Chapter 481 Indispensable Mistakes (Reward Plus More)

The industrial layout is not just the steel industry. With the advent of the second industrial revolution, copper has become more widely used.

In 1870, Austrian copper production reached 580,000 tons, while the market demand was as high as 720,000 tons, and the gap rate was as high as one-sixth.

The main reason for this is the age of electricity. As a pioneer in promoting the electric revolution, the demand for copper in Austria is naturally increasing day by day.

In order to adjust the relationship between market supply and demand, the Vienna government did not hesitate to use executive orders to make state-owned enterprises increase production, but this supply and demand relationship still cannot be changed in a short time.

There is no way. If there is a lack of steel, it can still be purchased in the international market, but copper does not need to be counted on.

The output of copper mines in Austria exceeds that of all European countries combined. Even for the British, the output of copper in this era is so pitiful that it is tens of thousands of tons.

It's not that everyone doesn't want to increase production. The problem is that there are no mines at home, and raw materials need to be imported. If you want to increase copper production, you must first solve the problem of copper ore.

It is a pity that the reserves of this thing in Europe are really not high, otherwise Chile would not be able to get rich by exporting copper ore.

This is very disharmonious to Austria. The domestic reserves are not enough, and the copper ore imported from abroad is too far away. The increased transportation costs make the profit statement of the company thin.

The Ministry of Industry is planning to find copper mines in African colonies to make up for the lack of raw materials. Now that many copper mines have been found, transportation is still a big problem.

...

Franz put down the materials, shook his head and said: "The plan to smelt copper mines in Africa is too radical. Now is not the time to develop industries in Africa, at least until the localization is completed, the African continent cannot have industries. .

Besides, will the cost of smelting copper mines in Africa be reduced? I remember that the Ministry of Industry's recent report on energy reserves also mentioned the lack of coal mines on the African continent.

At present, several large coal mines we have discovered are concentrated in South Africa. If local smelting also requires ore transportation, it may not be cheaper than domestic smelting. "

No doubt, another political temptation. In recent years, more and more capitalists have entered the African colonies for development. Many of them are no longer satisfied with providing raw materials for the country and want to develop local industries.

However, due to congenital deficiencies, the distribution of resources on the African continent is extremely unbalanced, and under the suppression of the Vienna government, it has never been successful.

Now these people want to use the power of the Vienna government to develop local industries and make greater profits.

This kind of paediatric political tactics is naturally hidden from Franz's eyes. If it is a resource-rich region like the United States and Australia, it is still difficult to suppress the development of local industries.

On the African continent, the situation is completely different. More than 90 percent of coal mines are concentrated in South Africa. If the rest of the region wants to develop industry, they must first solve the coal supply.

This will require building roads, but the Austrian African railway project is still slowly progressing. The original plan was only from Guinea to Congo, and although the planned section has been added, it cannot be built in a day or two.

The main road has not been completed, let alone the branch line. Without the transport of raw materials by rail, African industries would naturally not develop.

Now, taking advantage of the lack of copper in the local area, many people are starting to make a move again, but they ignore the general distribution of resources in Africa, and Franz is more familiar than anyone else.

I don’t know which mine it is, but what resources are in that large area will not be a secret in future generations. Anyone who is a little interested can search for information on the Internet.

There are not no areas suitable for industrial development on the African continent. South Africa is the best choice, and there is almost no shortage of various resources.

However, isn't this still fighting? When the war is over, it's time for the gold to come out. Once a large gold mine appears, who cares about investing in other industries.

Capital is profit-seeking and naturally flows to areas with high profits. Once the gold mine is developed, the resources will be robbed, and it is difficult to invest in other industries.

In later generations, South Africa did not develop an industry. To a certain extent, it was too rich in resources. You could make a fortune by selling mines. Who would be willing to take risks and invest in industry?

Industry Minister Caschin-Qubek explained aggrievedly: "Your Majesty, the localization inspection period in Guinea is about to end, and we continue to suppress local industrial development, which may cause criticism.

We are all aware of the issue of resource distribution. These people are on the African continent, and it is impossible to be unaware of these issues. They made an application anyway, which was probably a trial.

Even if one or two coal mines are found, and they are suitable for industry, at most one or two factories will be added.

As long as the government doesn't solve the traffic problem, no matter how hard they try, it's impossible to come up with an industrial system without raw materials. Why should we stop it? "

The African continent not only lacks an industrial system, but is completely poor. Not only raw material resources are not in place, but even manpower is lacking.

In the vast and sparsely populated African continent, if you want to find hundreds of thousands of workers and build a large industrial group integrating mining and smelting, the cost will be prohibitive for any capitalist.

Franz asked uncertainly: "You mean to open up the mining industry, but when building the railway, you deliberately set up obstacles.

Make it impossible to directly connect the origin of raw materials and the origin of raw materials, and increase the transportation cost of industrial development? "

If this is done, it is estimated that Africa's industry will be finished. There is no problem in developing minerals. In areas where resources are concentrated, the government will build railways so that the ore produced can be transported out.

However, this kind of railway is mainly single-track, and it is not a perfect railway network. Especially between iron ore and coal mines, there is no direct railway connection, which suppresses the development of local African industries from the source.

It has to be admitted that this method is more than a step above the direct prohibition of industrial development in Africa. In the future, excuses can also be made, for example: the exploration technology is not in place, and the resource reserves are wrongly estimated.

A giant mine with 100 million tons of ore reserves is shown in the report to be one million tons. Naturally, it is not worthy of the government's attention, and a railway line needs to be planned.

Or: ignoring technological progress.

Due to the limitations of the times, it is understandable that the development value of the mine was wrongly judged and ignored when the railway was repaired.

...

In any case, it is caused by special circumstances, and it is definitely not the central government that is suppressing the industrial development of the African continent. In the end, the African continent's industry did not develop, and that was beyond human capabilities.

Decades later, localization was complete and Austrian domination on the African continent was entrenched. When the time comes, it will not be too late to correct these particular historical errors.

Industry Minister Caschin-Qubek replied: "Yes, Your Majesty. Now we have to concentrate on the development of the mainland, and there is no way for the colonies to make sacrifices."

Kaschin-Qubek emphasized the word "colonial". Since it is a colony, it cannot be compared with the native land. It is inevitable that the treatment is lower and higher.

Without sucking blood from the colonies, Austria's economy would not be able to sustain rapid growth for a long time. Before the era of free trade, the colonies were the objects of sacrifice.

This time, the "mistakes" limited to the times are no longer mistakes, and the mistakes in the construction of the railway network on the African continent have also become inevitable.

Franz finally understands why there are so many pits in the original time-space Indian railway.

It's not that the designers are unreasonable in planning, but the reality needs to be unreasonable. The future seems unreasonable planning, but this era is the best choice.

Franz nodded and said, "Accelerate the progress of the construction of the colonial railway, and take advantage of the time point of information asymmetry to create established facts, and do not attract the attention of the people."

The Vienna government has a resource distribution map in its hands. It is inevitable that it is not perfect, but it still knows more than the civil government.

Industrial development is inseparable from coal. Coal mines in the African continent are concentrated in South Africa, which is destined to be the place where design mistakes are really needed.

To do this is very simple. It is understandable to give priority to gold mining and smelting and ignore other areas.

...

This kind of covert plan naturally has to be kept secret as much as possible, and the implementation of it naturally falls to the Ministry of Railways.

Inside the Ministry of Railways, Stein, who received this special order, was dumbfounded. This job is not easy to do, and it is clear that you have to be prepared to be scolded.

No matter how well-prepared excuses are, people will still scold the railway designers in the future, and it will be a difficult problem for the people to take the blame.