The Old Mine
The Old Mine runs under the forest between the Quarry and the Factory. The old bandits in the forest left a sign warning of explosive traps inside; they admit they just forgot to take it down. The mine is safe, only blocked by fallen rock. Inside is a chest, four marble deposits, and a spot for a zombie miner, which is how you get a steady supply of iron ore and coal.
Getting in
There are two ways in, and you can use either:
- From the Quarry. The collapsed cave at the back of the Quarry can only be blasted once you have met the two old bandits, Hans and Sven. It takes one Dynamite; the bandits give you one when Larry has talked them round. See the Quarry page.
- From the Factory. A blockage at the south end of the factory hall leads into the mine: 4 Building Kits I and a Reinforced Beam, Building 8. This also counts as finding the Factory.
Coming from the factory, the mine’s exit to the surface is still blocked by rubble (“I should try from the other side”). It only clears when the cave at the Quarry is blasted.
Inside
- The chest holds 2 Reanimation Liquids, an Inquisitor’s Note II and 2 Explosive Dust. The dust is exactly what one more Dynamite needs, with alcohol, the Dynamite technology and a Formulation Bench.
- Four marble deposits. Pickaxe, Building 4: 4 Marble and 2 red tech points each. They do not grow back.
- The Zombie Miner spot (see below).
The Zombie Miner
The Zombie Mining technology gives you the Zombie Miner and a Porter Station for the mine. It is one of six zombie-gathering technologies that stay hidden on the tree until both ways into the mine are open: the cave blasted and the factory blockage cleared. The others are the lumberjack (see Sawmill), stone, marble and sand-and-clay workers.
Put a zombie with a pickaxe at the miner. Each round it brings out 1 Iron Ore and 2 Coal and a red tech point, and starts again on its own; the ore goes straight into the mine’s storage, so no supplier zombie is needed. With the Magpie’s Eye perk it can also find a Gem. The Porter Station carries the ore and coal to the factory.
There at the start
| Chests and containers | Contents |
|---|---|
| Simple Chest |  Reanimation Liquid ×2  Inquisitor's Note II ×1  Explosive Dust ×2 |
Notes
- The “explosive traps” are a bluff. The sign at the cave is the bandits’ warning; nothing inside explodes.
- Open both ends for the zombie jobs. Clearing only one entrance gets you into the mine, but the zombie miner, lumberjack and quarry technologies stay hidden until the other is open too.
- An Iron Pickaxe makes the miner fastest. Zombies have no mastery of their own, so the tool in their hands decides their speed: a round takes about 80 seconds of digging with a Rusty Pickaxe, 40 with a Bronze one, and about 11 with an Iron one. A Steel Pickaxe is slightly slower than iron, about 12. The walk comes on top. These times are worked out from the game files, not timed in play.