Mining: Difference between revisions

{{Update|Major rewrite needed due to December 2021, Version 19.11 major changes to mining mechanics.}}

* '''Guaranteed income''': Mining products are always in high demand because ships and structures are constantly being destroyed and replaced, and replacing ships and structures requires materials. Mining in fleets with boosts can earn 15-20 million ISK per hour or more, depending on the resources being harvested.

Asteroids can also be found in the deadspace pockets created for [[Mission mining|certain missions]], as well as in [[Cosmic Anomaly|cosmic anomalies]]. While these sites are a bit more difficult to find, they also tend to have much less competition and have richer pickings. Generally the type of ore matches the regular ore from the asteroid belts in this area of [[New Eden]] but there is an important exception referred to by players as border/A0 ores.

Border/A0 ores are Ducinium, Eifyrium, Mordunium and Ytirium. They may be found in special cosmic anomalies that infrequently spawn in systems that

* either are in null-sec or wormhole space and contain an A0 star,

* or lie on a border between high-sec and low-sec or between low-sec and null-sec.

<!-- Todo: [https://www.reddit.com/r/Eve/comments/10oakte/the_new_ore_in_a0_systems/] suggests it can also be on high-sec -- null-sec border whenever such systems exist on the map. -->

The extraction process is beyond the scope of this article, but once the chunk has been extracted, it exists as an asteroid field that contains both normal ore types and special moon-specific ores which can be mined for moon materials.

After extraction, the mining is performed using the same mining equipment and processes described in this article, with the exception of Tier 2 modulated mining lasers requiring moon ore-specific crystals for good efficiency.

Mining missions are given by Mining agents and require you to mine an asteroid or set of asteroids in a mission pocket — usually until the asteroids are depleted — and bring the ore back to the agent. They use unique mission ores which are separate versions of normal ores.

The basic mechanics of mining are very simple: Fit your ship with a [[ORE Basic Ship and Skill Overview#Fitting strategies and mining modules|mining module]], approach and [[targeting|target]] an asteroid, and activate your mining module. At the ''end'' of each cycle (usually between 1 and 3 minutes, depending on the module used), the ore mined is automatically deposited in your ship's cargo or mining hold. The mining module will then automatically continue mining until either your cargo/mining hold is full, or the asteroid has been "mined out" (all the available ore in that asteroid has been mined and it disappears). Make sure that you keep the asteroid within range of your mining module (usually by stopping your ship, or orbiting the asteroid) - if you are too far away, the mining module will finish its current cycle regardless, but you will receive no ore.

Once your cargo or mining hold is full, bring the ore you have mined to a station (either fly there yourself or transfer the ore to another player's ship to fly back (see [[Mining#Solo mining|solo mining]] and [[Mining#Cooperative mining|cooperative mining]] for more details)), then return to the asteroids and continue mining!

All computations with income from mining are typically done in (ISK per m³). The reason for this is that all mining modules mine a certain volume of ore/ice/gas in a given time. For example, a beginner miner in a Venture with, say, 200m³/min yield would mine 2000 units of Veldspar per minute, as volume of 1 unit is 0.1m³, or, for example, 100 units of Jaspet per minute, as volume of 1 unit is 2m³. Therefore it makes sense to compare not prices per unit, but prices per m³.  

Since the market is player-driven, ore and mineral prices are ever-changing, hence miners should always check the market for the most efficient ore/mineral to mine for. Websites like [https://ore.cerlestes.de/index.html Cerlestes ore table] can look up the current market prices for ores and minerals, and give you a recommendation on which ores are the most profitable. Remember to double-check the prices that any automated tools give you - they will often use regional averages to determine mineral prices; if you plan to sell your goods at a specific station or hub then your priorities might come out differently. Lastly, most expensive types of ore are typically assotiated with most dangerous [[Asteroids and ore#Asteroid distribution|parts of New Eden]] so you might want to limit yourself to safer areas.

[[File:Rorqual.jpg|thumb|The Rorqual, backbone of null-sec mining operation, released with a signature ability known as the ore compression, which now available to Orca and Porpoise too.]]

Mercoxit mining has one other notable feature: when you mine a Mercoxit asteroid, it will randomly release a cloud of toxic gas which will damage your ship if you're caught in it. Fortunately, the cloud only forms within 5&nbsp;km of the asteroid, so keep your ship further away to escape any damage (note that this precludes you from using the basic Deep Core Mining Laser I module, as it has a maximum range of only 5&nbsp;km). Additionally, you can train {{sk|Deep Core Mining|icon=yes}}, which reduces the chance of a cloud forming by 10% per skill level - in other words, at {{sk|Deep Core Mining|V}}, only half the amount of clouds will spawn when you mine Mercoxit.

After a week's training, a budding miner should have the necessary skills to fly a mining barge, which have more than double the mining yield of a Venture, as well as even larger mining holds and/or a stronger tank. These ships are also more expensive (15-40M ISK, plus modules), but given that a Venture can mine about 500-700k ISK worth of ore per full mining hold, this money is soon earned. There are three different mining barges, each with a different focus (see table below).

{| class=wikitable style="width:80%"

|- style="background:#222222"

| Can fit gang assist modules and provide security.

| '''Industrial Command Ship'''  

| Capital ship, cannot enter in high-sec, bonuses towards gang link modules, can compress all types of ore for self and fleet member.

In addition to letting you fly the mentioned ships (which only needs level I), training higher ranks of these skills greatly enhance their respective ships. For instance, the Venture gains +5% mining yield per level of the Mining Frigate skill - which is on top of the bonuses provided by {{sk|Mining}} and {{sk|Astrogeology}}! So if you've found a ship you like, train the corresponding spaceship command skill to make it even better.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When you warp to an asteroid belt, you will land in the middle of a [[Asteroids and ore#Asteroid belts|semicircle of asteroids about 50&nbsp;km in diameter]]. Since the (unboosted) range of mining lasers is only 10&nbsp;km (15&nbsp;km for strip miners), you will then need to fly closer to your target asteroid in order to mine it - and mining ships are not particularly known for their speed. You can cut down on this travel time by using [[bookmarks]], which allow you to warp directly next to an asteroid, and start mining immediately. If you're using [[Drones#Mining Drones|mining drones]], it's particularly important to be close to your target asteroid, as the drones have to otherwise spend a lot of time traveling back and forth between your ship and the asteroid.

For instance, say you are mining an asteroid that contains 200 units of Veldspar (Veldspar has a volume of 0.1&nbsp;m³ per unit, so this asteroid contains 20&nbsp;m³ of Veldspar). Your Mining Laser I has a yield of (say) 100&nbsp;m³/min, and a cycle time of 60 seconds. Even though there are only 20&nbsp;m³ of Veldspar left in the asteroid, the module will complete its entire 60 second cycle before shutting off (with a message saying "the asteroid is depleted") - but those 60 seconds of mining only yielded 20&nbsp;m³ of ore (instead 100&nbsp;m³)! The problem becomes even worse when using strip miners, as they have a much higher yield and a cycle time three times as long - which can result in a lot of wasted time if you're mining asteroids that don't contain much ore.

The most basic way to mine is to fill the mining hold of a ship full of ore and then return to a station to drop it off. Its advantages are that it requires only one character, can be done at very low skill levels and is completely theft-proof. Its disadvantage is that the time you spend traveling to and from a station is wasted (i.e. not spent mining) - however, most mining ships (with the notable exception of the [[Covetor]] and the [[Hulk]]) have large enough mining holds that they do not need to return frequently to a station to unload.

As an example: An average-skilled miner flying a [[Venture]] can mine about 250&nbsp;m³/min of ore, which is enough to fill the Venture's mining hold (5000&nbsp;m³) in about 20 minutes. Given that the Venture aligns and warps like a frigate, round trips to a station will take only a minute or two, so very little time is lost. A highly-skilled miner flying a [[Hulk]], on the other hand, can mine about 1600&nbsp;m³/min of ore, which will fill the Hulk's mining hold (11,500&nbsp;m³) in about 7 minutes, requiring frequent return trips to a station (made longer by the slow align time and warp speed of the Hulk).

(Note: Prior to the [[Expansions#Retribution|Retribution expansion]], cargohold mining was very unprofitable, as the cargo holds of non-industrial ships were so small that they filled up too rapidly. However, with the introduction of dedicated mining holds on all mining ships, this is no longer the case.)

Players can jettison items from their holds into space, which results in a cargo container (more commonly called a "[[jetcan]]" or just a "can") forming within 2,500 m of the ship. This jettisoned container has a volume capacity of 55,000&nbsp;{{m3}}. Miners can take advantage of this capacity by transferring the ore in their mining hold into the jetcan. Typically a player will fill a jetcan with ore, and then (once the jetcan is full) swap to a ship with a larger mining/cargo hold (most often an [[hauler]]) and haul the ore to a nearby station.

If you're flying a mining ship with a mining hold that's considerably smaller than a jetcan (such as a [[Venture]] (5,000&nbsp;{{m3}} mining hold) or a [[Covetor]] (9,000&nbsp;{{m3}} mining hold)), this method can increase your efficiency, as you can spend more time mining and less time hauling. As all other mining ships have mining holds which are as large or larger than a jetcan (in addition to the time lost in changing ships and the risk of getting your ore stolen), using jetcans is probably not worth your time. They do, however, come in very handy if you're [[#Dual account mining|mining with two accounts]] or in a [[#Mining fleets|fleet]] (see below).

Note that jetcans only have a lifespan of 2 hours and they are not secure, meaning [[Can flipping|anyone can open and remove items from a jetcan]]. This is a common form of theft and griefing in the game, where a player will "flip" a jetcan either to steal the ore or to induce a fight without [[CONCORD]] intervention. While it's possible to combat this by using secure containers (which can be programmed with a password), the largest of these (the giant secure container, often called a GSC) can only hold 3,900&nbsp;m³ of ore, which is less than the mining hold on even the smallest mining ship (although using them was a commonly-used practice in the past when mining ships had much smaller cargo holds).  

A better alternative to GSCs are [[Mobile structures#Mobile Tractor Unit|mobile tractor units]]. They have nearly as much capacity as a jetcan, are unable to be accessed by random people, and have a decay of 2 days. They also suck in and store any ore a miner might jetcan into a safer place. A mining barge can store 3 MTUs and deploy them for a temporary total of 81,000m³ of extra space. This allows for a large amount of time to be saved from station mining, as a miner instead of having to dock up can just jetcan the ore to be stored for later.

Mining ops are generally more relaxed than combat fleet ops, co-operative mission running or complex clearing. Chat and/or [[Mumble]] deal with a wider variety of topics and separating the required tasks to specialists provides everyone time to participate in the conversations. Not only does this atmosphere provide a social element of connection with the other members, but it also lets the "teaching" move beyond mining to cover a myriad of subjects.