Chapter 84: Stubborn to the End
Bi Junjie heard the comment and laughed cheerfully. "Bauxite is everywhere over there, and digging it up costs almost nothing. But to make money, you have to transport it—over land, by sea—and you have to deal with all sorts of local risks. Small companies can't handle that."
Everyone sighed in disappointment. Their dreams of a get-rich-quick scheme were instantly crushed.
"Let's not get carried away. Back to the main topic—let's focus on the Yunyue Bauxite Project," Bi Junjie said, turning his attention back to the ground, carefully studying the survey maps again.
He muttered, "You know, I have to admit—both the gravity and CSAMT results are showing some anomalies. Logically, this whole area is sedimentary rock... This just doesn't make sense…"
He scratched his head, clearly perplexed.
As the oldest and most experienced expert present, his opinion carried considerable weight.
Li Tang didn't rush him. He stood silently to the side, arms relaxed at his sides.
"Director Luo, what's the total budget for this project?" Bi Junjie suddenly asked.
"Three million yuan," Luo Qinzhong replied.
"How much has been spent so far?"
"Based on the current workload, we've completed less than a third. In terms of budget, we've spent less than one million."
"Then drill! What's there to hesitate about?" Bi Junjie groaned as he slowly stood, holding his stiff waist. "Whether or not there's a deposit, any exploration project has to drill some test holes. Don't you agree, Chief Engineer Ding?"
This statement clearly contradicted Ding Shaoying's earlier stance, but he still nodded in agreement. "Then let's start with a shallow hole and see what's down there."
"Since that's the case, let's plan it out now. We need to pick the best spot for the drill hole."
Bi Junjie appeared to support Li Tang's earlier proposal, but in truth, he was still leaning toward traditional methods. "Let's start with a 150-meter deep drill hole. That should be enough to determine whether there's a karst-hosted bauxite deposit below."
"Alright, let's study the maps," Ding Shaoying said as he crouched down to go over the charts in detail.
"A 150-meter depth isn't enough. We have to drill at least 200 meters!" Li Tang crouched next to him, tapping his finger on the gravity anomaly zone on the map. "Right here—this is where we'll drill!"
There it was again—his stubborn streak!
This entire project had been pushed through solely by Li Tang's personal insistence.
"You need to calm down," Bi Junjie said, trying to reason with him. He still didn't quite understand Li Tang's background and chose a more diplomatic tone. "This first drill hole is exploratory. A depth of 150 meters is sufficient and aligns with standard practice. That way, when the project is reviewed, the expert panel will understand the logic."
As a specially appointed expert for Huazhou Aluminum Plant, Bi Junjie's role went beyond technical guidance—he also helped ensure compliance with regulations and advised on how to file documentation with the Ministry of Land and Resources. He was a well-known figure in geological circles, and his involvement usually made everything run more smoothly.
"You have to listen to me!" Li Tang stood firm.
Not for anyone else's sake—but for his own.
He had signed a performance-based reward contract. If no deposit was found, he wouldn't earn a single cent.
But he knew there was a large bauxite deposit underground.
If they missed this chance, it would be a crushing loss.
If this opportunity slipped away, and he had to convince someone else to fund another prospecting project here, they likely wouldn't believe a bauxite deposit existed in what was considered a blank area.
Even in future exploration efforts, this large bauxite deposit was discovered only by accident while searching for other resources. The Geological Survey Institute had drilled thousands of meters and spent massive manpower and resources here without finding a single sign of ore. It was only when they were about to give up that one drill hole happened to hit the bauxite layer—confirming that bauxite did exist more than 200 meters underground.
It had been a costly and painful process. But hindsight showed it was a bitter road that led to eventual success.
Still, now that he was reliving this path, such detours were entirely avoidable.
The years of wasted effort all stemmed from a single outdated belief—that bauxite deposits only occur within 150 meters of the surface.
No one in China had ever searched for bauxite deeper than that.
Because there was no precedent. No success stories. No basis.
At least, not domestically.
Ding Shaoying looked up at the sky in silence, saying nothing more.
These past few weeks, he felt he had seen through Li Tang's rebellious mindset.
Trying to reason with someone so naïve was pointless.
Bi Junjie chuckled, turned to Luo Qinzhong, and asked, "The difference between drilling 150 meters and 200 meters is just 50 meters—what's that, about 10,000 yuan more?"
"Uh… yeah," Luo Qinzhong replied somewhat stiffly.
"Alright then. Chief Engineer Ding, I support Li Tang's decision. What about you?"
Seeing Ding Shaoying's stern expression, Bi Junjie patiently tried to ease the tension. "Look, exploratory holes are all guesswork. It's all a shot in the dark anyway. Whether we find ore depends entirely on luck. Who knows—maybe Li Tang gets lucky and hits the jackpot, eh?"
To him, this all felt like a gamble—so why not just roll with it?
Ding Shaoying sighed in resignation, his voice stiff. "I'll arrange for the drill rig to move in immediately!"
With the geophysical survey phase complete, Zhang Zhongyu and his students returned to the university to compile a more polished gravity survey report.
The drill rig arrived. The main task now for the Geological Survey Institute was simply to monitor the drilling progress.
Since the area's geology was stable—particularly the upper layers composed of thick limestone—the drilling proceeded quickly. They ran two shifts per day, each shift twelve hours long. On good days, the drill advanced 30 to 40 meters; on slower days, 10 to 20.
After about ten days, the drill hole reached the 200-meter depth mark.
The driller immediately shut off the diesel engine and ran to report to the technician.
Upon hearing the drill hole had reached its designed depth, Ding Shaoying rushed to the rig site with his team to inspect the extracted core samples.
Even though he had little hope and believed firmly in his own geological judgment—confident that this drill hole would reveal nothing—he still carefully examined every inch of core. It was expensive material, and he wouldn't be careless with it.
The first five meters of core were Quaternary surface soil. Beneath that, down to roughly 150 meters, it was mostly limestone and shale—easily identifiable rock types. In layman's terms: regular, worthless rock.
From 150 to 200 meters, the cores matched the predicted lithology exactly—mainly shale.
"Something's off."
Ding Shaoying picked up a magnifying glass and closely inspected one section of core. The longer he looked, the more uncertain he became. "This shale isn't pure. Something feels off…"
Thank you for the support, friends. If you want to read more chapters in advance, go to my Patreon.
Read 20 Chapters In Advance: patreon.com/Johanssen