Mining crystals

Mining crystals are consumables fitted to certain Tech II mining modules to increase the yield of these mining modules, with certain drawbacks depending on the type of crystal used.

Overview

Crystals are divided into the into 6 tiers of standard asteroid ore types, and the standard moon ore tiers. Within each tier, the crystals are further divided into 3 types with a Tech I and II variant for each type.

Mining crystals can only be used on modulated ore mining modules (any Tech II module with "modulated" in its name) and the ORE deep core mining laser, and increase mining yield when mining a particular kind of ore (but give no benefit when mining another kind of ore). They are loaded into the mining modules (like ammunition) and have a limited lifespan before they break and must be replaced with new crystals.

Crystal compatibility

Asteroid Ores

Mining crystal	Compatible ores
Simple Asteroid Mining Crystals	Veldspar [ MorduniumPure pyerite ore ] Scordite Pyroxeres Plagioclase
Coherent Asteroid Mining Crystals	Omber [ YtiriumPure isogen ore ] Kernite Jaspet Hemorphite Hedbergite
Variegated Asteroid Mining Crystals	Gneiss Dark Ochre Crokite
Complex Asteroid Mining Crystals	Bistot Arkonor [ EifyriumPure zydrine ore ] Spodumain [ DuciniumPure megacyte ore ]
Mercoxit Asteroid Mining Crystals	Mercoxit
Abyssal Asteroid Mining Crystals	Bezdnacine Rakovene Talassonite

Moon Ores

• : Ubiquitous Moon Ore Crystals
• : Common Moon Ore Crystals
• : Uncommon Moon Ore Crystals
• : Rare Moon Ore Crystals
• : Exceptional Moon Ore Crystals

Moon mining crystals only have a visual change to put them in sync with asteroid crystals, and are still compatible with the same tiers of moon ores (ubiquitous, common, uncommon, rare, exceptional). See moon mining for more details on specific ores.

Crystal types

Type A

Type A crystals have moderate yield and residue bonuses, and are the most balanced crystals for standard mining operations.

Crystal	Tech	Cycle time	Volatility	Residue probability	Residue multiplier	Yield modifier	Duration Muliplier
Simple Asteroid Mining Crystal Type A I	I	1x	10%	+0%	0	1.5x	1.0x
Simple Asteroid Mining Crystal Type A II	II	1x	12%	+3.6%	0	1.8x	1.0x

Type B

Type B crystals have much improved yield bonuses, however, they also get a correspondingly high residue probability level to match. These crystals therefore will have a high mining yield but waste more ore in the process. The lower duration results in faster extraction.

Crystal	Tech	Cycle time	Volatility	Residue probability	Residue multiplier	Yield modifier	Duration Muliplier
Simple Asteroid Mining Crystal Type B I	I	0.9x	15%	+20%	0	1.5x	0.9x
Simple Asteroid Mining Crystal Type B II	II	0.8x	19.6%	+30%	0	1.8x	0.8x

Type C

Type C crystals are not for standard mining operations. They have extremely low yields with extremely high residue, making them suitable for strategic ore removal or for offensive mining operations against hostile player space.

Crystal	Tech	Cycle time	Volatility	Residue probability	Residue multiplier	Yield modifier	Duration Muliplier
Simple Asteroid Mining Crystal Type C I	I	1x	24%	+40%	18x	0.25x	1.0x
Simple Asteroid Mining Crystal Type C II	II	1x	30%	+59%	28x	0.2x	1.0x

Skills

All crystals require their corresponding resource processing skills to be unlocked for use. More information about skill requirements is provided in that link.

External links

• Patchnotes for 19.11
• Github project of Mining Yield - Further math on yields, thanks to Wilm0rien based on his reddit post for yields, updated to patch 19.11.