Ice harvesting
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Ice Mining is the process of mining ice field (commonly called "ice belts"). This mined ice can then be refined into fuel for Player Owned Structures (POS) and Capital Ship Jump Drives. Ice mining can only be done with specialized modules (ice miners) which can only be fit to Mining Barges and Exhumers. Unlike ore mining, ice miners mine one block of ice (with a volume of 1000 m3) per cycle; as it's not possible to increase this yield, the only way to mine ice more efficiently is to decrease the ice miners' cycle times.
Note: the Odyssey expansion (June 2013) changed ice mining considerably. Before the expansion, ice belts were permanent features in a system, with thousands of ice asteroids spread over hundreds of kilometers. This was changed to much smaller (10-20 ice asteroids each with 50-200 units of ice) dynamic belts which disappear once mined out, and then respawn four hours later.
Contents
Advantages of Ice Mining
- Reduced attention required by the miner when compared with ore mining.
- Ability to be self-sufficient for POS fuel.
- Easier to mine without a dedicated hauler (longer cycle times mean fewer trips to the station).
- Fun factor of 4-hourly 'Ice Rush' when a belt spawns, as dozens of miners rush in to clear the belt.
Disadvantages of Ice Mining
- Reduced ISK yield compared to ore mining. While ice commands similar prices to ore, it's not possible to mine ice continuously due to the 4 hour respawn timer on ice belts.
Ice Belts
Ice belts can be found in every region of New Eden, but only in certain systems (a good place to see which systems is dotlan). Each of these systems contains one ice belt, which spawns after downtime, disappears once mined out, and then respawns four hours later. Unlike asteroid belts, ice belts are a type of Cosmic Anomaly, meaning they will appear in a different location in the star system every time they respawn, and can be found using your ship's onboard scanner (but do not require scan probes to find).
Ice Asteroids
There are twelve different types of ice asteroids, split into three categories: faction asteroids, enriched faction asteroids, and standard asteroids.
- Faction asteroids (Clear Icicle, Glacial Mass, Blue Ice, and White Glaze) refine to small quantities of Heavy Water, Liquid Ozone and Strontium Clathrates, but large amounts of their respective faction's isotope (Helium Isotopes, Hydrogen Isotopes, Oxygen Isotopes, and Nitrogen Isotopes). Each of these asteroid types is only found in the regions of space controlled by their respective faction (so, for instance, Blue Ice only spawns in Gallente space, and contains Oxygen Isotopes, which are used to fuel the jump drives on Gallente ships to manufacture fuel for Gallente POSes).
- Enriched faction asteroids (Enriched Clear Icicle, Smooth Glacial Mass, Thick Blue Ice, and Pristine White Glaze) work the same way as regular faction asteroids, but contain more of the same materials. These asteroids are only found in nullsec.
- Standard asteroids (Glare Crust, Dark Glitter, Gelidus, and Krystallos) contain large quantities of Heavy Water, Liquid Ozone and Strontium Clathrates, but no faction isotopes.
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| Refined minerals / Type of ice |
 Heavy Water |
 Helium Isotopes |
 Hydrogen Isotopes |
 Liquid Ozone |
 Nitrogen Isotopes |
 Oxygen Isotopes |
 Strontium Clathrates |
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 Blue Ice
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 Clear Icicle
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 Glacial Mass
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 White Glaze
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| Thick Blue Ice
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| Enriched Clear Icicle
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| Smooth Glacial Mass
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| Pristine White Glaze
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 Dark Glitter
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 Gelidus
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 Glare Crust
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 Krystallos
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There are 4 basic types of ice asteroid. These match the faction that controls local space. With perfect ice refine capability, 1 unit of each type will always produce:
- 50 Heavy Water
- 25 Liquid Ozone
- 1 Strontium Clathrates
- 300 of a faction-specific isotope, as follows:
| Amarr - Clear Icicle | Caldari - White Glaze | Gallente - Blue Ice | Minmatar - Glacial Mass | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Isotope | Helium | Nitrogen | Oxygen | Hydrogen |
Basic Ice Mining Requirements
Ice Harvesting modules can only fit on Mining Barges or Exhumers. As with normal ore mining, the Retriever is the recommended starting point:
Retriever
The following skills are the minimum skills required to pilot a Retriever.
Ice Harvester
in addition, to harvest ice, the following skill is required.
With these skills the miner can acquire 1 piece of ice, per Ice Harvester, every 300 seconds (5 minutes).
Improving Cycle Times
Skills
Further training in Ice Harvesting will decrease the cycle time by 5% per level to a maximum 25% reduction in cycle time. Minimum cycle is therefore 225 seconds.
Tech 2 Modules
With Ice Harvesting 5 it is possible to use the Ice Harvester II module. This has a base cycle time of 250 seconds reducing to 187.5 seconds with the skill bonus applied. Ship bonuses , depending on what barge/exhumer you are using, can also affect harvesting. (bonuses are noted further down)
Ice Harvesting Upgrades
(Using the Retriever as an example)
Cycle times can be reduced further using Ice Harvesting Upgrades. These work in the same way as Mining Laser Upgrades, but reduce the cycle time instead of increasing yield. A T1 upgrade provides a 5% bonus (10% CPU penalty) and a T2 upgrade provides a 9% bonus (12.5% penalty). To minimise cycle time the aim is to fill all low power slots with these modules for a combined cycle reduction of 27%. [Note: Training up Skills:Industry#Mining Upgrades|Mining Upgrades will reduce the penalties as well as allowing use of the T2 upgrade at a higher level.]
Personal experience: I found that when fitting my ship with the Ice Harvester Upgrade IIs I ran out of CPU with 3 active and was unable to fit the two T2 Ice Harvesters. The issue was resolved by using a cpu upgrade rig (there were leftover calibration points) and training higher levels of Electronics.
Rigs
Medium Ice Harvester Accelerator I results in a 12% reduction to the duration of ice harvester cycles. Calibration cost: 250
Implants
Inherent Implants 'Yeti' Ice Harvesting IH-1001; Inherent Implants 'Yeti' Ice Harvesting IH-1003; Inherent Implants 'Yeti' Ice Harvesting IH-1005
Provides for 1%, 3%, or 5% reduction in cycle time, respectively.
Other Considerations
Ice Output
Due to the changes:
Skiff 66% reduction in cycle time + 1% for every level of Exhumer
Mackinaw 33% reduction in cycle time + 1% for every level of Exhumer
Hulk 0% reduction in cycle time but + 4% for every level of Exhumer
[NOTE: mining barges have the same ship bonuses minus the Exhumer bonus]
Cargo Space
The Mackinaw its the elite in cargo hold followed by the skiff leaving the
Hulk trailing behind at last place.
Survivability
While most ice mining is done in hisec, suicide gankers often see the AFK nature of ice miners as an advantage.
The Skiff takes the far lead due to its bonuses in shield tank ability.
Price
Most dedicated miners will own a Hulk for high-yield mining, so frequently the
Mackinaw is bought as a second ship dedicated to solo mining due to the large
Ore hold.
The market for both change depending on the demand or availablity, due to this
reason the price cant be set as a guide to what ship is the cheapest and most
cost effective.
looking at you local market and comparing the price with your needs will
have to be taken into account to see what is the best for you.
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 (POS) and certain ships with jump drive capability.
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 a low amount, 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, be in a fleet or use the ore hold god called the Mackinaw.
Perfect Ice Mining Requirements
Mackinaw skills:
Ice Harvester II module:
Ice Mining Upgrades
This skill set will result in a reduction of cycle time on your lasers. Modules, such as the Ice Harvester Upgrade can further decrease the cycle time. Implants, such as the 'Yeti' series can even further decrease this time. If possible, use a fleet booster such as an Orca, with boosts to decrease cycle time. Remember the yield boosters are useless, so the only boosts you can do in relation to Ice mining are time decreases.
== MAX Pilot & MAX Fleet == (need to update post Odyssey - base cycle times halved)
(This results in a cycle time of 101 seconds for 2 blocks.)
Best Pilot (This results in a cycle time of 150 seconds for 2 blocks.)
- Ship: Mackinaw
- Above Skills
- Implant: Slot 10 - Yeti 5 (The Yeti 5 only improves cycle time by 5 seconds from the MAX of 101 to 106; so likely not worth the price.)
- High Slot: 2 Ice Harvester II (The ORE does not help reduce cycle time, only CPU; so likely not worth the price.)
- Low Slot: 3 Ice Harvester Upgrade II (The Ingenii does not help reduce cycle time, only CPU; so likely not worth the price.)
- Rig Slot: 1 Medium Ice Harvester Accelerator I (There is no II at the moment.)
Best Booster (This results in a 32.3% reduction in Activation Time.)
- Ship: Orca
- Skills:
- Implant: Slot 10 - Mining Foreman Mindlink
- High Slot: Mining Foreman Link - Laser Optimization II
References
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