Chapter 807: Good and Bad Intentions
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Buying and selling a mine was not complicated. It was easier than buying a house.
This kind of business was so common in Lightning Ridge, that the National Bureau of Mines and the Bureau of Land Management set up an office in the town to provide services.
Li Du paid in cash, so he did not need a loan or a bank. They did the procedure together, dealing with all the formalities in a day.
He paid out $550,000 and then collected a certificate of owners.h.i.+p.
According to Australian land management law, as long as the government did not fail or go bankrupt, the 20 acres of land would belong to him now and always.
However, like buying a house, he had to pay taxes every year on the 20 acres he owned.
This was a good way to limit people"s investment in real estate. One of the reasons why Lightning Ridge could form a mine sales chain was that when the mine owners found that their mine could not produce black opal, they rushed to sell the mine to avoid paying taxes every year.
After getting the certificate, Li Du invited Blanchette for a drink. "Come on, man, I have to thank you for helping me so much today."
From taking him to the mine until he had gotten his land permit, Blanchette had helped him with haggling his prices, copying his doc.u.ments, and closing his deals.
"My pleasure, and you deserve it because you helped my good friend," Blanchette laughed.
"What would you like to eat tonight? You can eat all you want. My wallet is ready for your attack," said Li Du.
Blanchette laughed. "Really? I"m sorry, but my mine is in trouble, and I can"t get away any longer."
This made Li Du felt very guilty, because Blanchette had spent all his time with him today.
Blanchette drove away from the door of the mine"s trading center.
Seeing the back of his pickup, Li Du sighed. "There is a good fellow. I can feel the kindness of the Australians at last."
"He is really kind. He is actually a little too kind," Lu Guan said.
By implication, he found Blanchette"s enthusiasm strange.
That"s what Li Du had suspected before, but he had checked the mine. There was no problem, and there were gems in it. There was also no problem with the deal, either. It was official.
"Don"t always doubt people"s good intentions. G.o.d teaches us to help each other and love each other," he said.
Half a million dollars to buy a mine, not including the tools. To make a mine, he would have to purchase tools and hire miners.
G.o.dzilla told Li Du he didn"t need all that. "I"ll go down. I"ve dug mines in Mexico, no problem."
Brother Wolf nodded in agreement. "Yes Boss, I can go down with G.o.dzilla."
Li Du thought it would be ok, not because he wanted to save money, but because he was ready to go directly to the gem mine. If they hired miners, they would be suspicious. After all, the father and son had been digging in the mine for years, and nothing had been dug up.
All that was left was to buy tools, and there were plenty of hardware stores in town, as well as large tool rental companies and anything else they might need.
After much prying, they found one of the most famous tool rental companies in town.
The company"s address was on the edge of town. The company was located on an open field and had a large, simple warehouse with all kinds of machines and tools.
"Impact crusher, jaw type, hammer type, counter type, compound type and other crus.h.i.+ng equipment, ball mill, vibration feeder, vibration screen, sand was.h.i.+ng machine, belt conveyor and so on, I have everything here," said the boss, who was wearing a pair of sungla.s.ses.
The boss knew his purpose, so all the tools he listed were the tools he used to mine.
Of course, the people who came to him to rent hardware were all the customers who were ready to mine.
Li Du looked at these tools and released the little bug, and when the little bug went inside the machine, he frowned.
In advance, he had checked the mining tools at the opal mine, and they were exactly what he needed.
However, the tools here were a little too worn, and the belts on the shaker and sand-washer were almost worn out.
These were the results of the little bug"s observations. From their outward appearance, however, the machines were intact.
Reaching for a small digger, he asked, "Do you have anything newer?"
The boss laughed. "You"re using jargon, man. In the machine rental industry, I bet there"s nothing newer in town than these machines."
"It looks like these machines are really good," said Lu Guan.
Li Du smiled and said to the boss, "Do you think I am a stranger and a rookie who does not understand anything, using these rags to deceive me?"
The boss turned pale and said, "What are you talking about, man, questioning my business ethics? I did meet you in person, and in order to retain you as a new customer, I specially prepared a batch of new equipment for you!"
Li Du patted the digger again, this time with more force. There was a snap inside the machine, and something broke.
He sneered. "Are you sure?"
The boss was shocked. He knew Li Du"s ident.i.ty. He knew he was a foreigner.
Therefore, he figured that Li Du did not understand the black opal mining industry, so he could take advantage of him.
He had seen too many people who wanted to come to Lightning Ridge to make a fortune. Every year they brought hundreds of people to contract a mine, hoping to find a gem and make a lot of money.
However, the result was that they wasted their time and energy, ended up with nothing, and had to sell the mine at a low price and leave town in disgrace.
The owner with the sungla.s.ses was a good businessman. He treated the town"s perennial coal miners well, renting the best machinery to them in order to win regular customers.
If it was a casual foreigner, he took the opportunity to rip them off. Anyway, these people would not become regular customers, so he could just earn a sum of money from them and not worry about it.
His ripoff method was to fool new customers with some s.h.i.+ny but decrepit a.s.sembled machines, which were just decorations that would become damaged in less than two days.
Under the terms of the lease, if the machine was damaged and the leaseholder lost money, he would make a lot of money every year.
This time he tried to do that to Li Du but failed.
The owner didn"t believe he was an expert, so he struggled a bit, saying, "Business is booming, mate. People are digging mines, so the machines have been rented out. This is all that"s left, and it"s definitely a good choice. They"re all great."
Hearing this, Li Du curled his lips. He had just experienced the kindness of the local people from Blanchette, and now he had experienced the malicious intent of the locals from the owner with the sungla.s.ses.