Chapter 876

Jian Qiu chuckled softly and dotingly rubbed Lao Si's hair: "She's still small, she'll be fine when she's a bit older."

"Go out and play, don't wake up your little niece." Yuan Liying pulled the reluctant Lao Si out.

Zhou Andong saw that the time was about right, grabbed the phone, and dialed the Zhenxing Village Brigade Headquarters again.

It was answered after just two rings, and Yuan Hongzhan's voice came through.

"Arrived in the capital?"

"Arrived last night." Zhou Andong asked: "How is the case, any progress? And the limestone mine, what did the county say?"

"I called the number you left yesterday noon, no one answered, so I knew you hadn't gone back yet, and I was just preparing to call tonight."

Yuan Hongzhan had been so busy these past few days that his feet hadn't touched the ground. Taking over three coal mines, especially the limestone mine, was too complicated; there were too many things inside, and it was hard to straighten them out in a short while.

The most important thing was that there were no usable people on hand. Most of the management of the limestone mine had been arrested, and the few small cats and dogs left—putting ability aside—were mainly untrustworthy.

Fortunately, Zhi Wanshan, Wang Yumin, and Zengli Coal Mine had left behind a few people who were still usable, all of whom were moved to the limestone mine by Yuan Hongzhan. Coupled with Yuan Ying, they had barely managed to set up the stall.

"The day before yesterday, County Magistrate Hong came to find me personally, hoping that we would re-sign the contract with the county. The conditions remain unchanged, still a fifty-year contracting right, with an annual mining volume of 3.5 to 4.5 million tons."

Zhou Andong smiled: "Hong Xinmin is quite bold. According to the agreement and investment ratio we signed with Yuan Hongbiao, the county recovering the shares in Yuan Hongbiao's hands could be sold for a quite good price.

But if we re-sign the contract, the investment agreement we signed with Yuan Hongbiao would definitely be invalid. In this way, their losses would not be small."

"Understandable!" Yuan Hongzhan said: "After all, the contract signed between Yuan Hongbiao and the county involved interest transfer. Hong Xinmin asking to re-sign the contract is also avoiding risks, which is good for both of us."

"That's true!" Zhou Andong agreed with Yuan Hongzhan's words.

"There is one more thing." Yuan Hongzhan's tone was somewhat excited: "The management of the county cement plant, from top to bottom, has also been wiped out in one fell swoop."

"This was already within my expectations."

Zhou Andong had indeed thought that the county cement plant might also have big problems, because with ore supplying the county cement plant, there was too much room for maneuvering in the purchase and sales dealings between the two sides.

For example, the ore price; as long as it was 20% higher than the market, it would be an astronomical figure over the years, and being 20% higher wasn't too outrageous.

Because ore quality is also divided into good and bad, if there really were an investigation, a sentence like "the calcium oxide content of the Guzhen ore is high" could completely brush it off.

"It really opened my eyes, I have to admire their means of making money." Yuan Hongzhan sighed, "Ever since Yuan Hongbiao got the mine, the county cement plant signed a twenty-year procurement contract with him.

Actually, this is also normal, but what's not normal is that the limestone mine's annual mining volume is 800,000 tons, while the county cement plant's annual output is only a little over 100,000 tons, which simply cannot digest so much ore.

But the cement plant signed an 800,000-ton annual procurement contract and prepaid five years of procurement funds to Yuan Hongbiao, and also agreed in the contract that the ore price would increase by 5% annually."

Zhou Andong smiled: "This 5% annual increase is the kickback for the cement plant leadership, right?"

"Right!" Yuan Hongzhan cursed: "The county cement plant looked prosperous, but the money earned, through such operations, all went into their own pockets, damn it."

Zhou Andong also sighed. With the marketization of real estate, coupled with the introduction of the pre-sale permit system next year, the era of large-scale construction across the country is about to begin.

In less than three years, the price of limestone will skyrocket, and the price of cement will naturally take off as well. If Yuan Hongbiao hadn't been arrested this time, then the cement plant leadership's operation would definitely have been far-sighted and visionary.

Why? A cement plant with an annual output of over 100,000 tons buying 800,000 tons of ore every year is because the cement plant leadership saw that ore would rise sharply in the future, so they bought and stored it in advance.

As for the 5% annual increase, it couldn't keep up with the market price growth. So, those cement plant leaders were just too unlucky to run into a troublemaker like Zhou Andong.

Yuan Hongzhan continued: "Hong Xinmin hopes we will take over the county cement plant."

This time Zhou Andong was truly surprised: "Even if the cement plant has problems, as long as you find a good person to manage it, profitability is not a problem, why do they want to sell it to us?"

Yuan Hongzhan said with a smile: "If the county keeps the cement plant, it has to compete with us, and Hong Xinmin and other county leaders have no confidence at all. They thought that if it ended up being driven to bankruptcy by us, it would be better to sell it to us while taking this opportunity."

Zhou Andong laughed loudly; bankruptcy is impossible, because in the future, cement and steel will become the most sought-after materials.

Of course, he wouldn't say such things. Since Hong Xinmin wants to sell, he naturally won't refuse.

"Have you asked how much it costs to build a cement production line with an annual output of one million tons?"

Yuan Hongzhan said: "Our county cement plant was built in '84, it's a dry-process rotary kiln production line with an annual output of 150,000 tons, and the investment at that time was 12 million."

Zhou Andong knocked on his head: "Damn, if you build a production line with an annual output of one million tons, wouldn't it cost two or three hundred million?"

"I asked a friend in the related industry, he said the dry-process rotary kiln production line is too old. Japan has the most advanced new dry-process production line, but the price is too expensive."

Zhou Andong asked: "How much?"

Yuan Hongzhan said without any confidence: "If imported as a complete set, a production line with a daily output of 4,000 tons would require an investment of about 1.5 billion. A production line with a daily output of 2,000 tons would cost about 700 million."

"Damn little devils." Zhou Andong cursed with hatred, "Selling a cement production line for so much money."

"No way!" Yuan Hongzhan sighed, "Who told us we can't manufacture it ourselves."

Zhou Andong pondered for a moment: "Okay, then we'll build a production line with a daily output of 4,000 tons."

Yuan Hongzhan hesitated: "A daily output of 4,000 tons means an annual output of over 1.4 million tons, can the market digest it?"

"Yes!" Zhou Andong said with a very firm tone: "You prepare for the factory construction now, I'll arrange for people to go to Japan to negotiate."

Buying a production line now, the price might still be negotiated down a bit. If it's three or four years later, the price of cement will skyrocket, and with the cunning and greed of the little devils, let alone 1.5 billion, if you could buy it for 2 billion, it would be considered the little devils being merciful.

"Okay!"

Since Zhou Andong has decided, Yuan Hongzhan naturally won't object.

"Also, regarding the mine accident compensation issue, I asked Boss Zhi, there is no accurate compensation standard in the policy. Generally, it's a few thousand yuan, what standard should we use for compensation?"