What about taking the ore to sea level and doing the process there. It's downhill.

This is the greatest flaw in markets. It's said that markets compute the right values for trade goods. But it should be qualified to: Value now (or in the short term).

In any specific moment value has certain dispersion due to multiple factors. The uncertainty of value in the future is huge because those factors compound.

My point is that I believe markes only work in the short term. For long term planning (~one huamn lifetime, a civilization life time) markets don't work.