My Italy

While Antonio was thinking about the Dutch next door, a piece of good news in Rome also spread among the government.

The news that a large iron ore has been discovered in Libya has been confirmed by professional explorers to be true. Moreover, the iron ore in Sabha is more than 100 million tons and has a mineable reserve of 380 million tons. Why is this not excellent news for Italy?

Of course, the discovery of this large iron mine is not just good news. It is located in the hinterland next to the desert and nearly 500 kilometers away from the coast. The transportation link is not easy.

There are also different opinions within the government on whether to mine it. The main reason is still the issue of cost, because according to the opinions of experts from the Ministry of Transport, if you want to mine this iron mine, you must build a nearly 800-kilometer-long load-carrying railway.

The construction of such a long railway will be a huge investment for Italy. In particular, desert railway maintenance costs are high, which will also push up the selling price of iron ore. Although open-pit mining also has the advantage of lower costs, according to professional estimates, the price of iron ore that eventually reaches the mainland will not be higher than that purchased from Germany. The price of iron ore is too low, only 15% lower at most.

After working so hard and spending so much money, we can only achieve this in terms of price. It is normal for many people to have different opinions on this.

Because it is very simple. The cost of building a standard-gauge load-carrying railway across the desert for 800 kilometers is between 90 million and 130 million lire. Why is the gap so big? It mainly includes the railway and sand prevention forests on both sides. In addition, because it is located in a desert terrain, annual maintenance costs will be higher than other railways, requiring at least 6 million lire per year.

Taking into account the current load capacity of trains, one heavy-load train can now pull up to 400 tons of cargo. Calculating three trains per hour, it is only 14,000 tons per day. Of course, this is an ideal state. Being able to ship 10,000 tons of cargo every day is considered very good and can be regarded as a model for Italian railway operations. Due to maintenance and other reasons, load-carrying railways simply cannot carry such a large volume unless they are double-tracked, but this will further push up the cost of railway construction.

With the goal of transporting three million tons of iron ore per year on this railway, the railway transportation cost per ton of ore alone will cost 5.1-5.8 lire (locomotive maintenance, coal burning and other expenses).

If you add shipping, loading and unloading, mining and other costs, it will directly push up to about 38 lire per ton. The current average price of iron ore purchased by Italy from abroad is 42 lire. Take the same type of Luxembourg Class II iron ore in Sebha Take iron ore as an example, the price per meal is 42.8 lire.

"This saves 4.8 lire per ton, which is only more than 14 million lire for three million tons per year. After deducting the investment in railway construction and iron ore mining, it will basically take 20 years to recover the investment."

Of course, he didn't say a word. By that time, the railway would have to be renovated, and in fact it would not make any money at all.

In the palace, Carlo, who had just returned from his honeymoon, listened to the Prime Minister's report on the costs and benefits of iron ore mining.

After the Prime Minister finished speaking, Carlo spoke. "Indeed, this return on investment is too low, but the government cannot rely on return on investment as the main basis. The mining of Sabha iron ore will have a huge promotion effect on the development of Villa. And it will also provide local data Thousands of jobs can benefit at least tens of thousands of people, which your government also needs to consider. "

Yes, in Carlo's view, the emergence of the Sebha Iron Mine is simply a natural fit for the development of southern Italy. With the coal mines in Kosovo and the iron ore mines in Libya, at least the industrial foundation of southern Italy is already in place.

With the emergence of heavy industry, although the development of southern Italy cannot be said to catch up with that of the north, it will not be too far behind. Capital is all about profit, and they will very consciously invest around the steel industry. After all, every copper plate is worth counting.

And those who only know how to calculate rewards are simply short-sighted people who have no overall perspective at all. They have no idea what this means for Italy. At least Italy will not be choked by raw materials for the steel industry.

Although there was no embargo at all in this era, the influence of later generations' thinking made Carlo not want Italy to be in any danger of being stuck.

"It is precisely because of knowing this that the veteran pushed hard for the government to develop iron ore in Libya. We cannot always rely on foreign iron ore to develop the steel industry, even from allies."

Prime Minister Despretis had already anticipated Carlo's words. After many years of getting along with him, he knew the king's thoughts. It can be said that compared with other countries, this monarch is the most concerned about the development of the kingdom.

Of course, he is also a strong monarch, but at present, it seems that a strong monarch is still very beneficial to the development of Italy and can speed up the processing of various affairs. And most of the decisions Carlo made turned out to be correct. This is important because if a monarch makes a mistake, the consequences can be dire.

The Prime Minister's answer made Carlo very satisfied. The cost of purchasing raw materials in Italy is huge every year. Since there are resources in the country, why not use them? At least they can stimulate employment and develop the domestic economy.

"So where did your government choose the location of the steel plant?"

Now Carlo is concerned about another issue, that is, the location of the steel plant. This issue is equally important because it can directly provide thousands of jobs for the city where it is located, and it can also promote the development of the city. As for the environmental problem that will be a major issue in later generations, this era in which national strength is measured by steel does not exist at all.

Faced with Carlo's inquiry, Prime Minister Despretis said immediately. "Our government plans to build three steel plants in Naples, Palermo and Taranto..."

Although the Prime Minister talked about building three steel plants, Carlo knew that there must be a priority.

"So how did you arrange it?"

"Of the three places selected by our government, Naples has abundant water resources and is also the largest city in the south. Building a steel plant in this city can further accelerate the development of Naples. Therefore, we have prepared for Naples to produce 200,000 yuan in the near future. tons of steel smelting plant, with a long-term construction plan of 600,000 tons, which mainly produces pig iron and low carbon steel. Since Palermo is located in Sicily, we have prepared 150,000 tons in the early stage and 300,000 tons in the long term. steel construction plan. Its production is also mainly based on pig iron and low carbon steel, and also takes into account medium and high carbon steel. As for Tabuto, it plans to build a special steel smelting plant to mainly produce high-performance steel for military use. Its production capacity is also the lowest, with an initial level of The target is 30,000 tons, and the long-term plan is 50,000 to 80,000 tons.”

After listening to the Prime Minister's words, Carlo thought for a while and then said. "Exchange the steel development in Palermo and Naples, and focus on the development of Palermo's steel industry."

There is a reason why Carlo said this. Sicily has a large population. If there are not enough jobs, then this birthplace of the Mafia may really have to vigorously develop the Mafia.

Carlo has always been very concerned about Sicily because the relationship between man and land is very tense. Sicily has always been a major source of immigrants. With the development of Italy, Sicily has become a little more peaceful in recent years, but he does not think that this is enough.

After hearing Carlo's prompt, the Prime Minister also considered this and did not raise any objection.

So the development of the Italian steel industry in the next five to eight years is decided by them.

Of course, in order to develop the steel industry, the Italian government needs to invest a lot of money.

It is expected that the Balkan Railway, as well as the just-decided Libyan Railway, plus three steel production plants, will require the government to invest at least 340 million liras.

This is a big burden for Italy.

For this reason, Carlo is also under great pressure, but perhaps we can take this opportunity to do something that has been pending for a long time.

Thinking of this, Carlo picked up the phone.

"Chief Guard, how did that matter go?"