Time flies.
In the blink of an eye, 2017 passed.
The time came to February 2018.
The annual Oscars arrived as scheduled.
The process was uneventful.
The 90th Academy Awards had a total of 24 award categories.
Among them, the Meyers Pictures investment The Shape of Water won Best Picture.
Guillermo del Toro won Best Director for The Shape of Water.
Gary Oldman won Best Actor for Darkest Hour.
Frances McDormand won Best Actress for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.
At this year's Oscars, giving women a voice was also a major theme.
Best Actress winner Frances McDormand, while giving her acceptance speech, invited all female nominees to stand up, celebrating female power.
On the same day, in West Africa, Guinea's nuclear power plant quietly and secretly broke ground.
After absorbing scientific and technical talent from Iraq and Libya, Guinea's development in mathematics, physics, and chemistry progressed rapidly. The capital university also gradually began to show promise in these fields.
A nuclear power plant isn't actually that complex; it's essentially about boiling water.
Boiling water produces steam, steam drives a turbine to rotate, which then drives a generator, thus producing a continuous supply of electricity.
The difference from a coal-fired power plant lies in what is used to create the heat.
A nuclear power plant uses the fission reactions within a nuclear reactor to generate massive amounts of thermal energy.
This led to Uranium-235. One kilogram of Uranium-235, when fissioned, releases energy equivalent to 2,798 tons of standard coal, demonstrating the immense power of nuclear energy.
Uranium-235 is also the material used to make atomic bombs.
However, the Uranium-235 used for atomic bombs and that used in nuclear reactors have different enrichment levels.
Nuclear reactors use low-enriched uranium with an enrichment level of 2-4%, while atomic bombs use highly enriched, weapon-grade uranium with an enrichment level of 90% or above.
They are called "enriched" uranium because in natural ore, the content of Uranium-235 is only 0.7%. Therefore, to obtain higher concentrations of Uranium-235, a uranium enrichment plant is needed to increase its concentration.
Guinea does have uranium deposits.
To date, a total of 14 uranium ore veins have been discovered within Guinea.
In fact, since 1968, the Guinean government has sought assistance from foreign governments and companies to survey for uranium deposits.
The first vein discovered in Guinea was in the Kalinko region, prefecture of Dinguiraye.
The largest known vein is currently in the Boma region, prefecture of Kindia.
Additionally, in the prefecture of Beyla, Yomou region; southeast of Kérouané in the Damaro region; in the prefecture of Mamou, the Mamou region; in the prefecture of Kindia, the Forécariah region; and on the Los Islands near Conakry, uranium deposits are distributed.
Sample analysis shows that the uranium ore in the Kindia region has a U₃O₈ content of 0.2%, ten times the average content of Namibian uranium ore.
Why did Martin previously choose Guinea, this West African poor country, as his base?
Besides the country being poor and easy to control,
It's also because Guinea is incredibly rich in mineral resources.
Dubbed the "Geological Miracle," it possesses the world's largest reserves of bauxite resources. Guinea's bauxite reserves are estimated at 40-41 billion tons, accounting for about 2/3 of the world's total reserves; of which the identified reserves are 29 billion tons, ranking first in the world.
The world's top four bauxite resource countries are: Guinea, Australia, Brazil.
Guinea's iron ore reserves and grade are also among the world's best. The iron ore reserves are large, the grade is high, and it's easy to mine, with a significant portion being high-grade ore, with grades as high as 56-72%.
Guinea's iron ore reserves are as high as over 15 billion tons.
Guinea's gold reserves are also very rich, widely distributed, estimated to exceed 1,000 tons. Gold panning indications are found throughout Guinea—divided into primary deposits (disseminated veins, stockwork veins, and quartz veins) and secondary deposits (alluvial placers, river plain alluvium).
Guinea's diamond resources are estimated at 300 million carats, of which 70% are gem-quality. The identified reserves are about 25-30 million carats, stored in riverbed alluvium and within ore deposits. The average grade is 0.12-2 carats per cubic meter, with 45-60% suitable for jewelry and 25-40% usable as industrial diamonds.
The offshore basins of Guinea contain large sedimentary rock layers. In 2008, Martin's crude oil company entered Guinea to begin surveys. Optimistic estimates suggest the deep-water block could hold up to 3.7 billion barrels of crude oil reserves, with a risk-adjusted estimate of 400 million barrels. The shallow water area holds about 2.3 billion barrels, with a risk-adjusted estimate of 370 million barrels.
Besides the above resources, Guinea also harbors large amounts of other rare metals and minerals.
Nickel ore: Reserves estimated at 73 million tons.
Graphite: Distributed in the regions of Kindia and Zoubia, reserves estimated at 113 million tons.
Limestone: Reserves estimated at 40 million tons.
Phosphate rock: Distributed in the Boké region.
Nitrate deposits: Distributed in the Basse-Côte region.
Talc deposits: Distributed in the Kankan region.
Cobalt ore: Located in the suburbs of Conakry, on the Kaloum Peninsula.
Chromite ore: A vein discovered in the Kakoulima mountains, Coyah region. Copper, Lead, Zinc ore: Distributed in the regions of Télimélé, Kindia, Coyah, Labé, Mali, Dabola, and Dalaba.
Placer Gold deposits: Two placer veins discovered in the Kakoulima mountains, Coyah region.
Lateritic Nickel ore: In the regions of Kindia, Labé, Dabola, and Kouroussa.
Guinea also has various colors and qualities of granite. On the Los Islands, there is syenite; in the Dubreka area west of Basse-Côte, there are red, blue, emerald, etc.
It can be said that Guinea, this country, has the conditions for developing heavy industry because most of the minerals needed for heavy industry can be found domestically, without worry of being strangled by external forces.
Most perfectly, this "Geological Miracle" of Guinea was, in the original timeline, unveiled by the Ministry of Finance's website in 2009.
Ah, when Martin first reached into Guinea, this country hadn't attracted much external attention, at most a few gold mines were somewhat noteworthy.
However, after the gold standard was abolished in 1933, although gold remained a strategic resource, it wasn't as highly regarded as before.
Therefore, when Martin was infiltrating Guinea, the country was only slightly transparent. After Martin basically gained control of the country, Guinea's mineral resources became a state secret, absolutely not revealed to the outside world.
Getting rich quietly is the true way.