Volume 3 Chapter 81You think you can harvest it at will?
“Ankhto, take a look, this is the newly developed aluminum tungsten alloy. There’s a bit of Moonweed Flower Dew in this and although it isn’t as hard as pure steel, it is much tougher and has better corrosion resistance. The most important thing is……Give it a try…..”
Ankhto took the silver alloy that had a trace of dark brown on it. The dwarf Porto immediately asked with an excited look, “How is it? Isn’t it light?”
“Un, it’s very light.” Ankhto weighed the alloy in his hand and he couldn’t help nodding, “It seems like there’s a high proportion of aluminum in this. I’m very clear on tungsten, it’s much heavier than iron.”
“What heavy, that’s called density!” Porto looked at Ankhto in disdain, “Didn’t you read the chairman’s newly written «Industrial Material Basic Standards»? You should call this thing dense and not heavy, it doesn’t sound professional.”
Ankhto couldn’t help rolling his eyes. Porto had just asked him if it was light or not and now he’s blaming him for using the word “heavy”.
But when it came to sir chairman’s «Industrial Material Basic Standards» that was published half a month ago, Ankhto had read it as soon as possible and knew that Porto was right, so he couldn’t refute it.
Moreover, Porto and the other dwarves were sent to provide guidance to this non-ferrous metal smelting factory. They had been conducting research in this rich non-ferrous metal vein for several months and now that he had success, it was understandable that he was excited.
“Alright, this aluminum tungsten alloy has a lower density than normal steel alloys and it is tougher with greater corrosion resistance as well. So what are the flaws?” Ankhto thought for a bit before asking.
“If you have to mention flaws, it isn’t hard enough.” Porto gave a sigh as he shook his head, “Look, if there is a tube that has the same thickness as my finger, I can bend it with a bit of strength. It’s much worse than a steel tube.”
Ankhto looked at Porto’s thumb that was twice as large as two of his fingers and thought that if it was like this, the aluminum tungsten alloy should have worse impact resistance compared to steel alloys.
But thinking of the shocking natural strength that dwarves had, Ankhto thought that this shouldn’t be too much of a problem.
After thinking seriously for a bit, Ankhto said, “Then according to this, this material should be suitable for use in outer covers for household magic machines and some internal bracing. As long as they are parts that don’t have too much pressure, they can be used. Right now many household magic machines that our company produces have parts that can’t be replaced with plastic, so we can only use some steel parts for now. This thing will fit perfectly.”
“Hei, hei, we also did this when we used this thing for testing.” Porto cracked a smile before saying, “Right, I found that this thing is quite good for making windows. Look, this thing is stronger than wood and is corrosion resistant, so it can last much longer.”
“Oh? Based on what you said, not just for making windows, there are many places in the house that this thing can be used for.” Ankhto thought for a bit before saying with a nod, “I suddenly feel that this aluminum tungsten alloy has many places where it can be used, at least there are many places it can be used in a normal house. Alright, I’ll report to sir chairman once I head back. I think that he can discuss this with the Amrit Chamber of Commerce, they should need this thing very much.”
“I’ll leave this matter to you, I won’t care.” Porto waved his hand. He suddenly looked around before approaching Ankhto, saying in a low voice with a mysterious look, “Other than this aluminum tungsten alloy, there’s another research project that I need you to bring back to sir chairman.”
Seeing the expression on Porto’s face, Ankhto understood and didn’t say anything as he asked with his gaze.
Porto looked around again before waving his hand at Ankhto. He had him enter an inner room in the non-ferrous metal smelting factory’s research room.
“Come, what do you think of this thing?” After entering the inner room, Porto closed the door and took out a piece of black metal for Ankhto.
Ankhto reached out to take it and felt it sink in his hand, so he quickly reached out his other hand to hold it.
“It’s this heavy…..It’s this dense?” Ankhto looked at the unknown black metal piece in his hand, “What kind of alloy is this?”
“It’s mainly lead, with a small part of tungsten, blended with a bit of iron and zinc.” Porto replied, “This thing is very dense, but it is also incredibly resistant and quite tough. Isn’t the company planning on improving the magic production machines and the agricultural magic machines, but sir chairman, Camby, and the others couldn’t find a strong enough material? I think that this thing will work very well.”
“That isn’t anything special. Sir chairman said that as long as we can get rid of some impurities in the steel alloys, it will meet our requirement. But it’s better if we use this thing that is even better.” Ankto looked at the metal in his hand in thought before asking, “The key question, how much does this thing cost?”
“Cost?” Porto was surprised before revealing an awkward smile, “This is hard to say. Anyway, there’s quite a bit of this material in this vein and I think that since there’s this much here, there should be more in other places.”
“That is hard to say.” Ankhto shook his head and said with a sigh, “It was no wonder sir chairman always valued minerals, it would be good if our company had some non-ferrous metal lodes.”
“I don’t think that it’s that difficult. With us dwarves here, are you afraid that we can’t find metal veins?” Porto asked.
“So what if you can find them? Could it be that you want to mine in the Candra or the Marlow Empires?” Ankhto rolled his eyes at Porto.
Porto was instantly speechless.
The two discussed the recent results of the lab and after Ankhto gave some suggestions in development direction, he left the research lab. After heading back to the factory, he found the manager from the Falcao Chamber of Commerce to give him the order for non-ferrous metals this time.
This was the reason why Ankhto was feeling emotional earlier.
Even if this non-ferrous metal smelting mine had investment from the Frestech Chamber of Commerce and the Falcao Chamber of Commerce, they didn’t have full rights. Even if this mine had all kinds of non-ferrous metals, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce had to buy them through normal channels to use them.
Because of this, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce was very restricted.
For example, the magic research facility and the magic machine development center wanted some pure copper to experiment with, but because copper was used to manufacture copper coins, they were strictly controlled in the Lampuri Kingdom. The Falcao Chamber of Commerce didn’t consider selling it to the Frestech Chamber of Commerce at all.
Other than copper, the non-ferrous metal smelting factory couldn’t follow the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s needs.
Take the household magic machine department that Ankhto was in charge of. Because various household magic machines had newer materials in them, they had a high demand for aluminum and zinc.
But the Falcao Chamber of Commerce insisted on smelting copper, so the output of aluminum and zinc wasn’t high.
The non-ferrous metal smelting factory near the Voller Tribe produced completely to the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s demand, but that place was mainly filled with aluminum and lead. They hadn’t found a single trace of zinc, so they could only obtain zinc from this place.
So Ankhto who never cared about this matter before couldn’t help hoping that the Frestech Chamber of Commerce could control more non-ferrous metal veins, so they wouldn’t be restricted by others.
But since the situation in the Lampuri Kingdom was quite complex, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce couldn’t do anything here. It was impossible for them to obtain several mineral lodes here in a short period of time.
Ankhto and the Falcao Chamber of Commerce’s representative quibbled for a while before he finally got them to promise to mine a bit more zinc.
As for the actual results, only god would know……
A day later, Ankhto watched as chairman Pompeii led the Fersen Carriage Company’s Magic Cars to load up seventeen tons of various non-ferrous metals to bring back to Banta City, then they headed to the Fit Chamber of Commerce.
“The Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s household magic machine department manager?”
The Fit Chamber of Commerce’s Cherno looked at the card Ankhto gave him before looking at his young face. No matter how he looked at Ankhto who didn’t seem to be over thirty years old, he thought that if it wasn’t for a testimony from an old friend like Sarkozy, he never would have believed that such a young person was a department manager from a large company like the Frestech Chamber of Commerce.
“That…..Manager Ankhto, may I ask what business you have with our Fit Chamber of Commerce?” Cherno looked at Ankhto with a vigilant look.
A person representing the Frestech Chamber of Commerce had come to a small company like his that made Magic Fans and Magic Kettles, it made him feel that he didn’t have any good intentions.
Ankhto revealed a faint smile, “Chairman Cherno, I remember that your Fit Chamber of Commerce bought the production methods for the Magic Fan and the Magic Kettle from our company in March and June of last year respectively. You spent a total of sixty three thousand gold coins and seventy two thousand gold coins, right?”
Chairman Cherno narrowed his eyes and his gaze looking at Ankhto became more vigilant.
This fellow had clearly come prepared, it meant that nothing good was coming.
“That’s right, manager Ankhto. What do you want to do raising these things?” Chairman Cherno asked in a cold voice.
Ankhto had the same smile as he said after pausing, “Chairman Cherno, when I visited your factory just now, I found that your company’s Magic Fan and Magic Kettle weren’t perfect, you were missing several models. Since you spent this much money to buy the production methods, are you willing to spend a bit more money to buy all the related technology?”
Chairman Cherno was stunned.
Based on Ankhto’s words, could it be that the Frestech Chamber of Commerce were prepared to release all their information on producing Magic Fans and Magic Kettles?”
Thinking of this possibility, chairman Cherno’s heart couldn’t help beating fast.