500,000 square kiloters—about the size of France.
However, Hardy was still sowhat dissatisfied.
He had already prepared the funds, but the other party had suddenly changed their mind. Hardy and Andy imdiately led a team to Australia.
In Perth, they t with Governor McGowan again.
McGowan shrugged helplessly. "Honestly, I would like to sell you the land, but the parliant didn't approve the full amount. They argued that if your developnt failed, it wouldn't benefit Western Australia. They need to retain so land to attract other investors."
"Is there no way to change this?" Hardy asked.
"I'm afraid it would be difficult. I can submit the proposal to parliant again, but the process could take a long ti, and the outco might not be what you hope for," McGowan replied.
Hardy shrugged.
"Fine, 500,000 square kiloters it is. Can I at least choose the land?" Hardy asked.
"Of course. You can choose from any green marked areas on the map, as long as the total area doesn't exceed the limit."
The state land departnt provided a thick set of maps, totaling over a dozen pages. These maps were incredibly detailed, showing village nas, marked mountains, lakes, and other geographic features.
Hardy didn't let anyone else assist him. He spent three full days in his room studying the maps. What was he studying?
Since his rebirth, Hardy's mory had beco extraordinarily sharp. He could recall books, magazines, and news from his previous life with great clarity. Over these three days, Hardy cross-referenced his knowledge of Australia's mining industry with the maps.
And sure enough,
He found many useful details.
At that ti, Australia had a population of around 7.5 million, and Western Australia was sparsely populated, with about 800,000 people, most of whom lived around Perth. Outside of Perth, the rest of the region was mostly wilderness and desert.
In the 1940s and 1950s, Australia's economy relied heavily on sheep farming. It was the world's largest producer and exporter of wool, earning the nickna "The Country on the Sheep's Back." However, to the Europeans and Aricans, Australia was seen as an undeveloped and backward place, often referred to as "Dirt Australia."
It wasn't until after World War II that the mining industry began to rise, gradually becoming a pillar of Australia's economy. Large mining companies started moving in, and Australia beca a major mining nation. In the future, over 60% of Aisia imported iron ore would co from Australia.
As Hardy looked at the nas on the map, mories surfaced. Pilbara and the Harsley Basin that area seed to be a major iron ore production zone.
He drew a circle.
The Mid West region also seed to be an iron ore production zone.
Broo that na sounded familiar. It seed to have nickel mines. Another circle.
Gold Bay this place seed to have gold mines too. Another circle.
Shark Bay there seed to be an oil field along the coast in the future. Another circle.
Here, copper mines. There, iron mines.
Since they were restricting him, Hardy decided to play smart. He only chose areas he had heard of for their mineral resources. As for the places he hadn't heard of, they probably didn't have much left.
People often say: "Whatever's left after others have picked through it won't be much good."
And so, Hardy circled several large and small areas on the maps. After three days, when he erged from his room, he had lost weight—two pounds, all in the na of making money.
He handed the maps to Andy. "Buy the areas I've circled. Make sure it adds up to 500,000 square kiloters. As for the price, I'll leave that to you."
"No problem, boss."
With the locations selected, the rest was simple. Ultimately, Hardy Mining acquired 50 million hectares of land in Western Australia for $220 million. All the land, including the mineral resources underground, now belonged to Hardy Mining.
Originally, Hardy had taken out a loan of $450 million by mortgaging various assets.
Surprisingly, half of it was still left. Returning it wasn't an option since the contracts were already signed. Now that he had the money in hand, Hardy wasn't worried about finding places to spend it. The world was big, and there were countless places to invest in. Next, he planned to head to the UK to see if there were any industries worth investing in.
However, with the Labour Party nationalizing many industries, he wasn't sure what would be left.
After the UK, Hardy wanted to take a trip to Hong Kong.
Then, he'd head to Japan, which was still struggling to recover. Now was the perfect ti to buy up big businesses and banks at rock bottom prices.
Hardy certainly wasn't going there to offer economic aid. Whether in his previous life or this one, Hardy had no fondness for Japan, so he felt even more inclined to make the trip.
Back in Los Angeles.
After completing the land acquisition, Hardy and his team returned to Los Angeles. A few days later, Hardy Mining announced that it had spent $450 million to purchase 50 million hectares of land in Western Australia, with plans to develop its mineral resources. They believed there were more untapped resources waiting to be discovered on the land.
The announcent shocked many investors. Spending $220 million on a pile of useless land caused Hardy Mining's stock price to drop instead of rise.
Why? Because many people didn't believe in the potential of Western Australia.
$220 million was an enormous sum, and even though the land was vast, people still felt it wasn't worth the price.
Hardy wasn't concerned about the falling stock price after all, everything had been mortgaged to the bank.
...
Hardy Mining allocated $50 million for the developnt of the gold mines. The Kaiser Group, part of the California consortium, had its own mining company and also sold mining equipnt. Hardy Mining began collaborating with the Kaiser Group, purchasing equipnt and seeking their assistance in mining.
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