Mining
Overview
Mining is the profession of extracting ore from asteroids; these ores can then be refined into minerals which in turn are used in the production of all player created items in EVE, such as ships and modules. It is one of the few professions that is immediately available to beginning players and most EVE industrialists started their careers by mining. Mining is perhaps the most economically safe professions in EVE; losing mining ships or being podded is uncommon and minerals are always in demand. In its simplest form, mining can be accomplished by finding an asteroid site in a system and mining its asteroids with mining lasers.
Prospecting
Efficiency
Before mining, it is best advised that players determine what is the most profitable way to mine. This involves determining what asteroids to mine, where to find these asteroids, which ships (and skills) are best suited and optimized to mine and (in most cases) how best to haul the ore to a refining station and then to the market. All miners should attempt to maximize their efficiency (and therefore their profitability) which is typically measured by the amount of m3 mined in a cycle of a mining laser. For example Veldspar is the most common and cheapest ore in EVE and has a volume of .1m3, Scordite is the next most common ore but has a volume of .15m3. Therefore, for every cycle, 3/2 more Veldspar is mined than Scordite. To be more profitable Scordite's market price must be in turn 3/2 greater than Veldspar. 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.
A good site that will help you determine the most profitable ores is Grismar's Ore Chart. Look up the market prices of the minerals from your console, and input them in the top row. Hit Apply, and you'll see which ore will give you the most ISK per m3.
Asteroids
Asteroid belts can be found in most systems either on the overview window or by right clicking and using the Asteroid Belt section(Ombey's 2D Maps contains information on the number of asteroid belts in a system). Each asteroid belt has several properties: what asteroids compose the asteroid belt, what asteroids are present and the overall quantity and quality of the asteroids. In empire space there are six asteroids: Veldspar, Scordite, Pyroxeres, Plagioclase, Omber and Kernite. However only a subset of these six asteroids can be found any system depending on which faction controls the region. Low-sec and 0.0 space each have their own respective set of asteroids (which is compounded, so low-sec space contains all the empire space asteroids and 0.0 space contains both empire and low-sec asteroids). A complete list can be found at ToxicFire's ORE Map. Keep in mind that asteroids only spawn after downtime so there will be belts that are devoid of a certain asteroid (or any asteroid in some cases) because other miners have already mined it out.
Missions also often yield significant asteroid belts. Keep an eye out for those, and you may reap in more ore than a couple of belts combined.
Hint: Set your overview to "default mining" (click the triangle next to overview -> load -> mining) to see asteroids other than veldspar.
Ships
There are three types of ships used in mining: a mining ship, a hauler and a mining support ship.
- In general any ship that has a turret slot is capable of becoming a mining ship. Caldari ships typically make good mining ships because of their CPU capacities but each race has a frigate with mining bonuses and typically players will receive one upon completion of the tutorial mission. Popular mining cruisers include the Caldari Osprey and the Gallente Vexor. Players will then typically move on to Mining Barges and then to Exhumers.
- A hauler's purpose is to take the ore that has been mined from a mining ship and transport it back to a refining station or to the market. Usually players will use a industrial ship while mining and a freighter when move large quantities of ore/min from station to station (freighters cost upwards of a billion isk to operate and cannot haul ore from space, so most players will use a industrial ship for both purposes).
- Finally, a mining support ship can either come in the form of a security detail against rats and players looking to steal ore or as a ship designed to provide mining efficiency bonuses. The ultimate mining support ship is the Orca.
| Ship Type | Amarr | Caldari | Gallente | Minmatar |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Frigate | Tormentor | Bantam | Navitas | Burst |
| Cruiser | Arbitrator (drones) | Osprey | Vexor (drones) | Scythe |
| Ship Type | Ship | Use |
|---|---|---|
| Battleship | Rokh | Will out mine a Retriever in some cases by well more than 50%, but requires more attention to cargo hold management |
| Mining Barge | Procurer | Not a recommended ship, more appropriate start ship is the Retriever |
| Retriever | Best entry level mining barge | |
| Covetor | Same skill set as Hulk, only cheaper with less fitting capability, if possible jump to hulk | |
| Exhumer | Skiff | Specializes in mining Mercoxit |
| Mackinaw | Specializes in Ice Mining | |
| Hulk | Best all round mining boat | |
| Support | Command Ships | Can fit gang assist modules and provide security |
| Industrial Command | Orca | Bonuses towards gang link modules, has considerable cargo room, can fly in high sec |
| Capital Industrial | Rorqual | Capital ship, Bonuses towards gang link modules, can compress ore in cargohold vastly increasing capacity |
Mining
There are several methods commonly used in mining, the most basic only requires one account and can be run by very low skill players while the most advanced will require multiple players all performing separate tasks in order to be effective.
Cargohold Mining
The most basic way to mine is to fill the cargohold 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, is possible for very low skill levels and is completely theft proof. Its disadvantages are that most cargoholds are very small and you are not profitable during the times you are ferrying the ore from the belt to the station. If cargohold mining, try to find a ship with a larger than average cargohold with multiple low slots which then can be fitted with expanded cargohold modules. Cargohold mining is typically not recommended since the amount of travel time (and thus time not spent mining) is so great. A variant of this method is called AFK mining where a industrial ship is equipped with a single mining laser (as all industrial ships only have one turret slot) and then is used to mine a large asteroid while the player is AFK; some corporations have policies against AFK mining and it should only be attempted in low traffic high sec regions.
Jet Can Mining
Players can jettison items within their cargoholds into space, which results in a cargo container (more commonly called a jetcan or just a can) forming within 2,500m3 of the ship. This jetcan holds up to 27,500m3 of space which miners take advantage of by transferring the ore in their cargoholds into the jetcan. Typically a player will fill a jetcan with ore, and then swap to a ship with a larger cargohold (most often a industrial ship). Its advantages are that you decrease your travel time significantly from the cargohold mining method. Its disadvantages are that jetcans only have a life span of about an hour (longer if they are named). Furthermore jetcans are not secure, meaning that anyone can open and move items held within 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. One possible way to combat this is to use secure containers which can be programmed with a password; unfortunately, the largest, the giant secure container (usually called a GSC) can only hold 3,900m3 of ore and thus is considerably less efficient than a jet can.
Combo Jet Can Mining
The method is the same as with jetcan mining except that players will work in combo, meaning one member will solely mine while the other solely hauls. This method is very efficient (it can be less profitable if you need to pay for the haul) and it is much harder.
GSC Mining
The Giant Secure Container method of mining lets you solo mine into secure containers that have been anchored and password protected. You can then pick up or have a friend pick up the ore later on. You will need The following: 1. Skill Book: Anchoring under corporate category - trained to level one. 2. Secure Containers: Giant Secure container is preferred
Step 1. Take a Hauler and the secure containers to where you want to mine. Deploy the container about 3000 meters away from any object. Step 2. Important Right click the GSC and anchor it and set the password. If you don't do this step your container can be looted and/or will disappear during the next down time. Step 3. Mine securely and pick up later. These containers will disapear after 30 days if not used. Step 6. There is no step 6.
GSC's AKA EVE's TARDIS
Something that often gets completely missed by rookies is that a Giant Secure Container is larger on the inside than it is on the outside. It is 3000m3 on the outside but 3900m3 internal storage capacity. Now if you are using mining barges, chances are you can fit one of these in your cargohold without too much hassle and with room to spare for a cycle of your strip miner, all you need to do is drag and drop into the container that should remain in your hold. This can also be done with industrial ships, a badger with 2x cargo expanders in fitted in low slots can have 2x GSC's in cargo hold, and that's before fitting rigs.
To top it all off, when you finally reach the helm of a Hulk, you can fit 4x GSC in your cargohold (provided you have rigs + cargo optimization modules) with PLENTY of room to spare, thus increasing your hold capacity by 3600m3. May not seem like all that much, but every little helps!
Dual Account Mining
It is possible to have two accounts on one computer. (If you have multiple monitors, EVEMover is a useful program to manage multiple EVE instances.) One of these can be used as a maxed-out miner, and the second as a hauler. Even new accounts can do this productively. For example, one account could, in two or three weeks, be set up to use a Caldari Osprey with Miner IIs and some Mining Foreman skill. The other, in the same time, could be set up to fly a Badger Mark II (or similar Industrial) and fit a Miner II as well as haul the stuff back to base whenever it is full. This greatly improves the efficiency of mining (4x Miner IIs help a little, but no downtime for hauling helps a lot).
Eventually, one account could move toward an Orca and the other toward a Hulk (or Covetor, or Rokh, etc.). Later, the Orca pilot could also learn Freighters (such as the Charon).
See the Creating an Alt Hauler guide for information on creating a hauler alt quickly and easily. Alternatively, see Creating an Alt Miner for information on how to create an alt to fly the best mining ship in the game quickly and easily.
Mining Operations
A Mining Fleet is just what it sounds like, a fleet for mining, and although initially a solitary activity there can be great benefit in mining as part of a fleet.
The simplest Mining Fleet would be the equivalent of a Spider for Missions, in that each Miner does his/her own thing while being supplied a fleet booster which will increase everyone's yield (boosters only work within the same system). These fleets are generally a join and leave as you want situation with no extra services provided. To be nice it is generally suggested you avoid mining the same target another Fleet member is working on. You may ask them about it and if they decide to give it up they will probably let you have it to yourself. There is usually no central belt for everyone to be working on at once, but it can be a majestic sight to see a fleet of barges/exhumers emptying a belt efficiently.
The next type of Fleet is more structured. A standard mining fleet in high security space generally includes a mix of mining barges, exhumers, and haulers (industrials). The miners will work on a belt constantly and jet can what they obtain. The haulers will ferry the resources from space to a station. This makes for increased proficiency as the mining lasers never need to stop, unless you need to switch belts. Fleet boosters are usually present here as well.
When completing a mining operation, you should consider posting your results here: Past Mining Fleet Results
For more detailed information on Mining Operations see: Cooperative Mining Guide
How To Split The ISK
If you are running an op with multiple miners, chances are there are a whole host of different mining ships, each with its different yields based on the mining lasers, the mining crystals in them, ship bonuses, character skills, etc. Moreover, you will also probably have a hauler and even someone providing mining efficiency bonuses. The simplest way to split the ISK return from an op is to clock in the times a player mined for, and then distribute the ISK in proportion to time mined.
Frequent Mining Op Commanders
Jen Loo often runs Mining Operations, with her Orca acting as the fleet commander. She follows the ISK distribution recommendation above, and also freights and sells the ISK at the best prices locally. In all, each operation probably takes several hours of logistics time in addition to the operation, so be sure to thank her for making life easy on the miners. She runs a mining channel called "Loo Operations," which, despite the name, is not a proctological chat room.
