Prospecting

Ma Gan hadn't expected to put in too much effort. Now the Lord of the City was in a temper, and trying to attract attention and climb up at this moment would be counterproductive.

So he quickly got to the point: "It's like this, this Baron who returned to his fief from the royal capital has hired all the fishermen in Little Nose Bay Port City. Now there are no fishermen left to fish, and if we want to eat fresh sea fish, we have to do it ourselves."

Ma Gan briefly recounted the matter, then looked expectantly at the City Lord, like a puppy hoping for a bone to dismiss him with some benefit.

"Alright, I understand." Jim waved Ma Gan away after speaking. As the City Lord, it was an answer anyone could find, and Jim didn't understand that kind of look.

Ma Gan left indignantly, surprised that the City Lord was so stingy.

"Butler, I'm giving you a chance to eat. Investigate the new Lord of South Australia Island for me. If he has no background, then he's provoked me."

"Achoo!" Kerry rubbed his nose, wondering if someone was talking about him. He didn't know he had offended the boss of the Little Nose Bay Port City area. Kerry was on a small boat. (In terms of administrative divisions, South Australia Island, only 40 kilometers from Little Nose Bay Port City, also falls under the jurisdiction of Little Nose Bay Port City.)

"No one should be talking about me, right? Am I catching a cold?" Kerry gave a self-deprecating smile, knowing he was almost at his destination.

Last night, Unit 001, whom he had sent out, replied to Kerry, reporting the discovery of a copper mine 40 kilometers south of the territory and an iron mine 50 kilometers west. He knew there were mineral deposits in the sea near his territory, but he hadn't expected them to be so easy to find, and they seemed quite abundant. Kerry was so excited that he decided to go and see for himself. As for the port expansion, Carson had already gone to Little Nose Bay Port City to make arrangements, so it wouldn't cause delays.

Kerry was traveling alone this time. It wasn't that Kerry couldn't find anyone to accompany him; Mike would probably be very willing. However, it was better to keep places like mining areas secret. The interests involved were too great. Even if the mineral deposits were on the seabed, if it was shallow sea or near a small island, they would still have some mining value.

There was once a large mine owner who surrounded a shallow sea area, built an impermeable dike, and then pumped out the seawater to mine. The cost was a bit high, but that place produced gold mines.

Kerry had no intention of publicizing his ability to mine seabed minerals. Currently, the entire territory was lacking both money and strength. If anyone knew he could mine seabed minerals, troublesome matters would follow one after another.

There was no sail on the small boat, and no one to propel it. However, the small boat was moving steadily westward towards South Australia Island. If someone were underwater, they would see that a robot was dragging the small boat forward at a constant speed.

Unit 001 was an amphibious mining robot, a multi-purpose comprehensive unit. Kerry had already experienced its anti-riot capabilities and prospecting capabilities; they were both good items that were worth the money. He wondered how the basic smelting backpack would be, and he expected it wouldn't disappoint him.

Around 1 p.m., Unit 001 brought Kerry to a reef. This reef was the only one in the vicinity, surrounded by nothing but the vast sea.

According to Unit 001's scan, the iron ore to the west was located 500 meters west of this reef, at a depth of 80 meters. The mineral deposits were rich, with 10% being open-pit mining, exposed on the seabed.

The remaining 90% was on the seabed. The total reserves were about 30 million tons. For this world, 30 million tons of reserves was considered a very small mining area, but for Kerry, it was a huge treasure.

At a depth of 80 meters, with open-pit mining, and a reef nearby, this was an iron ore deposit that could be mined by humans. Kerry planned to leave it for now and arrange for workers to mine it when he was stronger in the future, but it wasn't suitable for mining right now.

If it were discovered by someone with ulterior motives, someone would soon come to compete with Kerry for it. After all, the western part of the territory was already the border with the countries of Raynor and Ford.

Moreover, this area did not belong to the territory of South Australia Island. It was unclear whether this small reef belonged to Raynor or Ford. It was very likely that it wouldn't be mine owners competing with Kerry, but the armies of Ford and Raynor.

Ultimately, Kerry evaluated this iron ore deposit as mineable but not yet, and then ordered Unit 001 to take him to the copper mine 40 kilometers south of the territory.

Unit 001 was just a comprehensive mining robot, and speed was not its strong suit. After 3 hours, Kerry finally arrived at the copper mining area.

The reflection of the massive atmospheric pressure clouds on the vast sea. The wind and waves here were not strong, and the seawater was not deep. However, this was an underwater desert, with only sand and seawater, no islands, and no schools of fish. The copper ore was beneath the sand.

According to Unit 001's scan, the copper content here was astonishing, and the purity was terrifyingly high, reaching 87.32%. Basically, the copper ore here could be mined like copper ingots. The key was that there might be associated gold deposits deeper down.

This was something that could be directly used as money! Unfortunately, Unit 001 only had basic prospecting equipment, and its limit was basically below 200 meters underwater.

The advantage of this prospecting equipment was its wide detection range. Kerry planned to spend a few months detecting all the seabed minerals in the Little Nose Bay area. This way, he could plan the development direction of the territory based on the mineable mineral resources.

However, before that, he could let Unit 001 mine some to conduct small-scale trade, so that Butler Carson would not always complain about the lack of money and income.

"Unit 001, send me back to the territory later, and push an empty cargo ship over. You mine here for a day and put it on the ship. After one day, push this ship back to the South Pier of the territory." Kerry wanted to see how much copper ore Unit 001 could actually mine in a day.

"Oh, and if you encounter any other ships, avoid them if possible. If you can't avoid them, sink our cargo ship and remember the coordinates to come back next time."

Kerry also thought that this was an excellent secret mining area. There were no fish catches, no islands. As long as it wasn't discovered by passing ships, no one would think that someone was mining underwater.

"Unit 001 understands."

Originally, Kerry wanted to mine some now to see how the mining robot worked. Unfortunately, it was getting dark. If he didn't return to the territory before dinner, Butler Carson would have something to nag about again.

Around 7 p.m., Kerry returned to the territory. In fact, he had already missed dinner. He had expected the old butler, Carson, to appear immediately and lecture Kerry about how a lord should behave.

However, he didn't expect that Butler Carson had gone to Little Nose Bay Port City to contact the construction team for the port expansion and hadn't returned yet. Kerry secretly thought it was good that Butler Carson wasn't there, so he wouldn't have to listen to his nagging.

After a delicious meal of mushroom soup prepared by Mrs. Wesley and sea bass caught by the hunting team, Kerry quickly felt drowsy.

Having been accustomed to a life of luxury and only having the level of a level 1 warrior, he had a very tiring day drifting at sea. On this island with no nighttime entertainment, Kerry had gradually adapted to the rhythm of going to sleep after dinner.

However, even before he went to sleep, Butler Carson still had not returned.