Asteroids and ore

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Revision as of 17:55, 28 April 2024 by Evon R'al (talk | contribs) (Point rare asteroid links to the content in the mining article for now.)
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This page should be updated due to game changes.
Reason: Need additional table information for border/A0 and Pochven asteroids.

Asteroids are large irregular chunks of rock that can be found in many places throughout New Eden. When mined, asteroids yield ore which, when refined, produces minerals of various types that serve as the basic building blocks of almost every craftable item.

Where to find asteroids

An asteroid belt. The ship in the middle is sitting at the warp-in point.
Asteroid belt geometry

Asteroid belts

Virtually every star system in EVE (with the notable exception of Jita) has at least one asteroid belt. Most star systems have several – up to more than a dozen in some cases. These belts are listed on the overview and the right-click menu, and can have two kinds of geometry: one is a rough semicircle of asteroids, approximately 50 km in diameter, the other being asteroids dispersed over a spherical volume with a radius of about 70 km. A ship warping to an asteroid belt's beacon (through the right-click menu or the overview) will warp to the center of the asteroids. Note that mining lasers have an (unboosted) range of only 10-15 km, so in order to mine asteroids a ship has to fly closer to the belt after warping in. If you want to save on travel time, you can warp to mining bookmarks instead.

A given belt will have a mixture of asteroids containing different ores. The mixture and size of the asteroids (i.e. how much ore each asteroid contains) is determined by the system's location in the EVE universe and its security status (see asteroid distribution below). Each asteroid belt contains a finite number of asteroids (which disappear once fully mined), but the asteroids respawn after downtime if there are no asteroids left. The website Dotlan has maps showing the number of belts per system.

Cosmic anomalies

One of the two kinds of cosmic anomaly contains asteroids (the others contains hostile rats). The asteroids in cosmic anomalies tend to be a little larger and contain rarer ore than the normal asteroid belts in a star system. However, unlike asteroid belts, once all the asteroids in the anomaly have been mined, the anomaly disappears after broadcasting a short message in Local. As with all cosmic anomalies, new anomalies spawn semi-randomly.

Note that in many locations you will find decorative asteroids, which cannot be mined or otherwise interacted with. These will have colorful names such as "Snake-shaped Asteroid".

There are different types of asteroid cosmic anomalies, named by what kinds of ores are contained within. Each type comes in several variants (small, medium, average, and large) – the "larger" the anomaly, the more asteroids (and hence the more ore) it contains. A "Small Kernite and Omber Deposit" therefore contains a small number of Kernite and Omber asteroids, while a "Large Bistot Deposit" contains a large number of Bistot asteroids. Different types may have different number of variants. Smaller anomalies tend to contain only base ore variety and larger ones contain all three variaties (base, +5% and +10%).

Highsec does not have ore anomalies, the exceptions being border ores (see further) and Asteroid Belt Remnants anomaly in new players spawn areas which contain Veldspar. Lowsec, NPC nullsec, Sovereign nullsec, Wormhole space and Triglavian space all have different types of anomalies.

Deadspace pockets

Mineable asteroids can also spawn in deadspace pockets, such as the ones created for missions. Unlike asteroid belts, these are not organized into a set shape. Some are composed of dense clumps of asteroids, while others are scattered fields. For a list of which missions' deadspace pockets contain asteroids, see Mission mining or EVE-survival.

Ore locations

An asteroid belt, as seen on the overview. Note the belt's warp-in point (marked with an inverted triangle), as well as the variety of different asteroid types (all labelled according to what kind of ore they contain).
For the distribution of ice asteroids, see Ice distribution.

The EVE universe can be divided into four quarters:

  • The Amarr quarter (includes systems held by the Amarr, Ammatar, Khanid, Blood Raiders, and Sansha's Nation)
  • The Caldari quarter (includes systems held by the Caldari and Guristas)
  • The Gallente quarter (includes systems held by the Gallente and Serpentis)
  • The Minmatar quarter (includes systems held by the Minmatar and Angel Cartel)

Each of these four quarters has its own set of asteroid types. Additionally, systems with different security rating have different asteroid types.

Ores in belts

Highsec and lowsec

System
security
rating
Quarter
Amarr quarter Caldari quarter Gallente quarter Minmatar quarter
High Sec
1.0 to 0.5
Veldspar Veldspar
Scordite Scordite
High Sec
0.9 to 0.5
Pyroxeres Pyroxeres Pyroxeres Pyroxeres
≤ 0.7: also Plagioclase Plagioclase
Plagioclase Plagioclase Plagioclase Plagioclase
Low Sec
0.4 to 0.1
Pyroxeres Pyroxeres
Kernite Kernite
Jaspet Jaspet
Kernite Kernite
Pyroxeres Pyroxeres
Omber Omber
Jaspet Jaspet
Kernite Kernite
Omber Omber
Low Sec
0.2 to 0.1
Hemorphite Hemorphite Hedbergite Hedbergite Hemorphite Hemorphite Hedbergite Hedbergite

Ores in null security space

Null security space is not as clearly defined as high security due to being player owned. Instead it is easiest to classify it by Security Class, which is most easily viewed via sites like Dotlan by using the Security Class filter on a map. We will ignore the security class number, using only the letter, as it seems this is exactly what is important.

The following table shows the security class letter used for null security regions:

Class Letter Region Pirates type
F Detorid, Cache, Insmother, Impass, Feythabolis, Tenerifis, Omist Angel Cartel
G Stain, Esoteria, Querious, Paragon Soul, Delve, Period Basis Blood Raiders and Sansha
H Vale of the Silent, Tribute, Venal, Geminate, Deklein, Tenal, Branch Guristas
I Wicked Creek, Scalding Pass, Great Wildlands, Curse, Catch, Immensea, Providence Angel Cartel
J Pure Blind, Syndicate, Fade, Cloud Ring, Outer Ring, Fountain Serpentis and Guristas (Pure Blind)
K Cobalt Edge, Perrigen Falls, Malpais, Oasa, Kalevala Expanse, Outer Passage, Etherium Reach, The Spire Drones

Security class F-J follow simple rules defined in the following table. Note that for many regions some security levels do not exist leading to missing some ores, for example in Curse all systems are between 0.0 and -0.3 which according to this table leads to no ore belts at all.

System
true
sec
Security Class
F G H I J
≤ 0.0: - Kernite Kernite Pyroxeres Pyroxeres - Pyroxeres Pyroxeres
≤ -0.4: - Pyroxeres Pyroxeres - - -
≤ -0.5: Bistot Bistot - Kernite Kernite - Bistot Bistot
≤ -0.6: Arkonor Arkonor Bistot Bistot - - -
≤ -0.7: Pyroxeres Pyroxeres - - Arkonor Arkonor -
≤ -0.8: Mercoxit Mercoxit
≤ -0.9: - - Bistot Bistot Kernite Kernite Arkonor Arkonor

Note that there seem to be some additional exceptions that do not show ingame through Agency window, but are present in belts. For example, -1.0 system MVUO-F in Period Basis seems to have Arkonor in belts in addition to four other ores predicted by this table.[Verify]

Dronelands regions (class K) all contain Arkonor, Bistot and Mercoxit, but the security level at which each ore starts differs from region to region. Moreover, even inside of a region contents of belts differ a lot between systems which hints that there is some other rule used here. The general rule seems to be that the further from Empire, the less ores are present. For example, in Etherium Reach, close to Empire, Bistot starts from 0.0, Arkonor starts from -0.2 and Mercoxit starts from -0.5 (though not in all -0.5 systems). On the other hand, in Cobalt Edge Bistot starts from -0.6, Arkonor from -0.7 and Mercoxit from -0.8.

Note that mining Mercoxit requires the Deep Core Mining skill as well as special mining modules (Deep Core Miners or Deep Core Strip Miners). All other ore types can be mined with all types of ore mining lasers or strip miners.

Ore anomalies

For more detailed information on ore locations: https://ore.cerlestes.de/ore

High security space

See also: High-sec

Highsec does not have ore anomalies, the exceptions being border ores (see further) and Asteroid Belt Remnants anomaly in new players spawn areas which contain Veldspar.

Low security space

See also: Low-sec

Null security space

See also: Null-sec

Note that mining Mercoxit requires the Deep Core Mining skill as well as special mining modules (Deep Core Miners or Deep Core Strip Miners). All other ore types can be mined with all types of ore mining lasers or strip miners.

Wormholes

Arkonor, Bistot, Gneiss, Kernite, Omber, and Pyroxeres deposits may be found in wormholes.

Pochven

With the creation of Pochven, new ore types were added to the game which can only be found in these areas. Bezdnacine, Rakovene, and Talassonite are the new ores, while Spodumain and Mercoxit can also be found there, with Mercoxit only spawning in home systems.

Pochven Talassonite Talassonite Rakovene Rakovene Bezdnacine Bezdnacine

Ore Prospecting Arrays

In player-owned sovereign nullsec, it is possible to deploy Ore Prospecting Arrays, a deployable sovereignty structure which, when deployed in a system, periodically generates asteroid clusters of various sizes at set intervals.

All sizes of asteroid clusters are capable of spawning regardless of system security status, and all clusters of a given size contain the same volume of ore, but asteroid clusters in lower security levels will spawn the more valuable ore variants with greater frequency. All clusters contain varying amounts of all Arkonor and Bistot, additionally different clusters provide access to Mercoxit, Pyroxeres, Omber, Kernite, Crokite.

Small Asteroid ClusterMedium Asteroid ClusterLarge Asteroid ClusterEnormous Asteroid ClusterColossal Asteroid Cluster

Respawn cooldown to all Asteroid Cluster anomalies scales based on the size of the anomaly:

  • 1 hour for the Small Asteroid Cluster
  • 2 hours for the Medium Asteroid Cluster
  • 3 hours for the Large Asteroid Cluster
  • 4 hours for the Enormous Asteroid Cluster
  • 5 hours for the Colossal Asteroid Cluster

Border ores

Null Sec & Wormhole with A0 star
0.5 High-Low border systems
Ducinium Ducinium Eifyrium Eifyrium Mordunium Mordunium Ytirium Ytirium

Ore variants

Most asteroid types have two extra subtypes that yield more (+5% / +10%) minerals when reprocessed; some of the ores have also a +15% subtype. Otherwise they are identical in every way to their base ore, and are found in the same regions, but in lower quantities. For instance, if an asteroid belt has Omber asteroids, it will also have some Silvery Omber asteroids and a few Golden Omber asteroids. If you get the chance, you should always mine the higher-yield variants before mining the base ore.

Base ore +5% variant +10% variant +15% variant
Veldspar Veldspar Concentrated Veldspar Dense Veldspar
Scordite Scordite Condensed Scordite Massive Scordite
Pyroxeres Pyroxeres Solid Pyroxeres Viscous Pyroxeres
Plagioclase Plagioclase Azure Plagioclase Rich Plagioclase
Omber Omber Silvery Omber Golden Omber
Kernite Kernite Luminous Kernite Fiery Kernite
Jaspet Jaspet Pure Jaspet Pristine Jaspet
Hemorphite Hemorphite Vivid Hemorphite Radiant Hemorphite
Hedbergite Hedbergite Vitric Hedbergite Glazed Hedbergite
Gneiss Gneiss Iridescent Gneiss Prismatic Gneiss
Dark Ochre Dark Ochre Onyx Ochre Obsidian Ochre
Crokite Crokite Sharp Crokite Crystalline Crokite
Spodumain Spodumain Bright Spodumain Gleaming Spodumain
Arkonor Arkonor Crimson Arkonor Prime Arkonor
Bistot Bistot Triclinic Bistot Monoclinic Bistot
Mercoxit Mercoxit Magma Mercoxit Vitreous Mercoxit
Ducinium Ducinium Noble Ducinium Royal Ducinium Imperial Ducinium
Eifyrium Eifyrium Doped Eifyrium Boosted Eifyrium Augmented Eifyrium
Mordunium Mordunium Plum Mordunium Prize Mordunium Plunder Mordunium
Ytirium Ytirium Bootleg Ytirium Firewater Ytirium Moonshine Ytirium
Bezdnacine Bezdnacine Abyssal Bezdnacine Hadal Bezdnacine
Rakovene Rakovene Abyssal Rakovene Hadal Rakovene
Talassonite Talassonite Abyssal Talassonite Hadal Talassonite

Mineral Composition of Ores

Main article: Minerals
Main article: Reprocessing

The main goal of asteroid mining is to obtain ore that may be reprocessed into minerals: Mineral tritanium.png Tritanium, Mineral pyerite.png Pyerite, Mineral mexallon.png Mexallon, Mineral isogen.png Isogen, Mineral nocxium.png Nocxium, Mineral zydrine.png Zydrine, Mineral megacyte.png Megacyte and Mineral morphite.png Morphite. The amounts of particular mineral highly differ between different ores, leading to some ores being in high demand and having high market value and some ores being borderline worthless.

External links