Chapter 805 Passionate Friend (1/2)

Chapter 805: Passionate Friend

Translator: Nyoi-Bo StudioEditor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

While drinking the beer, Blanchette asked Li Du what he wanted to develop in Lightning Ridge.

He said, ”Bob told me you were harvesting black gold abalone in King Island. It is a real gold industry, and you're literally harvesting gold in the water. It is a job everyone is envious of.”

”It may be enviable, but it's not worth mentioning here. What you're looking for is more valuable than gold,” Li Du said with a smile.

Blanchette sipped his beer and sighed. ”Yes, but only if you can find it.”

”I have every confidence, and I am here for it. I'm sure we can find it if we look carefully,” Li Du said in an officially polite manner.

”Hope so, but don't put in too much hope, or you'll be disappointed. By the way, mate, you're not here to be a miner, are you? You're rich enough. Are you here to buy a mine?”

Li Du said, ”Yes, that is my plan.”

Blanchette immediately asked, ”Do you have any particular area you're interested in mining? If so, tell me, and I'll get in touch with you to see if I can help.”

”Today, I walked around the town but don't know much about the local situation. I would like to buy a mining area and practice my skills,” Li Du said, shaking his head.

”Is that what you're planning to do?” he mused.

He thought about it for a while and said, ”If you don't have a mining area in mind, I can introduce you to one, but I'm not sure about the yield.”

Li Du was interested and asked, ”Then I have to thank you. What's the situation of this mine?”

Blanchette explained about the mining area around Lightning Ridge. It was a very complex topic.

Black opal had been on the luxury stage for a couple of years. For the past thousand years, Maori and aboriginal tribesmen in Australia had been digging them up.

Nowadays, it was said internationally that black opal only existed in Lightning Ridge, but actually, that was not true. It was just that Lightning Ridge had the largest mineral vein in the world and still produced.

At first, both Australia and New Zealand produced black opal, but many of the mines were destroyed as people began to exploit them.

There used to be some good mines off the coast of Australia, but that was not a good time. People just dug in the ground. This led to a series of problems, such as underground voids.

Coastal areas were rich in groundwater, and underground vents eventually turned into underground water vents because of seepage. To be safe, the government banned further mining, and no one dared to mine after that.

After all, money was really valuable but life was more precious!

The vein in Lightning Ridge was discovered in the twentieth century, and it became the largest black opal mine in history.

By the twentieth century, mining techniques had been perfected and machines were more advanced, so engineers were hired to plan the mine.

In addition, Lightning Ridge was located in the midwest region of Australia, where it was relatively dry, and the groundwater did not flood, so the mine was well protected and could still be exploited.

Blanchette told Li Du that Lightning Ridge contracted out about 80 percent of the world's current black opal.