In the distance, under the snow, between the razor-like canyons, a crimson color resembles a river of lava.

The combination of huge chromatic aberration and bizarre scenery gives people a strange visual impact.

However, after a little closer inspection, you can find that the snow above the "lava river" shows no signs of melting, and there is no white water vapor above the "lava river", so Chen Zheng already knew what the so-called "lava river" was when he came here before.

On Chen Zheng's wooden map, this razor-like red canyon is marked with "suspected iron ore", and Chen Zheng suspects that there is a hematite vein in this canyon.

The main component of hematite is Fe2O3 (ferric oxide), although other iron-bearing veins also appear red, but combined with this canyon topography, the possibility of hematite is very large, because the hematite veins are mostly deposited, and the terrain here is suitable for the formation of ore veins.

The progress of human civilization is always accompanied by the exploitation, utilization and development of mineral resources. Even the age division of human civilization will be referred to as "Stone Age", "Bronze Age", "Iron Age" and so on.

For Chen Zheng, before discovering the use of Strange Fish Crystal, his demand for metal materials was not high. There are lightsabers for logging, lightsabers for carving, daggers for cutting meat, and even the wooden house that Chen Zheng plans to build has no plans to use any metal products.

With high-quality hardwood, and a super processing method like a lightsaber, you really don't need any metal just to survive.

However, when Chen Zheng learned that the use of the strange fish crystal was stopped, the smelting of metals was put on the agenda. Many ideas are only possible with the support of metal.

So, Chen Zheng came here.

Chewing on the grilled fish fillet in his mouth, Chen Zheng held on to his ski poles and slowly slid towards the crimson canyon.

As he approached, Chen Zheng became more and more suspicious of his previous judgment.

The colors here are too bright, and if it's hematite, the color should be darker.

With such a question, Chen Zheng sped up, and when he came to the entrance of this razor-like canyon, he couldn't help but be a little stunned when he looked at the bright red square crystals that were "growing" on the wall.

It's not hematite at all, it's a chalcorite!

Chen Zheng knocked down a piece of cuprite crystal, and the heavy cristobalite was slightly transparent, like some unknown gemstone. The main canyon is full of such crystal clear treasures.

The main component of these cubic pillars is Cu2O (cuprous oxide), a high-grade deposit with more than 88% copper, which is rarely distributed on the earth and produces less hematrite, compared to the common green chalcorite, many people have not seen the actual cuprite.

However, at this time, a huge open-pit copper vein was placed in front of Chen Zheng, which would be an astronomical amount of wealth if placed on the earth. But now, for Chen Zheng, this vein is actually not as good as a cheaper hematite.

"Forget it...... Something is better than nothing......"

Chen Zheng comforted himself slightly.

Although copper is much more expensive than iron, it is a pity that the hardness of copper is slightly lower, and the technology of high-hardness copper alloys is too high-end, at least Chen Zheng has never passed this alloy.

Originally, Chen Zheng planned to use the soil method to practice some iron, and use this iron as raw materials mixed with strange fish crystals to try to produce iron-based high-temperature superconducting materials.

Although the world's earliest discovered superconducting materials are copper-based, the temperature of copper-based superconducting materials can reach a "high temperature" of 133K (minus 140 degrees Celsius), which is much higher than the temperature of 20K and 40K (minus 200 degrees Celsius) for iron-based superconductivity.

However, the biggest problem with copper-based superconducting materials is ...... It's too crispy. Most copper-based superconducting materials are more ceramics than metals. If it is made into a wire, it will be like a crispy vermicelli, and it will break off when bumped and vilted.

Iron-based superconducting materials, on the other hand, have more metallic properties and are easier to be processed into materials, and their upper critical magnetic fields and critical currents are comparable to those of copper-based superconductors.

However, it is all very casual research anyway, so it doesn't matter whether it is copper ore or iron ore, the difference between it and Chen Zheng is only that Chen Zheng's desire to have an iron spoon is frustrated.

After collecting some copper ore, Chen Zheng packed them into a backpack woven of wooden strips and bark ropes, and hurried back before it was dark.

As the saying goes, there is no light burden on the long road.

At first, Chen Zheng didn't think anything of it, but it was just a few dozen kilograms of extra ore. But the more he walked back, the more he felt that the backpack was a little heavy, but he was reluctant to throw away the ore that he had finally carried over, so he could only grit his teeth and persevere.

As his physical strength was exhausted, Chen Zheng's speed became slower and slower, and finally he finally returned to the camp with a stinky sweat, and it was already dark at this time.

dragged his tired body to make a big bowl of snow and put it on the fire, although I wanted to take off my shoes to bake the fire, but the weather was already cold, and now I took off my shoes and sweated and my feet were about to freeze.

Finally waited for the water to boil, Chen Zheng simply took the hot water and hugged the hot stones into the snow cave together, slowly drank the hot water, and only then did he go into the grass and fall asleep after his whole body was warm.

……

Near noon the next day, Chen Zheng stretched his waist and got out of the snow cave. When he fell asleep last night, he thought that he would be sore when he got up early today, and after a night of dreaming of the blue starry sky, he actually felt a little refreshed when he woke up this morning.

Chen Zheng took the fish soup that he didn't know if it was breakfast or lunch, came to the side of the backpack, poured out the crimson square crystals and spread them out on the table, randomly picked a few cuprite with uniform color and transparent crystals and put them away, and the rest was ready to be smelted into red copper, that is, copper element.

Contrary to common sense, the color of copper is actually reddish, and the brass that is commonly seen is actually an alloy of copper and zinc.

However, although the copper ore is available, there will be no finished red copper products today and tomorrow. In the absence of high-quality coke, Chen Zheng had to burn some charcoal first, build an adobe furnace, and finally add a bellows to smelt red copper.

Charcoal is easier to solve.

Chen spent the morning digging a large hole far from the coast. First throw in some firewood to make the big pit dry, and then stack the cut wooden strips into the carbonization pool, and finally spread firewood on top of it and light it, and when the fire is big enough, bury the carbonization pool with soil.

When the open flame is extinguished, the carbonization pool is emitting green smoke. Although there is no open flame, in fact, the carbonization pond is still burning in an oxygen-deficient environment. It takes at least a whole day to smolder like this to make good charcoal.

Taking advantage of the charcoal burning, Chen Zheng had some other things to do.