The Rise Of Australasia

Chapter 769 - 574: The Expedition Team Sets Out, Mining Strategy_3

Arthur did not want his encouragement to instill a sense of urgency and profit in these people that might ultimately contribute to the failure of the Antarctic expedition.

After sending off the Antarctic expedition team, Arthur could finally shift his attention from the South Pole and take a look at other lands besides Antarctica.

On the other side of the Pacific Ocean, Australasia still had a vast area of Black Land for farming, a result of the war between Argentina and Chile.

Time had passed, but Australasia had been continuously in control of this Black Land, and even the scope of cultivation had been expanding.

Currently, Argentina’s Black Land was providing Australasia with one-twentieth of its Food production, with the annual yield already breaking through a million tons.

This was no small figure, given that the scale of Black Land controlled by Australasia was not large, especially compared to the range owned by Argentina—it was just a fraction.

With the cultivation on Argentine land, Australasia had also improved its relations with Argentina, resulting in related cooperation in land farming and grain trade.

This led to complex relationships between the three strong countries of South America; theoretically, Brazil should have been the strongest and largest country, but its two competitors, Argentina and Chile, were not weak either.

Chile, with the support of the British Empire, had not only made both Argentina and Brazil wary but also had the strongest navy in South America.

After repairing its relationship with Australasia, Argentina had given up support from the United States.

After all, when Argentina faced threats, the United States, despite assurances of military support, ultimately left Argentina to respond on its own.

Whether the situation in South America would deteriorate was uncertain to Arthur, but he was still very interested in the development of the Black Land within Argentina.

If Australasia’s population seemed slightly insufficient compared to the Powerful Nations, then countries like Argentina and Chile had an even greater shortage.

However, this lesser population also led to lesser resource consumption.

Australasia played multiple sides. Thanks to previous cooperation, it had good relations with Chile. Because of the Black Land in Argentina, it had also mended its relationship with Argentina.

Furthermore, with Brazil’s abundant mining resources, Australasia also had export and import trade cooperation with Brazil in the mineral resources sector.

Playing all three countries might not earn the loyalty of any one of them as a subordinate, but it indeed gained benefits from all three, which was a good choice.

Chile’s nitrate mines, Argentina’s Black Land, and Brazil’s rich mining resources—all were enjoyed by Australasia, and it was an important partner to these countries.

Especially Brazil, as the largest country in South America, had quite abundant mineral resources.

Though in later generations, Brazil became famous only for the Amazon rainforest, the development potential of the country and the resources it possessed ranked high among Countries around the World.

In addition to the abundant iron ore which Australasia had no shortage of, Brazil also had a variety of rare metals, including a particularly important metal, niobium.

Niobium is a rare metal with limited distribution worldwide, notable only in Brazil and Canada.

Among these, Brazil’s reserves account for over 75%, which was reason enough to maintain good relations with Brazil.

Moreover, Brazil also had a wealth of rare earth resources, quite essential for future high-tech development.

For instance, niobium is typically used in high-temperature resistant alloys, superconductive alloys, and electronic tube materials and can also be used in steel production, making strong steel with hardness and corrosion resistance, overall playing a significant role.

While mining resources could be obtained by force, peaceful development was more stable and sustainable.

In South America, Australasia’s influence ultimately fell short of the closer United States; although Australasia currently had the upper hand, there was no guarantee that the United States wouldn’t employ various tactics to disrupt the relations between South American countries and Australasia.

In such a scenario, maintaining relations with South American countries meant that unconventional methods could not be used.

Fortunately, at present, the United States had more important matters than courting South America; domestic complexities kept the United States too preoccupied to focus on foreign affairs.