50s: Starting with a storage ring

Chapter 721 Generous Gift
The 3600 million tons of gold ore is enough to mine for decades, making it a real goldmine for Sanmen City.

A super-large gold mine brings more than just the profits from the gold itself.

The subsequent development, smelting, sales, and related investments in this gold mine will generate enough revenue to drive the rapid development of the mining industry and the surrounding economy in the entire Sanmen area.

Subsequently, Sun Zhiwei informed Zhou Zhenhai, the head of the inspection team, of the detailed address and information of the mine.

He then instructed Zhou Zhenhai to present this information as a gift to Feng Zhiyuan, the current mayor of Sanmen City.

The reason why the police force in Sanmen City was able to mobilize in large numbers within a few hours this time is closely related to Mayor Feng's strong opposition.

Sun Zhiwei is generous in repaying those who show him kindness and offer help a thousandfold.

Therefore, regardless of the delegation's subsequent inspection results and investment intentions in Sanmen City, sending out this large piece of the pie first is also a way for him to support Mayor Feng.

A few days later, Mayor Feng Zhiyuan led the entire city hall team to hold the first meeting with the Guotai Investment delegation.

After everyone introduced themselves, Mayor Feng was supposed to give a speech, introducing the basic situation of Sanmen City.

But when Mayor Feng walked onto the stage to speak, the head of the delegation, Zhou Zhenhai, suddenly stood up and interrupted him.

Zhou Zhenhai first apologized to Mayor Feng and the others, and then took out an envelope from his briefcase.

"Distinguished leaders, when one of our employees had an accident, Mayor Feng and other leaders provided us with a great deal of assistance."

"Our colleague has now been successfully rescued. Mr. James, a director of the company, is very grateful for the care and concern shown by Mayor Feng and leaders at all levels in Sanmen City."

"Therefore, he specially entrusted me to bring a gift of thanks to Mayor Feng and Sanmen City."

As he spoke, Zhou Zhenhai held up the envelope in his hand, gesturing to the leaders of Sanmen City present, before continuing:

"This contains a message that records the address and information of a giant, undiscovered gold mine within the territory of Sanmen City."

As soon as he said that, the room fell silent for a moment, then erupted in a buzz of excitement.

Everyone present stared at Zhou Zhenhai in disbelief, but Zhou Zhenhai calmly continued:

"The information about this gold mine is Mr. James's way of expressing his gratitude to Mayor Feng and all the leaders for their strong support."

"Director James estimates that the gold reserves of this giant gold mine exceed $17 billion."

After speaking, Zhou Zhenhai handed the envelope to Mayor Feng, who was stunned on the stage.

Once the figure of 'US$17 billion' was announced, the scene became uncontrollable, and many people wanted to see the envelope in Zhou Zhenhai's hand with their own eyes.

When Zhou Zhenhai handed Mayor Feng an envelope containing information about a giant gold mine in front of the city government officials, everyone present was stunned by the Guotai Group's extravagant gesture.

Mayor Feng was filled with mixed emotions as he held the envelope in his hand. Although he had decided to place his bets on Guotai, he never expected the returns to come so quickly.

Although the news has not yet been confirmed, as the head of the Cathay Bank delegation, he had no need, nor was it possible, to provide false information to the Sanmen City Hall.

$17 billion is equivalent to 58.7 billion yuan at the current official exchange rate of 3.4528.

As the mayor in charge, he was very clear about the economic situation of Sanmen City.

The GDP of Sanmen City last year was only 12.9 billion yuan. It would take the entire population of Sanmen City four and a half years of not eating or drinking to equal the value of this one mine.

If calculated at the black market exchange rate, it would be equivalent to 10 years' income for three stores. This thin piece of paper felt incredibly heavy; it was burning his hands, but he was also very clear about the value it contained, which made it impossible for him to refuse.

It seems that the entire leadership team can only offer as much support as possible for Cathay Bank's investments in Sanmen City in the future, Mayor Feng thought to himself.

Having served as a people-friendly official for so many years and always been honest and upright, this was the first time he had experienced what it felt like to be beholden to those who accept bribes.

Not only him, but the entire Sanmen municipal leadership team is now extremely satisfied with Sun Zhiwei's gift.

The next day, the city dispatched its best personnel to the location marked on the envelope to explore the mineral vein.

Two days later, the first exploratory hole was drilled, and gold ore samples were delivered to Mayor Feng's desk that same day.

Mayor Feng brought the ore samples and immediately convened a meeting of the entire leadership team.

Looking at the gold ore scattered across the conference table, shimmering with golden light, the entire leadership team was thrilled.

By this time, Sun Zhiwei had already left Sanmen City and returned to Hong Kong Island.

When news of the confirmed mineral vein came back from Zhou Zhenhai, Sun Zhiwei was not surprised at all.

This was something he witnessed firsthand using his spatial abilities, and it was corroborated by information from later generations; how could something unexpected have happened?

He was not surprised by the attention and gratitude shown by the Sanmen City Government.

Although the mine was originally there and didn't belong to him, providing accurate and effective resource information is still invaluable.

There are plenty of mineral resources buried underground, but unexplored resources are as good as non-existent.

Anyone in charge at the Sanmen City Hall who is clear-headed will understand the logic behind this and will inevitably have to accept his favor.

This information is far more valuable than any hundred police dispatches they've made.

The reason Sun Zhiwei gave Mayor Feng the information about the gold mine for free was not only because he happened to have the information about the gold mine, but also because he wanted to show it to outsiders.

Once the news spreads, Cathay's reputation will be built up naturally, and its image of reciprocating kindness will be deeply ingrained in people's minds.

A good reputation is very important for a company, especially in a society like China where personal connections matter.

This positive reputation will greatly benefit Sun Zhiwei's business if he wants to expand into the mainland market in the future.

He was never worried that Sanmen City would take his gold mine for free; his Cathay Bank was no ordinary foreign-funded enterprise.

As early as the beginning of the reform and opening up, when many overseas Chinese and foreign investors were still observing, Sun Zhiwei instructed Cheng Damin, the then president of Cathay Pacific, to take the lead in opening branches in the mainland.

This pioneering attitude greatly influenced the Chinese capital that was generally hesitant at the time, and encouraged many overseas Chinese to put aside their concerns and set up factories in the mainland.

In recent years, the Guotai branch of Shenzhen Bank has provided hundreds of millions of yuan in loans to companies that have ventured into the domestic market, effectively supporting the development of joint ventures in mainland China.

Especially in the cooperation with the four major banks in the foreign exchange field, the four major banks often have to borrow US dollar positions from Cathay Pacific.

Cathay Bank is currently the only foreign bank that allows foreign exchange to be exchanged in China.

The risks involved in opening up free exchange between a regional currency and the US dollar are something that people in the banking industry cannot be unaware of.

(End of this chapter)