Asteroids and ore

Ore is the basic material found in the various asteroid fields throughout EVE. In their native form asteroid ores cannot be used, but must be reprocessed into minerals, which can then be used for ship and equipment manufacture.

Where to find asteroids

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

Asteroid belt geometry

Each mineable asteroids contains only one kind of ore, and they can be found in:

• Asteroid belts
• Deadspace pockets
• Cosmic anomalies

Asteroid belts

Virtually every star system (with the notable exception of Jita) in Eve has at least one asteroid belt, and most star systems have several (to up to tens in some cases). These belts are listed on the overview and the right-click menu, and always have the same geometry: a rough semicircle of asteroids, approximately 50 km in diameter. A ship warping to an asteroid belt's beacon (through the right-click menu or the overview) will warp to the centre of the semicircle. Note that mining lasers only have an (unboosted) range of only 10-15 km, so a ship has to fly closer to the belt after warping in in order to mine asteroids; 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 the 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). The asteroids in an asteroid belt will respawn after downtime. The websites Ombeve and Dotlan have maps showing the number of asteroid belts per system.

Deadspace pockets

Mineable asteroids can also spawn in deadspace pockets, such as the ones created for missions. Unlike asteroid belts, these are not organised 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.

Cosmic anomalies

Lastly, one of the 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.

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

Asteroid distribution

Asteroid distribution

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).

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 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, the lower the security rating of a system, the rarer the asteroid types that can be found there. Finally, each system can also include all the asteroid types of same-quarter higher-security systems; e.g. a Gallente system with a security rating of 0.7 will not only include Omber asteroids, but also Veldspar, Scordite, and Plagioclase asteroids. The following table also includes the distribution of ice asteroids; for more details, see Ice Mining.

System security rating	Quarter
█ 1.0 and lower	Veldspar Scordite Clear Icicle	Veldspar Scordite White Glaze	Veldspar Scordite Blue Ice	Veldspar Scordite Glacial Mass
█ 0.9 and lower	Pyroxeres	Pyroxeres	Plagioclase	Plagioclase
█ 0.7 and lower	Kernite	Plagioclase	Omber	Omber
█ 0.4 and lower	Jaspet	Kernite	Jaspet	Kernite
█ 0.3 and lower	Glare Crust	Glare Crust	Glare Crust	Glare Crust
█ 0.2 and lower	Hemorphite	Hedbergite	Hemorphite	Hedbergite
█ 0.1 and lower	Dark Glitter	Dark Glitter		Dark Glitter
█ 0.0 and lower	Spodumain Gneiss Crokite Arkonor Bistot Mercoxit Gelidus Krystallos Enriched Clear Icicle	Dark Ochre Crokite Spodumain Bistot Mercoxit Gelidus Krystallos Pristine White Glaze	Dark Ochre Crokite Arkonor Bistot Mercoxit Gelidus Krystallos Thick Blue Ice	Spodumain Gneiss Arkonor Bistot Mercoxit Gelidus Krystallos Smooth Glacial Mass

In general, the rarer the ore, the higher its volume per unit (e.g. one unit of Veldspar has a volume of 0.1 m³, whereas one unit of Arkonor has a volume of 16 m³). Since mining lasers mine a given volume of ore per minute, it takes longer to mine the rarer ore types. Additionally, each ore reprocesses into a different set of minerals; for details, see Reprocessing.

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 variants

Each asteroid type has two further subtypes, which yield more (+5% / +10%) minerals when reprocessed. Otherwise they are identical in every way to their base ore, and are found in the same regions (just 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	Found in
Veldspar	Concentrated Veldspar	Dense Veldspar	Everywhere
Scordite	Condensed Scordite	Massive Scordite	Everywhere
Pyroxeres	Solid Pyroxeres	Viscous Pyroxeres	Amarr and Caldari 0.9 (or lower) space
Plagioclase	Azure Plagioclase	Rich Plagioclase	Caldari 0.7 (or lower) space Minmatar and Gallente 0.9 (or lower) space
Omber	Silvery Omber	Golden Omber	Gallente and Minmatar 0.7 (or lower) space
Kernite	Luminous Kernite	Fiery Kernite	Amarr 0.7 (or lower) space Caldari and Minmatar 0.4 (or lower) space
Jaspet	Pure Jaspet	Pristine Jaspet	Amarr and Gallente 0.4 (or lower) space
Hemorphite	Vivid Hemorphite	Radiant Hemorphite	Amarr and Gallente 0.2 (or lower) space
Hedbergite	Vitric Hedbergite	Glazed Hedbergite	Caldari and Minmatar 0.2 (or lower) space
Gneiss	Iridescent Gneiss	Prismatic Gneiss	Amarr and Minmatar 0.0 (or lower) space
Dark Ochre	Onyx Ochre	Obsidian Ochre	Caldari and Gallente 0.0 (or lower) space
Spodumain	Bright Spodumain	Gleaming Spodumain	0.0 space (or lower, except Gallente)
Crokite	Sharp Crokite	Crystalline Crokite	0.0 space (or lower, except Minmatar)
Arkonor	Crimson Arkonor	Prime Arkonor	0.0 space (or lower, except Caldari)
Bistot	Triclinic Bistot	Monoclinic Bistot	All of 0.0 (or lower) space
Mercoxit	Magma Mercoxit	Vitreous Mercoxit	All of 0.0 (or lower) space

Ore Chart

Ore	Batch	Vol.	Tri	Pye	Mex	Iso	Noc	Zyd	Meg	Mor	Location
Veldspar	100	0.1	415	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1.0 (All Space)
Concentrated Veldspar (+5%)	100	0.1	436	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1.0 (All Space)
Dense Veldspar (+10%)	100	0.1	457	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1.0 (All Space)
Scordite	100	0.15	346	173	0	0	0	0	0	0	1.0 (All Space)
Condensed Scordite (+5%)	100	0.15	363	182	0	0	0	0	0	0	1.0 (All Space)
Massive Scordite (+10%)	100	0.15	380	190	0	0	0	0	0	0	1.0 (All Space)
Pyroxeres	100	0.3	351	25	50	0	5	0	0	0	0.9 (Amarr, Caldari)
Solid Pyroxeres (+5%)	100	0.3	368	26	53	0	5	0	0	0	0.9 (Amarr, Caldari)
Viscous Pyroxeres (+10%)	100	0.3	385	27	55	0	5	0	0	0	0.9 (Amarr, Caldari)
Plagioclase	100	0.35	107	213	107	0	0	0	0	0	0.9 (Gallente, Minmatar), 0.7 (Caldari)
Azure Plagioclase (+5%)	100	0.35	112	224	112	0	0	0	0	0	0.9 (Gallente, Minmatar), 0.7 (Caldari)
Rich Plagioclase (+10%)	100	0.35	117	234	117	0	0	0	0	0	0.9 (Gallente, Minmatar), 0.7 (Caldari)
Omber	100	0.6	85	34	0	85	0	0	0	0	0.7 (Gallente, Minmatar)
Silvery Omber (+5%)	100	0.6	89	36	0	89	0	0	0	0	0.7 (Gallente, Minmatar)
Golden Omber (+10%)	100	0.6	94	38	0	94	0	0	0	0	0.7 (Gallente, Minmatar)
Kernite	100	1.2	134	0	267	134	0	0	0	0	0.7 (Amarr), 0.4 (Caldari, Minmatar)
Luminous Kernite (+5%)	100	1.2	140	0	281	140	0	0	0	0	0.7 (Amarr), 0.4 (Caldari, Minmatar)
Fiery Kernite (+10%)	100	1.2	147	0	294	147	0	0	0	0	0.7 (Amarr), 0.4 (Caldari, Minmatar)
Jaspet	100	2	72	121	144	0	72	3	0	0	0.4 (Amarr, Gallente)
Pure Jaspet (+5%)	100	2	76	127	151	0	76	3	0	0	0.4 (Amarr, Gallente)
Pristine Jaspet (+10%)	100	2	79	133	158	0	79	3	0	0	0.4 (Amarr, Gallente)
Hemorphite	100	3	180	72	17	59	118	8	0	0	0.2 (Amarr, Gallente)
Vivid Hemorphite (+5%)	100	3	189	76	18	62	123	9	0	0	0.2 (Amarr, Gallente)
Radiant Hemorphite (+10%)	100	3	198	79	19	65	129	9	0	0	0.2 (Amarr, Gallente)
Hedbergite	100	3	0	81	0	196	98	9	0	0	0.2 (Amarr, Gallente)
Vitric Hedbergite (+5%)	100	3	0	85	0	206	103	10	0	0	0.2 (Amarr, Gallente)
Glazed Hedbergite (+10%)	100	3	0	89	0	216	108	10	0	0	0.2 (Amarr, Gallente)
Gneiss	100	5	1278	0	1278	242	0	60	0	0	-0.4 (Amarr, Minmatar)
Iridescent Gneiss (+5%)	100	5	1342	0	1342	254	0	63	0	0	-0.4 (Amarr, Minmatar)
Prismatic Gneiss (+10%)	100	5	1406	0	1406	266	0	65	0	0	-0.4 (Amarr, Minmatar)
Dark Ochre	100	8	8804	0	0	0	173	87	0	0	-0.2 (Caldari, Gallente)
Onyx Ochre (+5%)	100	8	9245	0	0	0	182	91	0	0	-0.2 (Caldari, Gallente)
Obsidian Ochre (+10%)	100	8	9685	0	0	0	190	95	0	0	-0.2 (Caldari, Gallente)
Spodumain	100	16	39221	4972	0	0	0	0	78	0	-0.5 (Amarr, Caldari)
Bright Spodumain (+5%)	100	16	41182	5221	0	0	0	0	82	0	-0.5 (Amarr, Caldari)
Gleaming Spodumain (+10%)	100	16	43143	5469	0	0	0	0	86	0	-0.5 (Amarr, Caldari)
Crokite	100	16	20992	0	0	0	275	367	0	0	-0.5 (Amarr, Caldari, Gallente)
Sharp Crokite (+5%)	100	16	22041	0	0	0	290	385	0	0	-0.5 (Amarr, Caldari, Gallente)
Crystalline Crokite (10%)	100	16	23091	0	0	0	304	403	0	0	-0.5 (Amarr, Caldari, Gallente)
Bistot	100	16	0	16572	0	0	0	236	118	0	-0.6 (All Space)
Triclinic Bistot (+5%)	100	16	0	17402	0	0	0	248	124	0	-0.6 (All Space)
Monoclinic Bistot (+10%)	100	16	0	18230	0	0	0	259	130	0	-0.6 (All Space)
Arkonor	100	16	6905	0	1278	0	0	115	230	0	-0.7 (All Space)
Crimson Arkonor (+5%)	100	16	7251	0	1342	0	0	121	242	0	-0.7 (All Space)
Prime Arkonor (+10%)	100	16	7596	0	1406	0	0	127	253	0	-0.7 (All Space)
Mercoxit	100	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	293	-0.8 (All Space)
Magma Mercoxit (+5%)	100	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	308	-0.8 (All Space)
Vitreous Mercoxit (+10%)	100	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	323	-0.8 (All Space)
Ore	Batch	Vol.	Tri	Pye	Mex	Iso	Noc	Zyd	Meg	Mor	Location

  1234   Green backgrounds indicate the best value per m3 for that mineral.

Batch Size

This is the minimal amount of ore you need for reprocessing. All values in the table (with the exception of volume) are based on one full batch.

External links

• Evelopedia:Locations of ore and ice in space
• Evelopedia:Ore