Chapter 208: The President Arrives
"Yes, I'm heading back to the company right now—this is far too serious."
Miles stood up abruptly, grabbed the coat hanging from the rack beside him, and rushed out.
Back at BHP's corporate headquarters, he asked around—but no one knew anything about a major discovery at the Taluge Copper-Gold Project in Mengguo. In fact, no one had even seen that morning's edition of the Financial Post.
Puzzled and alarmed, Miles made an international call to Director Jirigela in Mengguo.
"Director Jirigela, sorry to disturb you." His voice wavered with tension as he heard the familiar voice on the other end.
"Miles, our respected friend, thank you for calling!" As always, Jirigela was warm and courteous to BHP representatives.
"I'd like to ask about something. The Taluge Copper-Gold Project that we previously worked on in your country's Nanhang Province—we sold the prospecting license to a Chinese company. I wanted to personally ask you: how is that project progressing now?"
"Miles, you shouldn't have sold the license to the Chinese," Jirigela said bluntly, with an air of regret. "You can't imagine how important that license turned out to be."
Hearing this, Miles felt a heavy weight sink into his chest. "What happened?"
"Our top officials have been discussing it constantly. The Taluge Copper-Gold deposit is now regarded as our country's most important and largest mineral asset."
Jirigela sighed with deep regret on BHP's behalf. "You should've stayed, like the Chinese did. If you had just kept working here for another year, you might've found the real deposit yourselves."
"You mean they really found something?" Miles was still in disbelief.
"Yes, a world-class deposit. A copper-gold resource beyond anyone's expectations!"
Though he had more affinity for Westerners like Miles than for the Chinese team, Jirigela was honest. "Our entire nation is excited. The public is thrilled. Leaders are ecstatic. But we also have concerns. Our economy is increasingly reliant on China—that dependency is a growing risk. Our exports—ore, livestock—must pass through Chinese ports and railways, subject to their tariffs and fees. Now, our greatest mineral deposit is in the hands of a Chinese company. I don't know what the future will hold."
Miles was speechless.
In Jirigela's voice, he heard not just excitement and joy—but worry.
But from Miles' perspective, what was there to worry about?
It all felt unnecessary, like anxiety over something inevitable.
"So much of our economy and industry is already dependent on China. If Taluge falls into their hands, they'll control our entire economic lifeline," Jirigela continued, surprisingly candid. "We don't want to be dictated by China, Miles. Do you understand our concerns?"
"But your mineral economy can't develop without China's help. At the very least, you rely on their transport network."
"Yes, in many areas we are dependent."
"That's not necessarily a bad thing."
"But we don't want that. Our people don't want that. Miles, I wish the license had stayed with BHP. If it had, you'd be negotiating with the Chinese from a position of strength. And BHP has better funding, better technology, better mining operations, and more experience working with our government."
"What's the point of saying that now?"
After a few more casual remarks, Miles hung up the phone, his mind in turmoil.
It was now confirmed: the Taluge Copper-Gold Project was a world-class deposit.
The impact of this news remained to be seen.
He picked up his phone and tried calling BHP's CEO, Gores, but couldn't get through.
The line kept ringing with no response.
That only made him more anxious.
He knew Gores was in China. After some thought, Miles made a decision.
He would fly to Yanjing, China, personally, and speak to Gores face-to-face.
And while there, he might as well try to negotiate with the Chinese team—see if there was any way to recover the license or form a partnership.
Something Jirigela said stuck in his mind: the people of Mengguo preferred working with Westerners and were more wary of the Chinese.
That could be their breakthrough.
…
Li Tang was in the middle of arranging financing for the next phase of exploration.
What he didn't expect was that the elusive BHP CEO Gores—described by Niu Fu as nearly impossible to meet—would show up at his office uninvited.
The visiting party was full of familiar faces.
Aside from Gores, there was Miles, BHP's Director of Exploration, and Wu Yan, general manager of BHP's China division—all of whom Li Tang had met before.
"We're here to discuss the Taluge Copper-Gold license," Wu Yan, being Chinese, opened the meeting with a polite tone.
"You heard about the discovery already?" Li Tang said, feigning surprise at how quickly BHP had reacted.
He had expected this scene—just not so soon.
After all, until the middle of this year, BHP had owned the Taluge prospecting license.
Barely six months after discarding it like trash, that license had transformed into one of the most valuable mineral assets on Earth.
It sounded like a fairytale.
To BHP, it must have felt like a nightmare.
"We didn't just hear about it," Wu Yan replied. "We fully understand the scale and significance of the discovery."
Since the initiative and the license were now fully in Li Tang's hands, BHP had already prepared their negotiation strategy: be open, appeal to reason and emotion, and finally offer a large sum of money.
Wu got right to the point.
Li Tang stood and stepped out briefly. "Alice, could you bring in a good pot of tea?"
There weren't many people at the company. Aside from Alice, the rest were rugged male engineers.
And when hosting guests, especially for such an important meeting, the tea server's appearance mattered.
It wouldn't do to have a bunch of clumsy guys spilling tea on the table.
So Alice had to do it—even if she didn't love the task.
She had already mastered the basic steps: put tea leaves in the pot, pour in hot water, done.
When she brought the pot in, she rolled her eyes at Li Tang, clearly annoyed.
After all, she was the one handling most of the loan arrangements. She had been working day and night.
Now she was also playing waitress?
Still, despite her annoyance, she kept her composure. She poured tea for everyone and then sat elegantly beside Li Tang.
When it came to negotiations, there was no point involving clumsy engineers. Only Alice could support Li Tang on strategic decisions.
"BHP is very interested in our Taluge Copper-Gold license," Li Tang said, updating Alice.
She stood gracefully and extended her hand to Gores. "Mr. President, welcome."
"I've seen you before," Gores said, recognizing her Western face. After a moment, he recalled, "Last time we met, you were working for Highgain Investment."
"I'm honored you remember," Alice replied with a charming smile.
Gores felt a flicker of warmth seeing a fellow Westerner—but then glanced at her sitting beside Li Tang. Something felt off.
Looking at the pair—two young people, clearly in charge of negotiations—he felt momentarily uncertain how to proceed.
"How did you end up here?" he asked Alice, trying to build rapport.
"I've left Highgain. I now work with Mr. Li Tang," Alice replied, glancing at Li with admiration. In her eyes, he wasn't just a boss—he was a symbol of something much bigger.
"That's a… bold move," Gores said awkwardly, then turned to Li Tang. "Mr. Li, we meet again."
"It feels like just yesterday," Li said with a pleasant smile. "Thank you for your generosity in transferring the Taluge license to us. Thanks to that, the world now knows about this remarkable deposit. Your company shares in the credit—it's an achievement for all humanity."
Polite words—but also a graceful way to offer BHP a step down from their pedestal.
Everyone knew the transfer had been a blunder. But Gores hadn't hidden his head in the sand. He came in person.
Better to face the shame than be roasted at the next board meeting.
"If we're here today," Gores said frankly, "it's because we want to talk about cooperation."
"How so?" Li Tang asked, playing dumb.
"We're open to any form of partnership," Gores said, emphasizing sincerity. "As you know, BHP has unparalleled experience in capital, mining technology, and local relations in Mengguo. We believe that together, we can unlock Taluge's full potential."
"But at the moment, we don't have any plans to bring in strategic partners," Li Tang replied calmly.
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