Once energy was available, the work would be much easier to carry out. Lu Yuan followed Chen Ke and the other person to a nearby coal mine.
Before even reaching the coal mine, Lu Yuan saw the ground covered in black mud. He pinched a handful and could clearly see the coal slag inside. Lu Yuan was immediately delighted.
So the two quickened their pace and soon arrived at the gate of a small mine called Fuxing Coal Mine. However, the entire coal mine was in ruins. The once tall iron gate had been taken away by someone, leaving only two gate piers.
Lu Yuan stepped into the small coal mine, his steps uneven. The mine was not very large, and the facilities were extremely rudimentary. The coal carts that used to be on the tracks were nowhere to be seen. Inside, there was a small office building with all the windows broken. Behind the office building, there was a pile of various coal mine waste materials that had not been cleaned up, such as coal gangue and other associated minerals.
These things were considered discarded items before the apocalypse and didn't have much use. But now that Lu Yuan saw them, an idea suddenly came to him. Although these stones weren't very useful, and they were extremely heavy due to absorbing water from being underwater for so long, they would be great if they could be used to pave the mountains on both sides.
After all, earthquakes cause a lot of rocks to fall, and covering these rocks with cement can prevent them from falling down the mountain during an earthquake, thus reducing the risk of disaster.
Lu Yuan continued walking and discovered that the mine shaft, which had originally been sealed, was somewhat dilapidated. However, there were still traces of the seals being torn open, indicating that someone had disregarded national regulations and privately removed the seals to mine inside. Looking at the various mining tools scattered on the ground, Lu Yuan couldn't help but sigh.
Although shallow coal mines are located on the surface, the shallow coal mines in Shanxi Province have basically been depleted. If you want to get coal, you have to dig underground. The coal mine where Lu Yuan is located is in a similar situation.
However, looking at the pit entrance constructed of these wooden structures, Lu Yuan, who had originally planned to go inside to take a look, stopped. These things were particularly flimsy, and if a collapse accident were to occur, he might be buried inside.
After observing the nearby mine for a long time, there were more than ten such mines. Some of the surface areas of the mine pits still had a small amount of coal that had not been mined out. It seemed that most of the coal was still underground, which was enough for Lu Yuan.
After the two stayed for a while, several professional surveying tools, including those for coal mining, came over. Upon seeing Lu Yuan, they immediately nodded and gave him a smile.
"Mr. Lu, which mine do you want to mine? We'll take measurements!" The other man stared at Lu Yuan for a while, somewhat incredulous. He hadn't expected that the young man in front of him was the Mr. Lu that everyone was talking about.
Lu Yuan glanced at the other party, then pointed to several nearby mine entrances: "I want all of these mines. There's an open-pit mine over there, let's measure that one first. We need to measure all the other places here. Also, I think the entrances of these mines have a very high chance of being dangerous. If you're going to do this in the future, you must solve these safety hazards. Otherwise, if a mine accident really happens, we'll all be in deep trouble!"
The other party immediately nodded and said, "Don't worry, Mr. Lu, I've been working in the mines for over twenty years. I'll try my best to avoid any potential hazards or accidents. However, our tools seem to be a bit incomplete... what do you think..."
"Yes, of course I know that, but it's okay, you guys go ahead and do it. If you need to exchange for grain, we can use our connections. Aren't you all locals? You should be quite familiar with this place!"
Before Lu Yuan came to this coal mine, he asked Chen Ke to find some veteran workers who worked at the mine nearby. After all, they were more familiar with these mines than others, and with them, Lu Yuan could avoid a lot of detours.
The man in front of him was someone Chen Ke had gone to great lengths to find out about. It was said that he had been working in the mine for over twenty years and was considered a veteran miner. He had started as a low-level coal miner and was now quite well-known in the mine, at least in Jincheng.
Upon hearing Lu Yuan's agreement, the other party was overjoyed and nodded, saying, "Don't worry, Mr. Lu, I will handle this matter perfectly for you. Not to mention these dozen or so mines, I can secure even more!"
Lu Yuan grunted and then ignored the other party, letting them take measurements instead. He was worried that the coal mines had been almost completely mined out. Although there were rumors that there was still a lot of coal left, over the years, coal thieves had dug out most of it.
Therefore, the coal content needs to be further estimated; otherwise, it would be a complete waste of effort to build up the mine entrance only to find a little coal inside.
So the two of them wandered around the area again. Lu Yuan planned to set up a transport fleet here and then reuse these abandoned buildings, since the coal mine would be supplying them with coal for a long time.
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