In recent years, the financial crisis has severely impacted the domestic real economy. For a professional smelting enterprise like GuoDa Company, which lacks its own resources and is externally dependent on both the concentrate procurement and sulfuric acid sales markets, the impact has been even more severe. However, the company not only successfully weathered the economic "winter," but also achieved over 100 million yuan in both profits and taxes in 2011, maintaining sustained and stable economic growth.
What are the reasons behind GuoDa's current development? In the view of President Xu Yongxiang, GuoDa's ability to secure a place and continuously grow in a fiercely competitive market is attributed to its deeply ingrained sense of crisis, the continuous expansion of overseas trade, and persistent technological innovation, thereby freeing the company from resource constraints and opening up broader development prospects.
Overseas Trade: "No Rice, No Cooking"
At 8:00 AM, I observed a long line of trucks laden with bagged concentrates outside GuoDa Company. Staff were busy arranging vehicle weighing and sampling, creating a bustling scene. According to Wang Lixin, the company's vice general manager in charge of raw material procurement, in 2012, GuoDa Company signed a 60,000-ton ore purchase contract with a foreign mining customer. Since July, seven ships carrying over 20,000 tons of foreign gold concentrates have arrived via sea and land transport, providing the company with sufficient high-quality raw materials for production.
For many years, GuoDa Company has adopted a marketing strategy of "promoting internal process development and market development." While segmenting the domestic market and strengthening raw material procurement, it actively implements a "going global" strategy, vigorously developing foreign markets. The company established an international business department dedicated to international market development, conducting in-depth research on foreign market conditions, expanding trade channels, and increasing the development of foreign gold concentrate customers, forming a large-scale marketing system centered on domestic and foreign raw material procurement.
Through active development of foreign markets, the company has established long-term cooperative relationships with multiple countries and regions, including Russia, Australia, Sierra Leone, Ecuador, North Korea, Peru, and South Africa. Foreign ore purchases account for one-third of the company's annual ore purchases. In 2011, the company completed over 100,000 tons of overseas ore purchases, achieving an international trade volume of over 900 million yuan. International trade has provided a continuous supply of raw materials for GuoDa's development, significantly enhancing the company's ability to cope with complex market conditions and mitigate risks.
Secondary Utilization: Achieving Resource "Regeneration"
The demand for concentrates has made GuoDa people cherish these hard-won raw materials. To maximize the benefits from these concentrates, which have undergone arduous mining, selection, procurement, and long-distance transportation, they have focused on the secondary recycling and utilization of tailings, pursuing technological excellence to the extreme.
In May 2012, GuoDa Company's sulfur concentrate flotation and high-sulfur ore roasting system upgrade successfully achieved its production targets. After pretreatment, high-grade sulfur concentrate was floated from the cyanide tailings and used as raw material for sulfuric acid production. It was directly transported to the roasting furnace, further improving sulfuric acid output, quality, and power generation. The post-acidification slag was sold to ironworks as iron concentrate, saving the country iron concentrate imports and achieving truly waste-free production.
In recent years, the pace of technological innovation at GuoDa has accelerated: In 2004, they invested 150 million yuan to build a 200,000-ton sulfuric acid and 6000 kw/h waste heat power generation project using self-developed technology for comprehensive utilization of low-grade associated minerals. They used sulfur in cyanide tailings for acid production, using waste heat from sulfuric acid manufacturing to generate steam through waste heat boilers and drive turbines for power generation. This project annually processes 250,000 tons of cyanide waste, produces 200,000 tons of sulfuric acid, and generates 39.6 million kilowatt-hours of electricity; In 2007, GuoDa Company completed a multi-element comprehensive recovery project with a daily processing capacity of 1000 tons of tailings, recovering valuable elements such as gold, silver, copper, lead, and zinc from smelting tailings; In May 2009, GuoDa Company's gold tailings comprehensive utilization project was successfully completed and put into operation. This project is a comprehensive recovery system integrating the annual processing of 280,000 tons of gold tailings and chemical processing, truly achieving the "complete utilization" of concentrate resources.
GuoDa people regard innovation as the company's style, vigorously carrying out research and application of new technologies and processes. They have obtained two national debt interest subsidy projects, over 30 provincial and ministerial-level scientific and technological achievements awards, and 47 national patent technologies. Relying on these advanced production technologies, the company has invested 2 billion yuan to build 12 environmentally friendly circular economy projects, forming a daily processing capacity of 1200 tons. The benefits from resource comprehensive utilization account for over 70% of the company's economic benefits.
Ecological Industry Attracts Hundreds of Pigeons
Under the midday sun, I strolled through the GuoDa Ecological Industrial Park. Along GuoDa Road, the lush poplar forest stretches as far as the eye can see, rustling in the gentle breeze. In the park, a huge stone monument inscribed with "Jinchan Lake" Park is striking. Behind the monument, two artificial lakes divide the GuoDa factory area in two.
According to Duan Jianbo, manager of the Enterprise Management Department, the artificial lakes in the park were originally the transfer station for GuoDa's production water. Secondary and supplementary water was pumped in and out daily. Later, to provide employees with a place for leisure and entertainment, the company renovated the lake area, creating the current enterprise culture theme park—Jinchan Lake Park. Employees often walk and exercise here after work, and the company often holds treasure hunts here during festivals.
Walking along the marble-paved path, Jinchan Lake shimmered, with schools of fish chasing and playing in the lake. Surrounding the lake, pavilions are scattered, and flowers and plants are abundant. As people enjoyed the pleasant scenery, a flock of pigeons flew past.
Duan Jianbo smiled and said, "These pigeons have been living in the factory for five or six years. Initially, there were only a few, nesting on the roofs of the workshops. Now there are dozens!"
Those with even a little common sense know that pigeons are birds very sensitive to their environment. Their presence here allows me to more truly appreciate the abundant achievements of the GuoDa Company in its long-term, unremitting development of ecological industry and the realization of clean production. Today, even these environmentally sensitive birds—pigeons—are willing to soar alongside GuoDa. (Excerpt from China Gold News, September 25, 2012, Issue 1815)
