Chapter 1036 Funding (1/2)

Cole did as he was told, and quickly assigned Li Du a team that would help him contract

out a mine in South Africa.

There were two parts of the team. One was a group of lawyers, who were responsible

for solving legal problems of land contracting and for the main work process.

Another part of the team was the personnel such as the field engineer, gem expert, and

geological expert. They were in charge of the practical side, such as estimation of gem

content in the field.

Li Du was confident about digging the mine. He used the little bug and searched

meticulously. He found the trace of many diamonds in subterranean ore. The spot was

rich with diamonds.

Therefore, he felt that they need not use the second part of the personnel at the

moment. The team could just go and inspect the mine after he bought it.

However, these men were not quite without work. He had a geological problem to

discuss, so he called a few experts and showed them the strange ore he had brought

back from the mine.

He wanted to know the identity of this ore as he had never seen such ore before and

had a faint hope that this was something new and valuable.

Who knows what precious gems can be extracted from this ore?

After several experts saw the ore, they divided it up among themselves, crushed some

of it and looked at it under a magnifying glass, and also did some simple chemical

analysis.

More than two hours later, a geological expert named Louis Byrd approached Li Du and

gave him an appraisal report.

”What did you find out?” Li Du asked.

Louis Byrd nodded and said. ”Based on our observations of the ore's appearance, our

examination of its physical and chemical properties, and our comparison of results, we

think it is a product of an asteroid.”

Li Du's spirits rose. ”You mean, it comes from another planet?”

He was now immersed in the gem market. After he learned about alien meteorites, he

knew that they could sell well in the international market. If there was scientific value,

the price could be even far beyond that of diamonds.

”No, not alien meteorites,” said Louis Byrd. ”This type of ore is the result of an asteroid

hitting a mountain rock on the ground and melting away the layers of rock.

”Based on the results of the comparison, there is a strong similarity, as high as 98%,

between this kind of ore and one from Bavaria in southern Germany.

”Based on a mineral analysis of the Bavarian ore, geologists speculate that about 15

million years ago, a fallen asteroid hit the southern German state of Bavaria, creating a

huge depression that extended more than nine miles.

”The ore, which is so common in the depression, is named meteorite, a compact breccia

or coarse rock containing angular fragments of glass, crystal, and diamond.”

Li Du said, ”So this kind of ore contains diamonds?”

Louis nodded and elaborated, ”But the diamonds here are small, scattered particles with

no commercial value, and such rocks are common in impact craters in Bavaria.”

Apart from this general information that he had given Li Du, and more specific details

were included in the report.

The asteroid had weighed about 3 billion tons, but much of its mass was lost due to

atmospheric friction.

Asteroids were rich in diamonds, but diamonds melted at very high temperatures. They

combined with sand, gravel, and melted silica. Their size was too small, no more than