Smelter, Common and Rare Ore

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Smelter, Common Ore

• Common Metals Cost high
• Rare Metals Cost none
• Build Time long
• Tube Connection Required yes
• Power Required 50
• Size large
• Workers Required 3
• Hit Points high
• Scientists Required none
• Armor heavy
• Smelter, Rare Ore

Smetler, Rare ore

• Common Metals Cost very high
• Rare Metals Cost none
• Build Time very long
• Tube Connection Required yes
• Power Required 50
• Size large
• Workers Required 3
• Hit Points high
• Scientists Required none
• Armor medium

Descritpion

Because of heavy asteroid bombardment several times in its early geological history, the planet's crust has been melted and resolidified several times. This process has resulted in a fairly homogeneous crust without the wide range of mineral and rock types found on Earth. In this respect, New Terra more closely resembles Earth's Moon, though it is much richer in heavy metals. In fact, any surface rock or handful of soil on New Terra is going to have a fair amount of useful metal in it; it is just that the extraction of that metal from common materials is difficult and expensive, and the concentrations, while considerable, are far below that of even poor ores on Earth. Fortunately, the crust is not completely uniform, and veins of material richer in valuable metals have been found.

The processes under which these veins were formed is unknown, and largely irrelevant to the colonies since they are easily detected without knowing their origin. Two general types of ore are known, each made from a soup of various metals. The first is simply called Common Ore, and it is rich in lighter metals such as aluminum, titanium, magnesium, yttrium, and chromium, as well as a few common heavier metals like copper and iron. So-called Rare Ores are rich in heavier metals including radioactives. Metals in this group include gold, silver, lead, cobalt, nickel, palladium, osmium, platinum, cadmium, zinc, mercury, thorium, and uranium.

The technology used in both the ore smelting structures is similar to that used in the GORF recycling structure. Ores are pretreated to maximize the concentrations of useful metal, then crushed to a uniform pellet size and fed into a fusion-electric smelter and pumped under pressure into a hot cracking column for separation into individual metals. While most metals are extracted in pure form, some, such as uranium and aluminum, require additional processing. The resulting molten metal streams are solidified into micro-pellets, which are mixed into a synthetic oil-based medium to create a slurry, which can be pumped through pipes, stored in tanks, and easily provided to factory machinery in the form of a constant flow.

While both the Common Ore Smelter and Rare Ore Smelter use similar technology, the smelting temperatures, operating pressures, and cracking column configuration for each is completely different, thus the need for two different dedicated structures. The Rare Ore Smelter also contains special equipment and facilities for handling radioactive materials and toxic heavy metals.