In and out of the caves at the bottom of the high cliff of the eastern Shield Wall there lies a sprawl of maintenance facilities for the spice harvesting equipment. This is also where most miners have their sleeping cabins. The work never stops here, there are no downtime hours, merely shifts, so people need to learn to rest in the noise.

There is a wall barring the sand from the Hagga Basin to pour over into the facilities but it's not always effective if a storm forms in the enclosed desert, a source of expletives-full exasperation for all who work here. Getting everywhere, sand is the main enemy of the equipment. People labouring here are usually skilled professionals, or rather miracle workers in engineering, as replacement parts are not always on time and in sufficient supply. Make-do attitude is the only one that allows to keep some sanity. Curiously, the Harkonnen rarely come all the way down here from Mt. Dmitri, leaving the community to its own devices... except water comes here through the pipes running alongside the elevator and it can easily be cut off. The only places of entertainment are pubs where cheap beer is nigh on only beverage.

Technically it is possible to go out into the Hagga Basin from here but there is no road to Carthag or any other settlement over the difficult terrain, and groundcars would soon be put to a sandy stop.