With the further increase in Clone numbers and the strengthening of the industrial foundation, Tom's Steel Plant production had already reached approximately 5,000 tons per year using those primitive, small-scale steelmaking equipment.
Over these past two years, Tom had conserved steel usage as much as possible, and now had a reserve of steel equivalent to one year's current production.
At this moment, Tom unhesitatingly took out all the steel he had painstakingly accumulated.
Dozens of metal processing equipment became busy, using various processes to transform the surplus steel into steel pipes, long steel bars, connectors, bearings, fastening screws, nuts, and so on.
About one kilometer from the current Main Base, Tom had already pre-selected the site for his first large-scale, formal Steel Plant since he began building his base.
The uneven ground here had been completely leveled by Tom and reinforced with special cement suitable for the Loshen Star environment.
However, what was called special cement was actually just ground-up slag from steelmaking, and impurities from the tolin and oxygen ore at the generator sets, mixed with a bit of adhesive.
This material had limited strength and load-bearing capacity; if used to build buildings on Earth, it would likely collapse before three stories. However, it was perfectly usable here on Loshen Star, at least meeting current needs without issue.
On this leveled ground, various components were transported. Clones busily assembled, fastened, and welded them together, and thus the first fully enclosed factory building appeared on Loshen Star.
It was ten meters high and had an area of approximately 1,000 square meters.
In the future, all work requiring an atmospheric environment at this Steel Plant will be completed within this factory building.
It is also equipped with hoists, electric cranes, and other machinery, allowing for convenient storage and movement of raw materials.
Manufacturing equipment like hoists and cranes posed no difficulty for Tom at this stage, as the most core component of these items was merely an electric motor, and if he could build generators, building electric motors was not a problem.
The issues were merely low performance and susceptibility to breakage. But at this stage, being able to make do was sufficient. Tom didn't expect them to work flawlessly under full load in harsh environments for several years, like on Earth.
While the factory building was being constructed, the other workshops of the formal Steel Plant were also being built simultaneously.
Out of the 1,100 Clones, as many as 350 Clones were dedicated to the construction of this Steel Plant.
To facilitate construction, Tom even set up a temporary kitchen directly at the construction site.
Every day, ingredients from various cultivation, livestock, and aquatic product bases would be rumblingly transported here by tractor and cooked directly on-site. Clones no longer needed to return to the Main Base and could eat their fill right there.
At the same time, a day and night shift system was adopted here, with Clones working two shifts. When one group went to rest, the other came to work, ensuring construction never stopped.
Whenever shifts changed, over a hundred Clones would group together, jogging in their spacesuits from the Main Base dormitory. After eating, they would begin their pre-work preparations.
After the shift change was completed, the Clones who had been busy all day would withdraw, eat first, then also jog back to the Main Base dormitory in their spacesuits, quickly sleep, and then jog back the next day.
In this valley on Loshen Star, groups of people periodically moved back and forth, and for a time, even the hard water ice and rocks on the surface showed slight signs of wear.
Under these circumstances, the Steel Plant's dedicated ore processing workshop, blast furnace workshop, hot metal pretreatment workshop, refining workshop, casting workshop, rolling workshop, and post-processing workshop, totaling seven specialized workshops, were built one after another.
This had never happened in previous Steel Plants.
The previous Steel Plants didn't divide into so many processes. Iron ore was brought in, directly thrown into the blast furnace, and then the molten iron was directly poured into molds for shaping, and that was it.
This was precisely where the problems of low blast furnace output, low efficiency, and crude product quality lay before.
The more detailed and streamlined the process, the higher the output and efficiency can be, and the more stable the product quality.
Not only that, but between different workshops, Tom unprecedentedly utilized automated equipment as much as possible.
For example, various tracks, conveyor belts, automatic feeding, and other basic automated equipment that did not require chips but could be realized with only mechanical structures, Tom implemented whenever possible, to save manpower and improve efficiency.
Hundreds of Clones worked busily like this for a full year and more.
Ultimately, not only were the initial surplus of five thousand tons of steel used up, but also the approximately five thousand tons of steel newly produced during this year and more were entirely consumed, with nothing left.
During this period, apart from this Steel Plant, Tom did not undertake any other projects.
It wasn't that he didn't want to, but even if he did, there was no steel available.
But all this effort was worth it.
At this moment, this Steel Plant, with a total area of over ten thousand square meters, with processes as complete as possible and automation as streamlined as possible, was finally completed.
It is specifically used to produce low-temperature steel, which is used in the largest quantities on Loshen Star and can be considered a basic construction material.
Looking at the Steel Plant before him, filled with numerous tall machines, with various pipes, conveyor belts, and cables connecting them, Tom was filled with satisfaction.
It can produce 270 tons a day, which is one hundred thousand tons of steel a year.
He seemed to see steel continuously flowing out of this Steel Plant, transforming into various components after subsequent casting and processing, becoming nourishment for his entire base, allowing his Loshen Star base to grow rapidly and robustly.
With this Steel Plant, subsequent specialized chemical plants, cultivation bases, metal processing plants, spacesuit factories, clothing factories, or Clone cultivation centers can all be started...
However, at this stage, although this Steel Plant has been built, it cannot yet operate at full power. It can only run at low power for now, temporarily taking over the capacity of the previous crude Steel Plants.
It still needs some supporting facilities before it can truly unleash its power.
Under Tom's organization, including the over 400 new Clones cultivated in the past year, a total of 800 Clones formed a large team, driving various machines and carrying various tools, proudly leaving the Main Base.
Now, Tom is going to build a railway connecting Iron Mine No. 1 and Steel Plant No. 1!