A few Sub Orders in Death Stranding 2: On the Beach are the most useful tasks you can complete, and Restoring the Smoke Hill Mine is one of them. It’s the 5th Sub Order you can take on during Episode 3: Dawnbridge next to Sub Order 103, where you have to find the stolen record collection. Even though these activities are an optional mission that involves hauling some materials to a remote site. Restoring the Smoke Hill Mine is the source of one of the game’s two ceramic farming locations, which is important material for roadbuilding, craft equipment, and mid- to late-game journey.
Here’s how to unlock Smoke Hill Mine Restoration, complete it, and make the most out of this underrated but rewarding Sub Order in Death Stranding 2.
Sub Order 104: Restore Smoke Hill Mine Walkthrough in Death Stranding 2
To unlock Sub Order 104, you need to complete “Main Order 010: Liberate the Western Environmental Observatory.” The completion allows access to the Observatory terminal in Australia. From there, the mission “Restore Smoke Hill Mine” becomes available in the Sub Orders list.
Peter Gates offers this mission, a fairly simple compared to many other high-stakes tasks you’ll deal with later in Episode 3. The quest tasks to deliver 480 units of Special Alloy to a defunct mining facility called Smoke Hill Mine, to restore it to working condition. The cargo is XL-sized, so what I did was load it on a Tri-Cruiser, or you can bring over any vehicle of your choice. The mine is towards the lake’s south, northeast of the Observatory.
You have a couple of ways to reach the final destination, but here’s the easy path to head to. Start from the Western Environmental Observatory and head northeast. Follow the river and rather than crossing it, loop around the terrain until you reach an area where the river merges into the lake. Now, cross through that path. Head eastward past the river, and the Smoke Hill Mine will be visible right ahead.
If you take other route, you might pass by a brigand camp, but it’s avoidable if you keep your path tight and stay away from the camp radius. If you’ve paved roads nearby or already have bridges placed, even better—take advantage of them for a no-trouble delivery.
On arrival, install the Special Alloys into the mine’s terminal. You’ll notice black tar pools around the site which are Chiral Crystal hotspots. At the mine, approach the terminal, select “Restore Mining Facility,” and deposit all 480 Special Alloys. With that, the facility will be back to normal working.
After restore, the mine enables a new material exchange option: you can now trade 800 Chiral Crystals for 960 Ceramics—a resource that’s very valuable to build roads or craft advanced skeleton gear like the Battle Skeleton. Now, return to Peter Gates at the Western Environmental Observatory. Submit the quest through the terminal, and it completes the Sub Order 104. Make sure you didn’t leave any crystals behind as they can come in handy later.
Rewards for Completing Sub Order 104
These are all the rewards you will receive after finishing this side mission:
- 1,500 Likes from the mine restoration effort
- 240 Additional Likes from Peter Gates after turning in the mission
- Permanent access to Ceramic mining at the Smoke Hill Mine
- Chiral Crystal farming hotspot near the tar pools
Considering gameplay perspective, it’s no-brainer to complete this Sub Order. The ability to convert excess Chiral Crystals into Ceramics pays off big in the long run, especially if you’re figuring out ways to optimize your delivery routes or maintain infrastructure in Death Stranding 2.
