# Mining questions **URL:** \ **Category:** The Bunker\ **Created:** [November 12, 2018, 6:06am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/mining-questions/17427 "2018-11-12T06:06:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![AcarpousAcumen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8edcca/32.png) [@AcarpousAcumen](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/AcarpousAcumen)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2018, 6:06am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/mining-questions/17427/1 "2018-11-12T06:06:58Z")
I have both a pickaxe and an electric jackhammer modified to take car batteries. I have auto mining turned on in options. I’ve created a downward staircase, but I can’t seem to do anything with the solid rock I’ve dug down into. I can’t apply the pic to the rock, and I can’t apply the jackhammer either. Moving into the rock does nothing. Smashing won’t damage the stone. What am I doing wrong? ---
**Author:** ![Trigon](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/trigon/32/2668_2.png) [@Trigon](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Trigon)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2018, 6:49am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/mining-questions/17427/2 "2018-11-12T06:49:51Z")
I hate to ask, but is your jackhammer loaded with batteries and turned on? ---
**Author:** ![AcarpousAcumen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8edcca/32.png) [@AcarpousAcumen](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/AcarpousAcumen)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2018, 4:52pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/mining-questions/17427/3 "2018-11-12T16:52:24Z")
It’s loaded, for sure. How do you turn it on, though? I’ve (a)pplied it and destroyed walls before, but when I try to do that here it says “You can’t drill there.” Pickaxes don’t take fuel, and when (w)ielded and (a)pplied to the underground stone the game replies “You can’t mine there.” If I use the jackhammer on my square the game has a funny reaction. “My god! Let’s talk it over, okay? Don’t do anything rash.” ---
**Author:** ![Trigon](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/trigon/32/2668_2.png) [@Trigon](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Trigon)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2018, 7:05pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/mining-questions/17427/4 "2018-11-12T19:05:57Z")
Hmm. Either way the pickaxe should work. I honestly can’t think of anything that would cause your issue. ---
**Author:** ![Mantar](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/mantar/32/42_2.png) [@Mantar](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Mantar)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2018, 7:28pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/mining-questions/17427/5 "2018-11-12T19:28:35Z")
Yeah that definitely sounds like a bug. I’ve mined big old basements out before with a pickaxe, and with a jackhammer, and never gotten that message. ---
**Author:** ![Invalid\_Username](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/4bbf92/32.png) [@Invalid\_Username](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Invalid_Username)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2018, 10:29pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/mining-questions/17427/6 "2018-11-12T22:29:58Z")
If and when you do get things working, be very careful with automine. It misleadingly rips through things much faster than it does when you normally apply the tool, but still uses the same amount of time and stamina. You can end up Famished, Dehydrated, and Exhausted in a matter of seconds if you don’t watch yourself like a hawk. Little lesson I picked up after ripping out some stone from a missile silo in order to get limestone to make quicklime to make the Prussian Blue I needed because I wasn’t expecting the very bottom of the silo to irradiate me so horribly. I needed about a week of sleep to get things right again. ---
**Author:** ![Trigon](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/trigon/32/2668_2.png) [@Trigon](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Trigon)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2018, 10:50pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/mining-questions/17427/7 "2018-11-12T22:50:49Z")
Could you provide a screenshot with the section of wall you’re trying to mine highlighted perhaps? Maybe there’s something weird happening in the sublevel generation? ---
**Author:** ![Eastwardrope91](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/eastwardrope91/32/3313_2.png) [@Eastwardrope91](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Eastwardrope91)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2018, 10:53pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/mining-questions/17427/8 "2018-11-13T22:53:08Z")
Is the walls you are trying to mine actual stone and not dirt or something weird? Or temple walls or something? The world get can be weird when it comes to underground generation it might be that you mined down into a mine or something weird and that weird black wall (it’s like two or three thick). ---
**Author:** ![AcarpousAcumen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8edcca/32.png) [@AcarpousAcumen](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/AcarpousAcumen)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2018, 5:19pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/mining-questions/17427/9 "2018-11-14T17:19:12Z")
![Where%20am%20I%20digging](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/uploads/cataclysmdda/original/2X/9/9e28341bbfe215c456bae228577d48afb9920fcf.gif) Sorry for the size I don’t really know what I’m doing ---
**Author:** ![Trigon](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/trigon/32/2668_2.png) [@Trigon](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Trigon)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2018, 6:50pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/mining-questions/17427/10 "2018-11-14T18:50:32Z")
If activating both your tools doesn’t work then I’m not rightfully sure. Everything seems fairly normal for mining.