1850 American Gold Tycoon

Deng Wenkang discovered mercury, to be precise, he discovered it with an Irish immigrant named James G. Fair. Google search reading

Mercury mineral deposits were discovered in the New Almaden area, the New Edley area, and the Sulfur Flats area.

In addition, they also discovered a new gold vein near the Bell River, 160 kilometers northeast of San Francisco!

Deng Wenkang rushed to San Francisco overnight to tell Liang Yao the exciting news while he was still sleeping.

After learning that the mercury mine was finally discovered, Liang Yao lost all sleep in an instant and climbed out of bed very excitedly.

As early as more than three months ago, he sent people to search for mercury mines, and now it finally paid off.

He valued mercury mines more than gold mines, and he was willing to use part of the shares of Xiangshan Gold Mining Company to cooperate with Vanderbilt.

And mercury, that is, mercury, he wants to monopolize! He will never allow anyone to get their hands on California's mercury!

The reason why California is a gold mining mecca is not only because it has abundant reserves of gold, but also because it also has abundant reserves of mercury, which is rarer than gold.

At present, the main gold mining method used in California is to pan for gold in a washing trough or a gold pan. Although the washing trough greatly improves the efficiency of gold mining, in the end it still uses water power and manpower, and it is not even mechanized.

Even the largest Xiangshan Gold Mining Company has bigger and more washing tanks and more manpower. They win based entirely on scale, not technology.

With mercury, he could use chemical methods, namely the mercury-gold separation method, to pan out gold.

This method is also very simple. Add liquid mercury to the base of the gold mining machine, and then pour the gold sand mud into it.

Due to its chemical properties, even the smallest gold can combine with mercury to form mercury gold.

This means that poor ores can also be effectively washed and gold can be extracted from them.

It's just that mercury gold is not 100% pure gold. If you want to get higher purity gold, you need to further purify it.

The method for further purification is also very simple and crude, that is, directly heating the mercury gold to directly vaporize the mercury.

However, this method pollutes the environment. Even if equipment can be used to capture part of the mercury vapor, a lot of the vapor will still enter the atmosphere directly. But environmental protection is not an issue that Liang Yao needs to consider now.

This simple gold mining method has existed since ancient times and is not technically difficult. The bottleneck is not technology but raw materials.

As long as mercury is mastered, other gold mining companies that want to use this method to mine gold will have no choice but to exchange gold for mercury.

After all, rich mines are relatively rare. Except for a few lucky people, most people can only pan for gold in poor mines.

Mercury can greatly improve the efficiency of extracting gold from poor ores.

"How many mineral veins were discovered?"

Liang Yao walked to the study and lit the whale oil lamp. It was four o'clock in the morning and it was still dark. He needed lighting to see the map clearly.

"Fair."

Deng Wenkang called Feier's name. He couldn't be called smart, but he couldn't be called stupid.

In the past six months, I have been interacting with foreigners every day in the mine. Although I am not very fluent in English, I can still have simple conversations and exchanges without any problem.

"Mr. Liang, the discovery of the mercury mine is entirely due to your perseverance and courage. If it were others who had not found the mercury mine for so long, they would have given up halfway."

Fair made thirteen marks on the map with a pencil.

These mercury mines that have been discovered do not belong to Liang Yao except for the land ownership in the Sulfur Flats area.

The remaining two places: New Almaden area and New Edry area are within the scope of the land he purchased.

He only needs to investigate whether the Sulfur Flats area is unowned or owned. If it is owned, he can buy it with some gold.

If it is an ownerless land, it would be easier to just send someone to stand on the land, build a house and start mining on the spot, and the land will belong to him. What America lacks is people, but it has plenty of land.

"These places are rich in mercury, but we can only see it roughly on the map. We also accidentally discovered a gold vein near the Bear River. Although it is not a rich mine, the gold reserves are also very considerable."

After saying that, Feier looked at Liang Yao expectantly, as if he was expecting something.

Liang Yao knew what Feier was looking forward to. The Deng brothers had dividends from shares in Xiangshan Mining Company, and the bounty for discovering the mercury mine was insignificant to Deng Wenkang.

And Feier is just a poor gold prospector, but compared with other gold prospectors, Feier is proficient in geology and good at finding mineral veins.

"I will keep my promise."

As he spoke, Liang Yao took out a money order from the China Bank.

"Mr. Liang, I don't want a bounty of 300 ounces of gold."

Feier took courage and said.

"If you don't want gold, what do you want?"

Liang Yao frowned slightly, if he didn't want gold, then he wanted more.

"I want a loan from China Bank, but I have nothing now and can't pledge anything to get a loan from the bank. I want to set up a small mining company to pan for gold."

Fair spoke his mind.

Liang Yao was quite impressed by the Irish descendant in front of him. He tore up the half-filled money order, crumpled it into a ball, and threw it into the trash can.

"What loan amount do you want? As long as the amount is reasonable, I can guarantee a loan from the bank for you."

Fair thought for a long time and gave a number: "Sir, is fifty thousand dollars okay?"

Converting US$50,000 into gold is equivalent to more than 1,600 ounces of gold.

This loan amount obviously exceeded Liang Yao's psychological expectations. Although he was the richest man in California and even the West, $50,000 was not a small amount for him.

This Irish boy's ambitions are quite big.

"A loan of US$50,000 is more than enough to establish a medium-sized mining company."

"gentlemen"

Feir hurriedly explained to Liang Yao.

Liang Yao raised his hand to interrupt Feier's explanation: "Let's do this. I will guarantee a loan of US$25,000 to China Bank for you, and in order to give you a lower interest rate, I will invest in your company in my own name for the remaining US$25,000." company."

"Really? That's great sir!"

Fehr was very excited. He finally raised his first pot of gold, established a mining company of his own, and was able to flex his muscles in California, a place full of gold.

As for Liang Yao's investment, that was exactly what he wanted. His company has Liang Yao's shares, and other gold mining companies and gold diggers will definitely not dare to have any inappropriate ideas. This can reduce a lot of trouble for him.

"Fair is proficient in mining exploration. This person will be of great use. Why doesn't Big Dragon Head keep him in our company?"

After Feier left, Deng Wenkang felt very sorry. During these days of searching for mercury mines with Fer, he learned a lot from Fer.

"The person who can keep him can't keep his heart. Although the strong melon quenches thirst, it is not sweet."

Feier is not a person who can stay under others for a long time. Since he has his own ideas, let him go. "

Liang Yao didn't want to force anyone into trouble, so he looked at the clock on the wall. At this time, Dongfang Lu was white, and he was no longer sleepy.

As usual, the crowing of roosters sounded in the early morning, and at the same time, Nick's screams were heard.

The first thing Vanderbilt did when he woke up was to beat his son. Although he drank some wine last night, the story of Coney's failure to return from whoring was still on his mind.

Liang Yao didn't bother to intervene in Vanderbilt's own housework. He just pretended that he didn't hear anything and continued working at his desk to deal with some trivial matters.

After teaching Coney a lesson, Vanderbilt handed Clark, who had just woken up, into the pavilion.

Clark looked at Vanderbilt in horror. He was Vanderbilt's son-in-law, barely half Vanderbilt's son.

Vanderbilt dared to teach Coney a lesson, but he may not dare to teach him a lesson.

Clark thought carefully about whether he had done anything wrong recently.

"Clark, I think there's something I need to talk to you about. Sit down and relax."

Vanderbilt sat down in the gazebo and relaxed his muscles.

"Father-in-law, you said"

Clark subconsciously sat down some distance from Vanderbilt.

"I know that you have made a lot of contributions to the Vanderbilt family and spent a lot of thought on Brannan." Vanderbilt said.

"I see all of this and record it in my notebook, but Brannan is dead. We must move forward. I don't want you to be swayed by emotions and lose your rational judgment. Do you understand?"

It turned out to be this, Clark breathed a sigh of relief, it turned out to be this.

"I understand, father-in-law."

Vanderbilt nodded very kindly: "Very good, you are a very capable person, I believe I will not make a mistake. Please remember, if you want to be a successful businessman, you need to stay calm and rational at all times."