water-refinery; oil-refinery lot of stuff works
BUT the game is about enjoying digging...actualy the money build up to fast, if you dig for a while =)

water and pipelines better way

Great tip for a noob :)
I've really only just started and this is how I'm paying for vehicles and equipment instead of getting stuck in a debt trap while I figure out how to do this thing lol. Currently running 3 smelters with a full stack (999) each while I drive about and dig holes, then I sell the ingots when I need to buy something otherwise I just let em run.

99 minutes to smelt a full stack... it will cost you 54,945$ once you smelt it you will get 174,845$ 5/19//2025 however you do still make a profit... i bought 10,000$ worth of lithium took 30 mins to smelt it... gave me a return of 181 ingots for 31,xxx$ so it will make you a profit but it is by no means fast lol add several smelters running around the clock and yes you could essentially make money being a blacksmith... or go to saveditonline com and edit your save file to have a butt load of money and max level and be done with the game...

The method still works as of April 07 2025.
Also, as quests are repeatable, you can take a "sell X units of coal /gravel" quest, buy the materials from the shop, and immediately sell them. Quick XP at a rate of ~1 dollar to 1 XP.

so like a Real Industrialist would do ?

You can buy any number of unfinished Ores and smelt/Refine them.

Same goes for finished products. The payout is significantly higher.

Great method - and following it led me to a better way to play, namely, smelting all ore and selling only ingots, at 3x to 4.5x increase in payout. Of course, the next step would be to build everything yourself using these processed materials...

This method still works as of 2024-09-04 👍👍👍

Perfect way to earn money fast!

I'll have to try it. I just got the game today.