Building and Running the Steam Quarry in Modern Industrialization
The steam quarry in Modern Industrialization is an automated multiblock drill that uses pressurized steam and consumable bronze drills to extract raw ores from beneath bedrock. Erecting this heavy mining rig represents the pinnacle of the steam age, giving players sustainable passive mineral yields before transitioning to full electrical infrastructure.
Crafting the Steam Quarry Controller and Drills
Constructing the controller requires substantial steel and machining infrastructure. Fabricating the Steam Quarry block in an Assembler or crafting bench requires:
- One
Steel Machine Casing as the structural core. - Four
Steel Large Plate pieces and two 
Steel Gear components for reinforced mechanical housing. - One
Invar Rotary Blade to drive the high-torque cutting mechanism. - One Item Pipe for integrating material routing.
Operating the rig requires a steady supply of consumable drilling tools:
- Assemble a
Bronze Drill Head by combining one 
Bronze Plate, two 
Bronze Curved Plate pieces, one 
Bronze Rod, two 
Bronze Gear parts, and three 
Bronze Bolt items. - Combine the drill head with two
Iron Gear parts, one Item Pipe, and one Fluid Pipe in an Assembler or workbench to produce four finished 
Bronze Drill items.
Multiblock Structure and Hatch Placement
The steam quarry multiblock occupies a specialized frame composed primarily of structural casings and utility ports:
- The outer frame consists of Steel Machine Casing blocks arranged into the multiblock footprint, centered around the Steam Quarry controller on the front face.
- Install a fluid input hatch to receive steam piped directly from high-capacity boilers.
- Place an item input hatch to load stacks of Bronze Drill assemblies into the controller's supply buffer.
- Add an item output hatch connected to chest networks or sorting pipes to catch extracted raw ores and mineral chunks.
- Right-clicking the controller with a wrench verifies proper block placement and displays structure validation.
Supplying Steam and Consuming Bronze Drills
Mining operations require continuous thermodynamic and tool input:
- Because the quarry consumes massive quantities of pressurized steam, pairing the rig with multiple high-pressure steam boilers or dedicated steam blast furnaces prevents power starvation.
- As the drill cycles through subsurface bedrock layers, each Bronze Drill gradually takes wear and is consumed, returning batches of raw iron, copper, tin, gold, and coal ores into the output buffer.
- Setting up an automated sub-line that stamps bronze plates, rods, and gears into replacement drills ensures non-stop extraction without manual player intervention.
Upgrading from Steam to Electric Quarrying
Once your base develops low-voltage electrical distribution and aluminum metallurgy, the steam rig can be upgraded into an Electric Quarry:
- The electric multiblock retains the exact same physical casing footprint as the steam version.
- Swapping the controller and replacing steam hatches with LV energy hatches allows the rig to utilize advanced power grids and higher-tier drills, such as steel, stainless steel, and titanium drills, greatly multiplying mineral extraction rates.
Titanium Drill