Asteroids and ore

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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 refined 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 two kinds of cosmic anomaly contains asteroids (the other 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
Amarr quarter Caldari quarter Gallente quarter Minmatar quarter
1.0 and lower Veldspar Veldspar
Scordite Scordite
Clear Icicle Clear Icicle
Veldspar Veldspar
Scordite Scordite
White Glaze White Glaze
Veldspar Veldspar
Scordite Scordite
Blue Ice Blue Ice
Veldspar Veldspar
Scordite Scordite
Glacial Mass Glacial Mass
0.9 and lower Pyroxeres Pyroxeres Pyroxeres Pyroxeres Plagioclase Plagioclase Plagioclase Plagioclase
0.7 and lower Kernite Kernite Plagioclase Plagioclase Omber Omber Omber Omber
0.4 and lower Jaspet Jaspet Kernite Kernite Jaspet Jaspet Kernite Kernite
0.3 and lower Glare Crust Glare Crust Glare Crust Glare Crust Glare Crust Glare Crust Glare Crust Glare Crust
0.2 and lower Hemorphite Hemorphite Hedbergite Hedbergite Hemorphite Hemorphite Hedbergite Hedbergite
0.1 and lower Dark Glitter Dark Glitter Dark Glitter Dark Glitter Dark Glitter Dark Glitter
0.0 and lower Spodumain Spodumain
Gneiss Gneiss
Crokite Crokite
Arkonor Arkonor
Bistot Bistot
Mercoxit Mercoxit
Gelidus Gelidus
Krystallos Krystallos
Enriched Clear Icicle Enriched Clear Icicle
Dark Ochre Dark Ochre
Crokite Crokite
Spodumain Spodumain
Bistot Bistot
Mercoxit Mercoxit
Gelidus Gelidus
Krystallos Krystallos
Pristine White Glaze Pristine White Glaze
Dark Ochre Dark Ochre
Crokite Crokite
Arkonor Arkonor
Bistot Bistot
Mercoxit Mercoxit
Gelidus Gelidus
Krystallos Krystallos
Thick Blue Ice Thick Blue Ice
Spodumain Spodumain
Gneiss Gneiss
Arkonor Arkonor
Bistot Bistot
Mercoxit Mercoxit
Gelidus Gelidus
Krystallos Krystallos
Smooth Glacial Mass 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 refines into a different set of minerals; for details, see Refining.

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 refined. 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 Veldspar Concentrated Veldspar Dense Veldspar Everywhere
Scordite Scordite Condensed Scordite Massive Scordite Everywhere
Pyroxeres Pyroxeres Solid Pyroxeres Viscous Pyroxeres Amarr and Caldari 0.9 (or lower) space
Plagioclase Plagioclase Azure Plagioclase Rich Plagioclase Caldari 0.7 (or lower) space
Minmatar and Gallente 0.9 (or lower) space
Omber Omber Silvery Omber Golden Omber Gallente and Minmatar 0.7 (or lower) space
Kernite Kernite Luminous Kernite Fiery Kernite Amarr 0.7 (or lower) space
Caldari and Minmatar 0.4 (or lower) space
Jaspet Jaspet Pure Jaspet Pristine Jaspet Amarr and Gallente 0.4 (or lower) space
Hemorphite Hemorphite Vivid Hemorphite Radiant Hemorphite Amarr and Gallente 0.2 (or lower) space
Hedbergite Hedbergite Vitric Hedbergite Glazed Hedbergite Caldari and Minmatar 0.2 (or lower) space
Gneiss Gneiss Iridescent Gneiss Prismatic Gneiss Amarr and Minmatar 0.0 (or lower) space
Dark Ochre Dark Ochre Onyx Ochre Obsidian Ochre Caldari and Gallente 0.0 (or lower) space
Spodumain Spodumain Bright Spodumain Gleaming Spodumain 0.0 space (or lower, except Gallente)
Crokite Crokite Sharp Crokite Crystalline Crokite 0.0 space (or lower, except Minmatar)
Arkonor Arkonor Crimson Arkonor Prime Arkonor 0.0 space (or lower, except Caldari)
Bistot Bistot Triclinic Bistot Monoclinic Bistot All of 0.0 (or lower) space
Mercoxit Mercoxit Magma Mercoxit Vitreous Mercoxit All of 0.0 (or lower) space

External links