Chapter 703 The Biggest and Fattest Sheep

"Get intelligence from Lockheed Martin?" Fan Heng was speechless about his son's amazing idea. "Do you think they are willing to sell intelligence to us?"

As the main supplier of the US military, Lockheed Martin can be said to have a deep feud with the Chinese. Whether it is the killing weapons on the Korean battlefield, or the U2 reconnaissance aircraft that helped Chiang Kai-shek get intelligence on the mainland, or many targeted armed activities later, there are armed forces of Lockheed Martin supporting the US military behind the scenes.

From this hostile standpoint, it seems unimaginable to get intelligence from Lockheed Martin.

Fan Wubing smiled slightly and said, "This matter should not be viewed from a political perspective. In business, even if the board of directors of Lockheed Martin does not agree, or the Pentagon does not agree, as long as someone agrees, it will be fine."

"Will anyone agree?" Fan Heng asked doubtfully.

"Yes." Fan Wubing naturally thought of Maximus, the old Jewish man who had entered the senior vice president of Lockheed Martin. This old man was the best choice for the inside line.

In fact, the competition in the international arms market is fierce now, and Lockheed Martin is not as good as before, so it is instigating the Pentagon to continue to expand strategically around the world. The main purpose is to demonstrate its actual combat weapons and expand its own arms market. For example, it is necessary to find some indigenous warlords in Africa, find some sons of Arab oil kings, or create tension across the Taiwan Straits and sell some weapons to Taiwan.

Even if it faces an opponent like the Big 6, which is both competitive and cooperative, Lockheed Martin cannot completely close the door to cooperation. For some information that is not too sensitive, there is still the possibility of communication.

Fan Wubing naturally did not expect the old man Maximus to be 007 and get free intelligence for himself, but the old man could definitely act as a bridge of contact, and through him to obtain some valuable intelligence resources for himself but not so valuable that the old man could not explain it, which was completely feasible.

Yeltsin had returned to Russia, but Putin stayed. At this time, he had not yet become the first deputy prime minister or acting prime minister of Russia, but was only the secretary of the National Security Council. However, in practical terms, he was already a person who could make decisions, especially since Yeltsin had already trained him as his successor, and the Kremlin was very clear about it.

Two days later, Putin had a formal meeting with Fan Wubing and set the general framework for cooperation between the two sides.

According to the unwritten agreement, Putin promised to open up a channel for Fan Wubing to enter the Mongolian resource market.

Fan Wubing also promised to directly invest 50 billion US dollars in economic aid to Russia. The collateral for this part of the economic aid can be exchanged with Russia's mineral resources and oil and gas resources. However, compared with Western countries, Fan Wubing slowed down the repayment period and said that it was a completely interest-free loan.

Finally, when Putin left, he took with him the 10 billion US dollars of funds that Fan Wubing had already received in advance. Obviously, this part of the funds is of great significance to Russia at present. Instead of negotiating with Western countries to obtain billions of dollars of aid like squeezing toothpaste, it is easier to exchange interests with Fan Wubing.

However, Putin did what he said. A week later, Mongolia invited Fan Investment Group, expressing the hope that Fan Investment Group would enter Mongolia's resource market for friendly opening.

After receiving the notification from Mongolia, Fan Wubing summoned the company's senior executives to Beijing almost immediately to prepare for negotiations in Mongolia, and also notified the technicians who had made some achievements in mineral resource exploration in Australia and Indonesia to prepare to go to Mongolia.

In this way, after Fan Wubing submitted a top-secret detailed proposal to his father about the Fan Investment Group's preparation for military industrial intelligence exchange with Russia and Lockheed Martin, and on this basis, plus his own investment and the letter of intent for a joint venture with a state-owned military enterprise, he went to Mongolia with a large inspection team.

In the past decade, since the implementation of the ** reform and the capitalist system, Mongolia, a grassland country, has been struggling with poverty, corruption and unfair distribution of mineral resources. As one of the poorest countries in the world, more than one-third of the population lives below the poverty line, and ironically, Mongolia has rich mineral resources.

Mongolia has rich mineral resources that attract foreigners to come and pan for gold, but its own people are struggling on the poverty line, the inflation rate is as high as 30%, people are constantly complaining about the government, and officials cannot reach a consensus on the issue of mineral control. The situation in Mongolia can be said to be a mess.

Mongolia has a land area of ​​1.56 million square kilometers and a population of only more than 2 million. Almost all the scarce minerals in the world can be found in Mongolia, which has a vast land and a sparse population, and most of the mineral deposits are still unexploited, with promising prospects. For many years, how to control foreign-funded enterprises from entering the field of mineral exploration and development has been the most sensitive topic in Mongolian politics.

Mongolia is rich in copper, gold, silver, iron ore, phosphorus and zinc resources, all of which are buried under the vast grasslands. Mongolia is also the largest known owner of coal mines, ranks third in uranium resources and silver mines in the world. It is also among the best in the world. According to speculation by Fan Wubing's resource management team, Mongolia has more than 3,000 tons of gold mines, more than 30 million tons of copper mines, and about 50 billion tons of high-quality coal mines waiting to be mined.

According to statistics released by the National Statistics Committee of Mongolia last month, the average income of Mongolian families has increased by 40% compared with the same period last year. In the past year, salary standards in Mongolian public institutions have increased by 70%, but Consumer spending has also grown significantly. According to statistics from the International Monetary Fund, in the first four months of this year, Mongolia's inflation rate reached 127 percent. People complained that prices continued to rise and household purchasing power was declining.

Since Mongolia is a landlocked country, with its high latitude and short summers, Mongolia relies on imports of its main agricultural products. Therefore, the annual output of Mongolia's mining industry accounts for more than 30% of the country's GDP. Today, many mineral resources in Mongolia are preparing to be opened to foreign investors.

With industrialization and urbanization in full swing, countries around the world are looking for mineral resources. Due to the scale of potential investment and the high expected value of future returns, some people even call Mongolia the new golden mountain of Asia.

At present, the top countries investing in mining mining in Mongolia are mainly Australia, Canada, Japan and South Korea.

The British company Rio Tinto is also preparing to enter the Mongolian mineral resources market. As the world's second largest mining giant, they have many advantages. However, Mongolia's situation is special and it is under the wing of Russia. It is not so easy to do this. easy.

In order to improve the investment environment and attract more foreign investors to enter Mongolia's resource market, for example, Mongolia announced the Mineral Resources Law the year before last and introduced relevant preferential policies to attract foreign investment. Last year, Canada's 1d Mining Company invested US$75 million to acquire the overall mining rights of the Mongolian gold mine and also received tax breaks for the first five years.

What Fan Wubing is interested in is Tolgoi, the largest mining area in Mongolia that has not yet been explored. The Tolgoi mining area is also the largest mine with proven reserves in Mongolia. It is located in the South Gobi Province of Mongolia, not far from Uzbekistan. The straight-line distance of Lambatol is 650 kilometers, and it is only 80 kilometers from the China-Mongolia border. The copper content of the mine reaches 26.6 million tons, and the gold content reaches 25.7 million ounces. Commercial Valued at approximately US$170 billion.

Mongolia has resumed oil exploration and production since the early 1990s, and now has proven reserves of about 8 billion barrels. The area bordering China alone has 13 oil basins with reserves of more than 3 billion barrels. The oil is of good quality, with an artesian index of 41, while the artesian index of Daqing Oilfield in China is only 34.

The "Mongolian Mining Law" revised in June 1997 stipulates that foreign investors enjoy the same treatment as Mongolian enterprises in handling mineral development licenses. The exploration period is three years, which can be extended by two years, and the issuance period is 60 years. , renewable for forty years, each license can cover an area of ​​up to 4,000 square kilometers, and there is no limit to the number of licenses that each enterprise and individual can apply for.

Fan Wubing has long been coveting Mongolia's mineral resources. Whether it is copper mines, gold mines, coal mines, or oil, they are all indispensable strategic resources in the future. At this time, Mongolia's domestic political situation is chaotic, and foreign investment The lack of enthusiasm for intervention is a good opportunity for me to intervene strongly. After Mongolia's mineral resources are gradually enlightened, it will not be easy to control the most high-quality mining areas, at least not as it is now. So easy.

Although Mongolia has actively introduced foreign investment, so far, it has only introduced more than 100 million U.S. dollars of investment, which is generally introduced from the perspective of venture capital. After all, most foreign investors really have no idea about this closed inland country. What kind of confidence does it have? If we want to cooperate with Mongolia, we must first solve two problems. Either reach an understanding with Russia or use China's transportation lines. There is no other way out.

It is not easy to solve this problem, but for Fan Wubing, he has no such worries.

To him, Mongolia is the fattest and largest sheep. What he has to do now is to drive it into his own sheepfold.