"Boss, should we go down? Someone from the ground has sent us a message asking about our destination." Adrian turned around and asked Yang Jing.
Although Papua New Guinea is poor, except for a few large cities that have formal airport control towers, most airports in other places are simple airports without even a control tower. Therefore, when renting a helicopter for flight in Papua New Guinea, there is almost no need to report or apply to the local air traffic control department.
There is also only a simple airport in Porgera, but it is the site of a gold mine after all, and it is jointly controlled by two mining giants, Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton, so there is air traffic control here.
Yang Jing thought for a moment and turned to Guo Xiang and said, "Why don't we go down and take a look? I have never seen how this kind of ore is mined."
Guo Xiang shrugged her shoulders and said indifferently: "Whatever, I can do whatever I want."
So Yang Jing nodded to Adrian, signaling them to fly down and dock.
Looking down from the air, the entire Porgera is divided into two parts, one is the residential area, and the other, which covers a larger area, is the mining area. It is worth mentioning that the mining area is more than 2,300 meters above sea level, but the depth of the huge main mine pit is more than 600 meters. In other words, because of the mine pit, the average altitude of the mining area has been lowered a lot.
Moreover, to the west of the mining area is a mountain with an altitude of more than 3,000 meters. In addition, the largest mine pit has been dug down about 600 to 700 meters, making the mining area look extremely steep.
The residential area is on the east side of the mining area. There are a large number of houses scattered on both sides of a simple road that stretches for several kilometers. Most of these houses are where the miners live. As for the central area of the residential area, a town has been formed.
At first, Chris requested to land in the mining area so that the boss and his team could visit the mining area directly. However, the air traffic control did not agree, so Yang Jing and his team could only land in the north of Porgera Town.
At this time, the rain in the sky has stopped, and the air is filled with thick humidity, which makes people feel very uncomfortable. Fortunately, this place is at a high altitude, and the sun cannot be seen in the gloomy sky, so the temperature is still relatively low, unlike the sauna-like unbearable temperature in most areas below.
The town is very quiet. A road winding from the east turns several times and extends deep into the town.
As a mining expert hired by the company, Liu Zhaoming is very familiar with Papua New Guinea, especially the major mining areas in Papua New Guinea, where he has inspected and visited.
"Mr. Yang, Mr. Guo, this town and the surrounding houses are developed based on the Porgera mining area. It has a population of about 20,000, most of whom are workers in the mining area and their families. This road was built from Mount Hagen and is the national trunk road route of Papua New Guinea."
"Teacher Liu, how come you are so familiar with this place?" Yang Jing was also curious about why this gentle-looking middle-aged man was so familiar with this place.
Liu Zhaoming said: "Actually, two years ago, I came to this mining area with a delegation organized by a certain department in China to investigate for a period of time. At that time, I lived here for more than 20 years, so I am quite familiar with this place. But now two years have passed, and this town doesn't seem to have changed much."
"Oh, Teacher Liu, you have visited here before?" Yang Jing was quite surprised. "Then Teacher Liu, what do you think of this place?"
"Opinion? Haha, what opinion can I have?" Liu Zhaoming smiled and shook his head as he walked. "If I have any opinion, it's because the master is too fond of this country. Just like this gold mine, Mr. Yang, guess what the average grade of gold ore in this mining area is?"
Although Yang Jing does not know much about professional mining knowledge, he is now the major shareholder of Rongbao Mining, so he has learned a lot of mining knowledge on his own in the past two years, and he still understands some basic terms.
"Can it exceed 1 gram/ton?" Yang Jing thought about it and guessed a higher number.
This number is definitely very high for the average grade of a gold mine.
Generally speaking, the industrial grade of gold ore is 03-05 g/ton, that is, if the gold content in the ore reaches 03-05 g/ton, the ore can be mined and beneficiated, and profits will be generated. With the development of beneficiation technology or the increase in the price of mineral products, the minimum industrial grade of ore will be reduced.
At present, the average grade of many gold mines in China is just barely able to reach the standard of 0.3 grams per ton, while the average grade of some famous large gold mines in the world is mostly below 1 gram per ton. For example, the Grasberg copper-gold mine, which is also located on Irian Island and is less than 700 kilometers away from the Porgera gold mine, has an average grade of only 0.703 grams per ton.
The Olympic Dam uranium-copper-gold mine in Australia, which ranks second in the world in terms of gold reserves, has an average gold ore grade of only 0.328 g/ton.
In addition, the world's third-ranked copper-gold mine, the Fibo Mine in Alaska, USA, has an average gold ore grade of only 0.35 grams per ton.
However, the three largest mines in the world are all multi-metal associated ores, and gold ore is only one of them. Even though the gold reserves of these large mines are more than 2,500 tons, gold is only one of the outputs of these mines. These mines also have other associated ores such as silver, copper, and molybdenum.
But even so, the average grade of gold ore in this associated mineral can exceed 0.3 g/ton, which is definitely very good.
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