakthrough in deep water mining technology, the extracted manganese nodules met Future Group’s iron demands, so Future Group terminated the iron export agreement. But in terms of aluminum, Future Group still replied on BHP’s exports.
Jiang Chen immediately had a realization.“Yes, Mr. Luke, I apologize for my rudeness.”
Luke didn’t mind at all and continued to introduce his female companion.
“This is my daughter, Melinda Joyce.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Jiang Chen. I’m a loyal fan of Future Technology.” Melinda extended her hand.
Although he was slightly shocked, Jiang Chen didn’t reveal any emotions on his face as he politely took her hand and smiled. “Hello, Miss Melinda, I’m pleased Future Technology satisfies you.”
The shock in Jiang Chen’s mind was no less than someone pointing out an ogre and elf and telling him with a serious expression that they were actually father and daughter.
“Haha, my daughter is really curious about your legendary expression. If there is an opportunity, you guys should chat.” Luke wiggled his eyebrows at Jiang Chen.
Jiang Chen obviously understood the hints in Luke’s voice. It didn’t take too many sentences before it was apparent he was trying to arrange a marriage for his daughter.
But unfortunately, Jiang Chen was not interested in his daughter.
“It’s not a legendary experience – only good luck,” Jiang Chen said humbly.
Although his words were humble, they weren’t wrong. If it wasn’t for his interdimensional travel abilities, he wouldn’t be where he was today.
“Please don’t say that, Mr. Jiang Chen. That would make 7 billion people upset because someone can make it onto the Forbes list just through luck.” Melinda’s red lips formed a smile.
Jiang Chen opened his hands to emphasize that his words were true, but unfortunately, no one believed him. But from Luke and Melinda’s perspective, his gesture was self-mocking, lightening up the atmosphere.
After some chitchat, perhaps she noticed that Jiang Chen was uninterested in her, so Melinda politely disappeared and left some time for the two of them to talk business in other circles. Luke didn’t feel surprised at his daughter leaving as he clearly saw that Jiang Chen wasn’t interested, so he didn’t force it while he continued the conversation with Jiang Chen.
Luke was very talkative as their conversation spanned from sailing to golf. Jiang Chen, however, did most of the listening because he didn’t know too much about either area and it wasn’t a good time to pretend he knew.
In the end, the conversation finally steered back to business.
“Speaking of which, why is Mr. Jiang Chen keeping such a tight control on your shares? If Future Group becomes public on NASDAQ, without a doubt, you will be the wealthiest man in the world,” Luke exclaimed.
“Because I believe in the future of Future Group. I believe the wealth it will bring me is no less than what a public offering can bring me,” Jiang Chen said lightheartedly.
“But if you work with people who share the same ambition, won’t you expand faster?” Luke smiled.
“Does Mr. Luke think my Future Group is expanding slowly?” Jiang Chen asked back in a joking tone.
Luke paused and began to chuckle.
“You’re right. Since your inception, Mr. Jiang’s company hasn’t exhibited even one problem with cash flow; it’s certainly an impressive feat.”
“That’s an exaggeration.” Jiang Chen was humble.
“Can I ask a question?” Luke passed his empty glass to the waiter and picked up another one.
“Of course, if I can answer.”
“Whether it’s Future 1.0 or the current Phantom, your company always introduces products that are favored by the market. There’s also nutrient supply and deep water mining technology… What’s the next product?” Luke asked.
“We’ll probably further develop the virtual reality market or perhaps invest in manned space missions because I’m personally interested in space… Why do you ask?” Jiang Chen said casually.
“To avoid accidentally becoming your competition.” Luke wryly shrugged his shoulders and joked to Jiang Chen: “Because of your virtual reality project, this sector in the NASDAQ is obliterated as most public companies fell from cloud nine to a deep abyss. Almost all investors who experienced the Phantom first-hand became aware that their investments in virtual reality faltered. Especially when a Harvard professor stated that it’s a technology that can’t be achieved in 20 years…”
Not even 20 years – in the timeline in the apocalypse, the first immersive virtual reality equipment only appeared in 2050.
“Then I do have to apologize.” Jiang Chen used a tone that he didn’t mean at all.
“Haha, no need to apologize to me. I didn’t place bets on the frontier of technology. In terms of investment philosophy, I share the same view as Carmen,” Luke said.
He took a sip of the champagne and continued:
“What does Mr. Jiang think about the resources industry?”
“Supply over demand.”
“That’s right.” Luke smiled and nodded. “Just two days ago, BHP sold two iron mines in the red, but every shareholder, including me, knows that it’s a futile action. The mining business will only get harder and harder – not just in iron, but all other resources other than precious metals will face a similar downward trend.”
“Oh, is that so?” Jiang Chen said thoughtfully.
“Of course, since there’s a limit to market demands, take the rebar used in the construction sector. Most people will only have one house in their life, but a house’s life can be much longer than its owner. So even if we have been dominating in the resource sector, we have to use some of the money to support… industries that may give birth to new things such as the Rothschild family’s Dalmer Group that invests in new energy vehicle projects that are bottomless pits. Then, for example, without doing due diligence on investment projects, we can lend 30 billion to a tech company with a bright future.”
“It’s easy to bring ore up to the surface level. Just take my old friend in the Rothschild family. Vale, under their control, is the biggest iron ore supplier in the world with an estimated reserve of 4 billion tons. The mines can produce for up to 400 years and this is just public data.” Luke paused for a moment and exchanged a long but meaningful glance with Jiang Chen.
“During this pivotal time, if a mining technology could decrease the cost of mining and include depositions previously inaccessible on the list of current reserves, what kind of influence do you think this would have on the poor mining sector?”
When he heard all this, Jiang Chen more or less guessed Luke’s goal behind the conversation and why Carmen brought him to meet him.
“You mean that some technologies are too advanced?”
“That’s right.” Luke nodded.
“For example?”
“For example, mature deep water mining technology.”
Jiang Chen’s pupils contracted.
