Ice harvesting

Ice mining is different to standard asteroid mining as only mining barges and exhumers are capable of fitting the required equipment, and the refined products are not used for manufacture, but for the standard operation of Player Owned Structures(POS) as well as Capital Ship Jump Drives.

Ice mining equipment also differs to asteroid miners, as the yield is a fixed parameter depending on the ships being used. All capable ships will mine one piece of ice per cycle, except for the mackinaw which has a 100% bonus, thusly 2 pieces of ice will be mined per cycle.

To improve the amount of ice mined, the cycle time is reduced, allowing for more cycles.

Basic Ice Mining Requirements

The following allows for a Mining Barge to be used:

• Astrogeology III
• Science IV
• Industry V
• Mining Barge I
• Mining IV

The following allows for the use of a Ice Harvester I module

• Ice Harvesting - level 1

This skill set will result in 1 Piece of Ice per Ice Harvester with a cycle time of 10mins

This is the lowest ice yield rate possible

Hulk or Mackinaw

One of the most controversial questions when Ice mining, is what ship should be used. The answer is always the Mackinaw or the Hulk and below we will outline the benefits of each as honestly, which to choose is a personal decision.

Ice Output This is an easy one to answer, the Mackinaw produces more ice per minute then the hulk can. This is down to the fact that it has a 100% yield bonus and for every cycle you receive 4 pieces of ice instead of one.

Cargo Space The hulk is capable of holding 8 pieces of ice compared to the mackinaw’s 6, and with module expansions and rigging, it is obvious that the hulk can stay out longer before having to return to that station to drop off the ice. However it does take longer to mine.

Survivability There are more then enough high sec systems with ice belts, and Eygfe is one such system close to Aldrat. Thusly on a safety standpoint it is not necessary to move into dangerous low-sec space. However there is still the issue of suicide gang attacks (gankers) Ice belts can be targeted due to the belief that many ice miners are afk and are thusly easy targets. The hulk does have an increased chance of surviving a ganker attack then the mackinaw does.

Price Many experienced players will point out that any one wanting to be a miner will have to buy a Hulk at some point to maximize there profits. This means that frequently the Mackinaw is bought as a second ship, dedicated to ice mining, as such significantly increases purchase costs.

The big question – Is Ice mining actually for me?

Yet again another question without a correct answer. There are many reasons for and against Ice Mining, but there are some important facts that need to be said. Ice has a limited use compared to asteroids. Minerals from asteroids are used throughout eve, basically everything out there is made out of minerals where as ice products are only used in Player Owned Structures and certain ships with jump drive capability. It is perhaps considered easier to ice mine, as the cycle times are significantly longer then asteroid mining modules, and ice asteroids are so massive, that it would take a large fleet of ships to mine all of the ice, as such it is very difficult for the ice asteroid to run out. Many miners will tell you the frustration at mining an asteroid with hardly next to nothing in it and loosing cycle time because they haven’t got the attention to focus on there scanners. This is perhaps where Ice Mining does come into its own, and many miners have been known to hit the asteroid belt while there for example studying. The final big issue is well, that ice is big! Just one block takes up 1000m3 of space. So an unmodified Hulk can only fit 8 pieces, not much really. Many professional ice miners will have a second account to act as a hauler to move the ice and leave the miner in place.

Perfect Ice Mining Requirements

The following allows for Mackinaw to be used perfectly

• Exhumers V
• Spaceship Command IV
• Industry V
• Astrogeology V
• Science IV
• Mining IV
• Mining Barge V

The following allows for the use of a Ice Harvester II module

• Ice Harvesting V

2 x Ice Mining Upgrades

This skill set will result in 2 pieces of Ice per Ice harvester with a cycle time of 4 mins 20sec