When it's mined to depletion, they would re-explore for new veins.
"Take a look at this ore; I've never seen it before. Does anyone know what it is?" Swain exerted a slight force, and the bulging veins on his arm, along with his muscle groups, generated immense power, crushing the palm-sized black ore in his hand into several pieces, which he then distributed to his companions.
"From the color, it looks like tungsten ore, but tungsten ore is much harder than this."
"It's not Black Manganese ore either..."
The black ore passed through the hands of a dozen or so people, but no one could identify what kind of ore it was. For the Lycaeus people, who made their living by mining, this was incredibly outlandish.
"This material appears to be black adamantium ore. Black adamantium is an extremely rare mineral, and its properties vary depending on its elemental composition, making it easily mistaken for soft manganese ore," Corax examined it for a long time before giving a definitive answer.
"From the performance of this black adamantium, it should be an excellent shielding material, capable of effectively dealing with various energy pulse bombs or Warp probes. At the same time, its energy conductivity is also excellent. Besides its rarity, it has no other flaws. A single planet might not even yield ten tons of it; note, I'm talking about raw ore," Corax explained.
"This stuff, rare?" Swain's expression immediately turned incredibly strange upon hearing Corax's description. He had used the detector to scan from Mine Tunnel 13 inwards, walking at least several hundred meters, and the detection results were all the same. During excavation, it was visually estimated that they had dug no less than five meters deep before reaching the adamantium, and this didn't even account for the unexplored areas of the tunnel.
"The mine tunnel I went into has at least 5 meters deep of black adamantium ore encasing the adamantium vein," Swain revealed this piece of information.
"Ah, Swain, is that true?" Corax was also stunned because, according to his statement, this area held at least a hundred tons of reserves. This was still based on the area Swain had traversed, and it was a very rough estimate calculated with the lowest depth of 5 meters.
"Swain, this ore is even rarer than adamantium!" The companions immediately began discussing animatedly.
"Arendi, from now on, you personally oversee the development of Mine Tunnel 13 here. The black adamantium cannot be given to those slave owners who don't recognize its value. You guys find a large area in the abandoned mine tunnels and store this black adamantium there. This stuff will be of great use in the future," Swain instructed.
Even professional miners couldn't identify this stuff; if given to those slave owners to exchange for supplies, it would only be treated as soft manganese ore. Furthermore, Swain quickly realized the preciousness of this material. It was far more valuable than Corax had described. For example, mixing the ashes of the Soulless with this metal, along with other materials, could create laboratories or prisons capable of isolating the Warp. It could also be combined with Soulless ashes in a certain proportion to create anti-psionic shells or psionic annihilation bombs.
Moreover, the metal extracted from this ore could be used in the Dark Raven Guard's power armor to further enhance their already abnormal stealth capabilities. The Crows, who could already stealth in Terminator and Centurion armor, would now be able to stealth in Dreadnoughts or Knights?
It was absurd, Swain thought, somewhat incredulously.
Although the Dark Raven Guard was not well-known among the 20 Legions and their battle achievements were not outstanding, this was because the Dark Raven Guard, for strategic reasons, kept many of their campaigns confidential. In fact, even in Swain's view, the Dark Raven Guard's capabilities were exceptionally good among the Legions. If it weren't for the Crow King returning to the Imperium for too short a time, and Horus's betrayal coming so fiercely, the Dark Raven Guard would definitely have been among the top-ranked Legions.
The fact that 3,000 men escaped the encirclement of 8 Legions during the Istvaan V Drop Site Massacre already said it all. The Iron Hands and Salamanders didn't have many survivors. For other Legions, it's doubtful any Primarch would claim their Legion could achieve that level, let alone do better than the Dark Raven Guard.
Therefore, for various reasons, Swain would absolutely not allow these precious minerals to be lost and treated as common soft manganese ore.
"Wait, Corax is the genetic Primarch of the Dark Raven Guard, why am I worrying about this?" Swain suddenly realized. The real Primarch was right here.
"Could it be that Corax is the Legion Champion, and I am ****?" Swain looked at Corax, recalling Khan's venom-spitting mouth when facing his brother Mortarion: "Let the true Lord of the Legion come and see me!" Saying this to a genetic Primarch, to the Lord of a Legion connected by genetic bonds, was an absolute humiliation.
"Corax, what do you think we should do with this black adamantium ore?" Swain unexpectedly asked the young Primarch.
"Ah... Swain, didn't you say to just find a place to store it separately?" Corax hadn't expected Swain to suddenly ask him. The problem was, he hadn't considered this question, being new to the place after all.
"Hmm, then how do you plan to utilize these valuable minerals?" Clearly, Swain had no intention of letting Corax off the hook so easily. In the future, you will be the genetic Primarch responsible for the revival of the entire human race; how can you be so negligent!
"Well... Swain, Corax hasn't even been here for a full day since his arrival. It seems you're a bit too eager..." Arendi reminded his boss helplessly from the side.
"Ah, right, Corax hasn't even been here a full day, all told..." Swain also realized. Although genetic Primarchs were freaks among freaks, they couldn't create something out of nothing.
"Given our current conditions, these minerals cannot be fully utilized. I need to thoroughly understand the existing resources and equipment in the camp." Corax had many uses for this ore in his mind, but his words were very practical.
"Alright, that's enough for today. Let's head back, and tomorrow we'll arrange for people to start digging these two mine tunnels." Looking at the time, Swain, who had been busy all day, decided to wait until tomorrow.
As the relief shift began to arrive, Arendi and the receiving Nef brothers completed the handover, and then this shift of miners boarded the cramped ore transport vehicle to return to the surface.