The Rise of Australasia

If Arthur had to choose the next most important weapons research project, he would not hesitate to choose nuclear weapons.

It’s simply that nuclear weapons have a far greater deterrent effect on a country than any other conventional weapons can have on other nations.

In later societies, there is a huge difference between a nuclear-armed and non-nuclear-armed country. A nuclear power is not necessarily a superpower, but a superpower must have nuclear capability.

Historically, the United States was the first country to develop and use nuclear weapons, and remains the only country in human history to have used nuclear weapons against another nation.

The United States’ nuclear weapons research program was called the Manhattan Project, and the success of this project was largely due to the uranium mines in the Congo region.

Speaking of uranium mines, they are long-discovered mineral resources, distributed among many countries.

But until now, uranium has had little use in human life, so it has been labeled as a useless ore and only been mined sparingly.

People’s only purpose for mining uranium, however, was not to develop nuclear weapons like the Americans, but to search for the hidden radium within the ore.

Yes, the famous radium discovered by Madame Curie herself.

It wasn’t until nuclear fission was discovered that people realized the value and use of uranium, and large-scale mining of uranium began. Read latest chapters on empire

When the Americans conducted the Manhattan Project, they did not choose the uranium mines in Colorado and Canada, but rather the uranium mines in the far-away Congo, for good reason.

Compared to the 0.03% purity of uranium ore in the United States and Canada, the purity of the Congo’s ore reaches a staggering 65%, with even the rejected tailings in the later stages having 20% purity.

This huge disparity in purity is the real reason why Americans abandoned the uranium mines in the Americas and opted instead to mine the Congo’s resources from afar.

This also implies an important piece of information, that the high-quality uranium mines in Congo play a crucial role in the development of nuclear weapons.

For both Arthur and Australasia, this is good news now because uranium mines are almost worthless at the moment, and hardly anyone would want to mine them, except for those hoping to discover radium.

There is a possibility to mine and even completely plunder the Congo’s uranium mines before the release of information on nuclear fission.

As long as the high-quality uranium mines in the Congo are monopolized, it would take other countries at least a few years longer to develop nuclear weapons than it did historically.

With a head start, Australasia would also be able to use these high-quality uranium mines to greatly advance their nuclear weapons research and development.

With that in mind, Arthur no longer hesitated and directly informed the Australasian ambassador to Belgium to inquire about the purchase of uranium mines in the Congo.

It is worth noting that the Congo is now no longer the private property of the Belgian King but has been placed under Belgian government rule and officially renamed the Belgian Congo.

Although uranium mines in the Congo are temporarily considered valuable useless ore, the Belgian government is curious about the news of Australasia’s intent to purchase the right to mine, and is even trying various ways to probe Australasia’s intentions.

Unfortunately, such probing is naturally easy for diplomats to deal with. Even after numerous attempts by the Belgian government, they could not get an answer. ⱤäɴƟВÈŞ

In order to convince the Belgians to willingly give up all their uranium mines, Arthur paid a substantial price, purchasing all the uranium mines in the Congo in his personal name, at a cost of 5 million Australian dollars and a batch of weapons and equipment.

After being embroiled in World War I, the Belgians realized the importance of their own defense. After the war ended, they fortified their major strongholds and equipped them with more powerful weapons.

After learning that the purchase of uranium mines was merely a personal action of Arthur, the Belgian government breathed a sigh of relief and was glad to have made a substantial profit.

After all, even if all the uranium mines in the Congo were mined to depletion, it is doubtful they would have earned 5 million Australian dollars.

Moreover, they also received a batch of weapons and equipment, so from the current perspective, the Belgian government is naturally profiting from this deal.

Of course, the British also played a part in helping Australasia secure these uranium mines.

Although the Congo is a colony of Belgium, the major powers also have related interests in Belgium, especially the most powerful British Empire.

The British-owned Belgian United Mining Company, which is responsible for mining in the Congo, has over 30% of its shares, which underscores the influence of the British on this land.

After the outbreak of the Irish War of Independence, the British needed the support of Australasia on the international stage, which is why they easily agreed to let Australasia buy all the uranium mines in the Congo.

For the British, the stability of this batch of uranium mines is not as important as their own. After all, Congo is not the only source of uranium in the world, and since Australasia cannot monopolize all the world’s uranium mines, the British Empire has nothing to worry about.

With the dual permission of the British Empire and Belgium, Arthur was able to finally put his heart at ease, establishing the Royal Mining Company, which would be responsible for the mining and transportation of uranium in the Congo.

Of course, since uranium is a radioactive mineral, it is naturally the indigenous people of the Congo or the specially raised indigenous people of Australasia who are actually in charge of the mining, not the people of Australasia themselves.

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