<h4>Chapter 863: Let’s Buy an Ind</h4>


    Trantor: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio


    After a search, Li Du signaled Hans to leave. The little bug had reached its limit, and as he continued to explore, he found himself on the top of the reef, which was very dangerous. There were quite a few sea snakes around the reef.


    Looking at the sea snakes, Li Du suddenly remembered the scene when he saw a group of snakes near the underground opal mine in Lightning Ridge. Maybe the local legend was true, and there was a rtionship between snakes and ck opal!


    Li Du wondered about the connection between the two. If there were also a lot of snakes on the ind, could that mean there was also a gem vein there, especially where the snakes congregated? Why did they gather there? Maybe there were gems in the area, too?


    With a series of questions in mind, he got out of the water, took off his diving suit, and changed into dry clothes that Sophie had brought.


    “Did you see that? Is that ck opal?” asked Hans.


    Li Du nodded and said, “Yes, if my eyes are right, you found a natural ck opal. I’m guessing there should be an opal vein there.”


    Hearing this, Hans got excited and asked, “What does this mean? Dude, we’re rich! We’re going to be rich, right?”


    There was no need to hide this information from Hans. After all, Hans was the one who had contacted Li Du after he found ck opal, so Li Du said, “If the gem vein exists and can be excavated, of course, we will be rich. But you have to realize the problem, you know? It won’t be easy to dig.”


    Hans said, “Who cares? As long as we find the ck opal vein, it is the same as owning a hill of gold.”


    Li Du felt the same way. It was much harder to find ck opal than to mine it. They had found the gem, so that was more than half the battle. All this was done on the premise that he had a little bug for gemstone positioning. Otherwise, seabed mining was just a dream.


    He had to tell Hans the truth and said, “ck opal veins are not usually very widespread. I think it is way under the sea, and it will be difficult to mine underwater.”


    After a frenzy of excitement, Hans calmed down and finally understood the difficulty of seabed mining. Li Du told him that mining ck opal was difficult because it was encased in raw stone, and that it was rare to see such gems exposed.


    “First we have to break rocks under the sea, and then we have to bring them on the ind and smash them up to search for the gems. We also have to think about the weather and the water temperature. We have to protect the environment. We have to get rid of the snakes. There are a lot of problems.”


    Hans was now sad. He sat down and said, “What shall we do?”


    Optimism was good, but the problem was not solved. They discussed it. Li Du went on to tell him about the difficulty of digging ck opal on the seabed. ck gold abalone was actually out on the rocks, so it was rtively easy to find. Although the price of ck opal was high, it was difficult to mine.


    Li Du told Hans about the distribution of ck opal. Even when it was in a vein, it often required hundreds of cubic meters of ore to find a small piece. It was not hard to mine hundreds of cubic meters of ore onnd, but doing so underwater? Conventional crushers couldn’t be used, and diggers and the like were even less likely to be useful.


    Seeing the problem, Hans became disenchanted and said, “Forget it, d*mn it. I’ll just look for my ck gold abalone.”


    “There are many problems, but there are many solutions,” Li Du said. “The most important thing now is to buy this ind and upy these gem mines. As for mining, let’s take it slow,” he added.


    This startled Hans. “Buy an ind? Man, do you know how much it costs?! How many gems can you get out of this vein? And you have to buy the whole ind first?”


    Li Du knew that the veins there were very rich, but they would be difficult to develop. “Let’s see what the ind is selling for. If we can afford it, we’ll buy it,” said Li Du.


    There were many inds in Australia. Ind trading was just like real estate trading, but of course, it was more difficult. Since he was nning to buy the ind, Li Du had to study the topic and learn all about it.


    A number of small inds had been put up for sale in Australia with prices ranging from 5,500 Australian dors to 130,000,000 Australian dors. The $5,500 ind was about 1,500 square meters in an indke. It had a neighbor for sale for $19,000 and also had a small house. The price was so low that many people could buy it for a month’s sry, but hardly anyone actually did.


    The $130,000,000 private ind was about 250 square kilometers and had luxury vis, swimming pools, docks, and other facilities. Regardless of the price, Li Du was confident just by looking at the transaction information about the inds. There were quite a few people buying inds around the world, such as the actor who yed the famous pirate captain, Johnny Depp. In 2005, after filming Pirates of the Caribbean 2, Johnny Depp announced that he and his family had moved to the Bahamas, where the movie had been filmed.


    Depp’s private ind, named Little Holton, was 45 acres, with six private beaches, a private port, a vi, and backup generators. ess to the ind depended on small boats, helicopters, and seanes.


    One of the most famous private inders was the world’s master magician, David Copperfield, who spent $65,000,000 on four tiny inds in the southern Bahamas called the Exuma Inds. It was now a vacation spot for the wealthiest and the stars, with a weekly rent of more than $300,000.


    Seagull Ind belonged to Tasmania’s state government, and the purchase of the ind must first be approved by the state government. After that, it must then approved by thend bureau, environmental protection bureau, tax bureau, and even the ministry of defense.


    Having carefully studied the policies and procedures for buying inds in Australia, Hans asked, “Do you really want to buy this ind? What if there are no gems under it?”


    “Then we’ll make this ce into a holiday resort. It will be very beautiful to bring your family for the holidays every spring, summer, and fall,” said Li Du easily.


    Hans gave a thumbs up and said, “You are amazing, buddy. I don’t have that much money to risk with you, I quit.”


    Li Du smiled and said, “No, I will not treat you unfairly. If there is gemstone output here, I will give you a 10%mission every year.”