How do I know if a cave has metals?

[DaSord213]

As the topic states, I want to know how to identify if a cave has metal, or if a cave can have metal. How do I find metal :u? I've never gotten metal except through trades, so I don't know where/how to find it.

[burgingham]

You have to find rustroot and turn it into extract. Then get the prospecting skill and use it with the extract. It will scan a radius of 1000 (or is it 500 now?) tiles, tell you if any metal is around and how far it is away in terms of %. When you get to 100%, your toon will walk to the mining spot and place a construction sign where you can build the mine then.

P.S.: You most likely won't find any metal since most mines have been taken by now.

[Sarge]

You prospect while in the mine, if you get a reading like "26% usable copper" then you know there is an underground mine somewhere relatively near. It doesn't mean that it is in that cave though, might be in a nearby cave. Then walk a bit further in the mine and prospect again, if the % reading increases you are moving in the correct general direction.

As for finding mines in general, I suggest you try doing a search on the topic, it has been covered many times before and you are likely to easily find a thread that will answer all your questions.