Mining Ships
As a pilot, new to Eve Online, there is an overwhelming choice of ships and modules to cater for every possibility, and as miners we have been given a series of ships that give us an edge. This section is going to take a look at the Frigate and Cruiser ships that haven been given a mining roll bonus, as well as the modules that you might want to invest in. It is recommended that before you choose a ship, you read about the basics of mining as it gives a good overview as to what asteroids are and how we exploit them.
In general any ship that has a free turret and high power slot available 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 and cruiser with mining bonuses. Typically, players will receive their first mining frigate upon completion of the tutorial missions.
Mining Frigate
Ships that have a mining role bonus are very important. This makes any of the 'mining' frigates a good starting ship as the pilot will receive a cargo hold bonus, yield bonus and a permanent reduction in capacitor use. Mining lasers have a large CPU requirement but a low power requirement; but the layout of the 'mining' frigates makes it easy to fit two 'Miner II' lasers with modest skills. The real issue with these frigates is the very small cargo holds even with the bonus. Also when fitted for maximum mining the ships have no tank; so mining in 1.0 - 0.9 space is recommended.
Bonuses:
- 5% bonus to cargo capacity
- 20% bonus to mining laser yield per skill level
- -60% mining laser capacitor use
Ships:
Mining Cruisers
Amarr: Arbitrator
- 10% bonus to drone mining yield per skill level
- 345m3 cargo
- 150m3 drone capacity - 50 Mbit/sec
Caldari: Osprey
- 20% bonus to mining laser yield
- 485m3 cargo
- 20m3 drone capacity - 20 Mbit/sec
Gallente: Vexor
- 10% bonus to drone mining yield per skill level
- 480m3 cargo
- 100m3 drone capacity - 75 Mbit/sec
Minmatar: Scythe
- 20% bonus to mining laser yield
- 440m3 cargo
- 5m3 drone capacity - 5 Mbit/sec
Mining In An Industrial
In theory, you can mine in absolutely anything with a high power slot and a spare turret. However, a mistake that many beginning miners make is thinking that since only high slots are required to fit a mining laser, and since industrial ships (such as the Iteron series) have enormous cargo bays, they'll save time by mining with their hauler. However, there isn't a miner in the universe who would recommend mining in an industrial. It may have a large cargo bay, but filling it with just one mining laser takes an extremely long time and is unprofitable. There are much more effective ways to involve an industrial and improve your ISK/hour ratio. For more information, see either Jet Can Mining, Combo Jet Can Mining or GSC Mining.
Whats next then?
If you believe that you are ready to invest the time and ISK to get serious about mining, then you'll want to look into Mining Barges.
