Broken Hills Broken Hills was a mining town in the western part of the pre - War state of Nevada . After the war of 2077 , it became a haven , inhabited by human s , super mutant s and ghoul s , living together in relative harmony ( or so it seemed ) . Background . Shortly after the Master ' s defeat , super mutant Marcus wandered aimlessly until he encountered Jacob , a Brotherhood of Steel paladin in power armor who had pledged himself to the extermination of all mutants . Marcus and Jacob fought for a day or two , but they soon realized the futility of their battle . They became friends , even though Marcus still thought that Jacob would have been improved by a dip in the FEV vats ( this became a conflicted topic ) . As they wandered through the wastes , they attracted a small following of war refugees . The refugees believed that Marcus ' s strength and Jacob ' s power armor offered them a certain level of protection from the hazardous wasteland . Eventually , Marcus and Jacob led the refugees to settle in Broken Hills to exploit the uranium mine there . Broken Hills provides all the uranium that Vault City and Gecko need for their atomic power plants . The radiation - resistant ghouls and mutants that live and work in Broken Hills make ideal uranium miners since they ' re in little danger from the radiation exposure miners face here . Unfortunately , since Vault City will deal only with humans , the miners must use human traders as their intermediaries . These human salesmen charge the miners an exorbitant commission for their work . Tensions in this multiracial community have risen to a fever pitch because the human merchants have been accused of outright theft of the fruits of the miners ' hard - earned labor . With the destruction of the conspiracy to destroy the mutants , Broken Hills began to thrive . Then the uranium ran out . The city , having lost its sole reason for existing , slowly dispersed . The residents carried their riches with them , leaving the place a wind - swept , desolate ghost town . A few hold - outs remained , attempting to eke out a pathetic existence , but eventually , they too , disappeared . Location . Broken Hills can be found twenty squares east and fifteen squares south of Arroyo . Layout . The Broken Hills uranium mine is worked by the town ' s super mutant population . The radiation in the mine has minimal effect on them and their great strength aids in the physically taxing labor . The mine does require an air purifier , however , as toxic gas build - up makes the mine inoperable unless it is regularly filtered . The town ' s life blood comes from the uranium mine . Broken Hills has its own operational refinery operated by ghouls . If you can purchase uranium ore from a caravan , the refinery will produce refined uranium for you . The town is powered by a small reactor that runs off of uranium slugs and produces ample power for the community . The uranium trade runs to the NCR and Vault City as well as trafficking brahmin Herds across the wastes . The uranium trade is so important to so many towns ' existence that even Vault City will check their unrelenting bigotry for outsiders and mutants and trade valuable medical supplies and money for uranium ore . Ever since the mine ' s air purifier broke down , uranium production has halted , leading to an economic crisis in Broken Hills . Random encounters in the Broken Hills area feature Unity Patrols of humans , ghouls , and mutants that are friendly to players with positive karma . Downtown . If anything , Micky ' s presence well indicates a broken Broken Hills economy - make sure to talk to him on your way into town . Ghouls operate the uranium plant which is located downtown . Marcus can be found out front of the jail , and players in need of work be sure to check out the caravan office , operated by Bill . Liz runs the general store in town . Residential . Broken Hills offers a resort - like setting for unprejudiced , mutated , and motivated individuals looking to make a fortune mining for uranium . Once threatening , dangerous mutated cacti from the wastes have been placed into pens to make attractive lawn - spaces along the length of the main street . The residential area houses ghouls and super mutants , as well as one scientist and his chess - playing radscorpion , and a talking spore plant . Mine . The Broken Hills uranium mine is worked by the town ' s super mutant population . The radiation in the mine has minimal effect on them and their great Strength aids in the physically taxing labor . The mine does require an air purifier , however , as toxic gas build - up makes the mine inoperable unless it is regularly filtered . The town ' s life blood comes from the uranium mine . Underground . The underground is a base for rats mostly , but some super mutants ( like Francis ) saw some people in the underground . The Chosen One discovers that many people died here because they were super mutant haters and wanted to get rid of them . See Find the missing people for Marcus . Conflict . It ' s not always easy for humans , ghouls and super mutants to live together . This has culminated in a conspiracy to rid Broken Hills of its mutated citizens , led by human purist and store owner Jacob . The conspiracy has resulted in the arrest and incarceration of several of Joseph ' s supporters as well as the murder of several civilians ; their bodies have been dumped in the town ' s caves and sewers in hopes of destabilizing Broken Hills and starting conflict . Jacob also sabotaged the mine ' s air purifier temporarily halting mine operation . He ultimately hoped to detonate the purifier and bring the whole mine down on all the super mutants working inside . In opposition to Jacob are the mutants , mine foreman Zaius , and the arm wrestling champ Francis . There is also a conspiracy on the mutant side , instigated by Francis , which the player discovers upon finding a note on the corpses in the secret tunnel system under Broken Hills . The note proves that the mutants hoped to frame the anti - mutant faction in the town for the deaths of the townspeople . Appearances . Broken Hills appears only in " Fallout 2 " and is mentioned by Marcus in " " .