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An in-depth guide to Mining in EVE Online
Introduction
Space is full of riches, uncountable amounts of raw resources arefloating through the void, just waiting to be gathered. Witha little bit of preparation and minor initial investment, everyone can make a small fortune by becoming a workhorse of the mining Industry. So it is time to arm ourselves with Mining Lasers and tear those asteroids apart.
In Eve, the term "Mining" is commonly used to describe three distinct resource-gathering activities:
- Ore Mining - Extracting ore from asteroids. The entry-level gathering activity in Eve, it doesn't require much in a way of skills (but appropriate skills will greatly increase your efficiency) and every player can do it right from the get-go. Ore can be sold or refined in order to get Minerals. Mining Skill can be learned by Alpha Clones(max level of this skill for Alpha Clones is capped at IV); It doesn't have any prerequisites and costs 20k ISK at an NPC Vendor.
- Ice Harvesting - Gathering resources from so-called Ice Belts. Refined Ice is used to fuel Jump Drives of capital ships, and for manufacturing fuel for Starbases among other things. This activity requires specialized drones or modules and is generally less profitable than Ore Mining (because of a long Ice Belts respawn timer). Ice Harvesting skillcan be learned by Alpha Clones (max level of this skill for Alpha Clones is capped at II); it requires Mining IV and costs 375 thousand ISK at an NPC Vendor.
- Gas Cloud Harvesting - Vacuuming gas from interstellar clouds. Gas is used for Drug manufacturing (Combat Boosters), and Tech III production. Collecting it requires a gas cloud harvester module. The harvesting process is prettysimilar to mining ore from an asteroid. Gas Cloud Harvesting Skill can be learned by Alpha Clones (max level of this skill for Alpha Clones is capped at II); it requires Mining IV and costs 24 million ISK at an NPC Vendor.
In this guide, we will take a closer look at wide understood Mining in the Eve Online. Most of the information will be directed to the new players, but old hands will find something for themselves as well. We will cover mining-related skills, modules, ships, ship fitting, and mining strategies which will increase your gathering efficiency.
Lowly Venture classFrigate mining ore in an Asteroid Field
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BUY SKILL INJECTORS
Skills
The importance of skills cannot be underestimated. The basic set of skills will enable you to start your Mining endeavors, while more advanced set will greatly increase your gathering efficiency, which will have a large impact on your income. We also cannot forget about skills which will allow you to pilot specific mining and industrial Spaceships (on Skill level 1), and increase bonuses that they provide (on all skill levels); both Ships and Skills corresponding with them will be covered in further sections of this guide).
| Skill Name | Description |
| Mining | Enables you to use Mining Lasers; it provides a 5% bonus to ore yield per level, costs 20 thousand ISK, and can be learned by Alpha Clones (up to level IV) |
| Ice Harvesting | Enables you to harvest Ice; it provides a 5% cycle time reduction per level, costs 375 thousand ISK, requires Mining IV, and can be learned by Alpha Clones (up to level II) |
| Gas Harvesting | Enables you to harvest Gas; each level lets you use one more Gas Cloud Harvester, it costs 24 million ISK, requires Mining IV, and can be learned by Alpha Clones (up to level II) |
| Deep Core Mining | Enables you to mine Mercoxit (found in Wormholes and Nullsec); each skill level lowers the chance that a Damage cloud will form while mining Mercoxit by 20%, it costs 500 thousand ISK, requires Mining V and Astrogeology V, and cannot be learned by Alpha Clones |
| Astrogeology | Enables you to analyzecontents of celestial objects, increasing your ore mining yield by 5% per skill level; it costs 450 thousand ISK, requires Mining IV and Science IV, and cannot be learned by Alpha Clones |
| Mining Upgrades | Enables you to use Mining Upgrades; each skill level reduces the CPU penalty of Mining Upgrade modules by 5%, it costs 80 thousand ISK, requires Mining III, and can be learned by Alpha Clones (up to level IV) |
| Drones Rigging | Enables you to fit your ship with Mining Drone Augmentor Rigs; each level reduces drawbacks of Drone Rigs by 10%, it costs 100 thousand ISK, requires Jury Rigging III, and can be learned by Alpha Clones (up to level III) |
| Drones | Enables you to control Drones; each level increases the maximum number of active drones by 1, it costs 20 thousand ISK, has no prerequisites, and can be trained by Alpha Clones (up to level 5) |
| Mining Drone Operation | Improves your ability to control Mining Drones; each level provides a 5% bonus to Mining Drone yield, it costs 40 thousand ISK, requires Mining II and Drones I, and cannot be learned by Alpha Clones |
| Drone Interfacing | Improves your Drone maintenance skills; each level increases Drone's Damage and Mining yield by 10%, it costs 500 thousand ISK, requires Drones V, and can be learned by Alpha Clones (up to level IV) |
| Capital Industrial Ships | Enables you to operate Capital Industrial Ships; this skill is required to pilot Rorqual class vessels, it costs 500 million ISK, requires Capital Ships II, Advanced Spaceship Command V, Industrial Command Ships III, and Industrial Reconfiguration I, and cannot be learned by Alpha Clones |
| Industrial Command Ships | Enables you to operate Industrial Command Ships; this skill is required to pilot Orca and Porpoise class vessels, it costs 50 million ISK, requires SpaceshipCommand V, Mining Director I, and Ore Industrial III, and cannot be learned by Alpha Clones |
| Mining Barge | Enables you to operate Ore Mining Barges; this skill is required to pilot Covetor, Procured and Retriever class vessels, it costs 500 thousand ISK, requires Mining Frigate III, Industry V, and Astrogeology III, and cannot be learned by Alpha Clones |
| Exhumers | Enables you to operate Elite Mining Barges; this skill is required to pilot Skiff, Hulk, and Mackinaw class vessels, it costs 28 million ISK, requires Spaceship Command IV, Industry V, and Astrogeology V, and cannot be learned by Alpha Pilots |
| Mining Frigate | Enables you to operate Ore Mining Frigates; this skill is required to pilot Venture class vessels, it costs 40 thousand ISK, requires Spaceship Command I, and can be learned by Alpha Clones (up to level IV) |
| Expedition Frigates | Enables you to operate Expedition Frigates; this skill allows you to pilot Endurance and Prospect class vessels, it costs 4 million ISK, requires Spaceship Command III, Industry V, and Electronic Upgrades V, and cannot be learned by Alpha Pilots |
Modules
Fitting your ship with appropriateModules will greatly increase your Mining efficiency, which will have a lot of impact on your income per hour. Before you install any modules, however, you should decide which mining activities you want to perform (Ore mining, Gas Cloud Harvesting or Ice Harvesting), as you have limited number ofmodule slots. You can use the following module list to determine the best ship setup for the mining activity of your choice:
| Module Name | Description |
| High Power Modules: | |
| Mining Lasers | These are the basic Mining Modules used for Mining Ore from Asteroids; they require a free turret slot and have a 60-second cycle time. Following types of Mining Lasers are available for fitting: Miner I, EP-S Gaussian Scoped Mining Laser, Particle Bore Compact Mining Laser, Miner II, Single Diode Basic Mining Laser, ORE Miner, Gallente Mining Laser |
| Strip Miners | Modules used for Strip Mining Ore, they can be fitted into Exhumers and Mining Barges; they have a 180-second cycle time and provide much better yield per minute than Mining Lasers, but are a lot more expensive. Following types of Strip Miners are available for fitting: Strip Miner I, Modulated Strip Miner II, Modulated Deep Core Strip Miner II, ORE Strip Miner |
| Deep Core Miners | Mining Lasers designed for mining Mercoxit; their cycle time is dependant on the Laser Model. Following types of Deep Core Miners are available for fitting: Deep Core Mining Laser I (60s cycle time), Modulated Deep Core Miner II (180s cycle time), ORE Deep Core Mining Laser (60s cycle time) |
| Ice Mining Lasers | Modules used for harvesting Ice, they can be fitted into Prospect and Endurance class vessels; they have very long cycle times (330-360 seconds) and offer 1000 cubic meters yield per cycle. Following types of Ice Mining Lasers are available for fitting: Ice Mining Laser I, Ice Mining Laser II, ORE Ice Mining Laser |
| Ice Miners | Modules used for harvesting Ice, that can be fitted into Exhumers and Mining Barges; they have the same yield per cycle as Ice Mining Lasers, but their cycles are considerably shorter (200-240s). Following types of Ice Miners are available for fitting: Ice Harvester I. Ice Harvester II, ORE Ice Harvester |
| Gas Cloud Harvesters | Modules used for vacuuming Gas Clouds; they require a free turret slot, and maximum number of Harvesters that can be fit into your ship depends on your Gas Cloud Harvesting Skill (see our skills table for a reference). Following types of Gas Cloud Harvesters are available for fitting: Gas Cloud Harvester I, "Crop" Gas Cloud Harvester, "Plow" Gas Cloud Harvester, Gas Cloud Harvester II, Syndicate Gas Cloud Harvester |
| Mining Crystals | |
Some Ore Mining Modules (those with a "Modulated" keyword in their name) can be fitted with special Mining Crystals. Those Crystals increase the efficiency of mining specific Ores, corresponding with a Crystal type, and therefore increase the mining yield of those Ores, but have no impact on yield of other types of Ore. Modulated Mining Modules used without Mining Crystals will provide less yield per minute than their regular counterparts. Using Mining Crystals requires a corresponding ore processing skill at level III for tech I Crystals and IV for Tech 2 Crystals. For the maximum Mining Efficiency, multiple kinds of Mining Crystals should be carried and swapped when a specific type of Ore is encountered. | |
| Medium Power Modules: | |
| Survey Scanners | They enable you to scan nearby asteroids in order to determine which of them contain the most resources. This module will increase your mining efficiency, by allowing you to chose asteroids that contain the most Ore. Following types of Survey Scanners are available for fitting: Survey Scanner I, ML-3 Scoped Survey Scanner, Survey Scanner II Please remember that Survey Scanners have to be activated manually, and they do not have auto-refresh feature, which means that you will have to use them manually each time you need the information that they provide |
| Low Power Modules: | |
| Mining Laser Upgrades | These modules boost your Ore yield per minute but also increase the amount of CPU used by the main Mining Modules mounted on your ship. Following types of Mining Laser Upgrades are available for fitting: Mining Laser Upgrade I, Elara Restrained Mining Laser Upgrade, Mining Laser Upgrade II, "Carpo" Mining Laser Upgrade, "Aoede" Mining Laser Upgrade |
| Ice Harvester Upgrades | These modules are very similar to Mining Laser Upgrades, but they increase the yield of your Ice Harvester Modules. They have the same CPU penalty downside as their Ore-related Counterparts. Following types of Ice Harvester Modules are available for fitting: Ice Harvester Upgrade I, Frigoris Restrained Ice Harvester Upgrade, Ice Harvester Upgrade II, "Anguis" Ice Harvester Upgrade, "Ingenii" Ice Harvester Upgrade |
| Rig Upgrades: | |
| Ice Harvester Accelerator | These Rigs decrease the cycle time of your Ice Harvesters, which in turn increases your Ice yield per minute; Theseare available in medium size only (they will fit Exhumers and Mining Barges) |
| Mercoxit Mining Crystal Optimization | These Rigs increase your Mercoxit Mining efficiency, providing you with a 16% higher yield.Theseare available in medium size only (they will fit Exhumers and Mining Barges) |
| Drone Mining Augmentor | These Rigs improve your Mining Drones, by increasing their yield (Tech I by 10%, Tech II by 15%), but at a cost of reducing your vessel's available CPU capacity by 10%. The severe computing penalty and small overall yield of Mining Drones make these Rigs not worth using. |
| Drones: | |
| Ore Mining Drones | These will mine the asteroid that you have targetted. They have a 60-second cycle; when the cycle is complete, Drones will deposit mined Ore in your Ship's cargo bay, and redeploy to continue Mining. Following types of Ore Mining Drones are available for fitting: Civilian Mining Drone, Mining Drone I, Mining Drone II, "Augmented" Mining Drone, Harvester Mining Drone, "Excavator" Mining Drone Ore yield provided by Mining Drones is rather small, which makes them usable only as a minor addition to your main Mining Modules |
| Ice Harvesting Drones | These drones are specialized in gathering Ice from Ice Belts; they operate similarly to the Ore Mining Drones but are only capable of harvesting one Ice unit per cycle and their cycle time equals to 220 seconds. Following types of Ice Harvesting Drones are available for fitting: Ice Harvesting Drone I, Ice Harvesting Drone II, "Augmented" Ice Harvesting Drone, "Excavator" Ice Harvesting Drone |
| Combat Drones | These Drones are specialized in damaging and destroying enemy ships. Mining vessels employ them mainly for defensive purposes, in order to compensate for thelackluster firepower. If you plan to mine resources in dangerous areas it would be a good idea to invest in those. Combat Drones come in the following variants: Light, Medium and Heavy Combat Drones, Stationary Sentry Drones, Electronic Warfare and Combat Utility Drones (used to impair enemy vessels), and Logistics Drones specialized in repair and maintenance work. |
Now, that you have the information about all important mining-related skills and modules, it is time to take a closer look at ship types most commonly used for Mining related operations.
Ships
The best Mining ships are produced by the Outer Ring Excavations (ORE) Corporation. They are adapted for salvaging and mining missions and lack offensive capabilities, but their shields are very powerful, and they commonly utilize drones for self-defense.Choosing the right ship for the job might be a difficult task, so we have prepared a list of all available ORE Mining-related ship types which will let you chose the one that is best suited for your particular needs.
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| Description - The entry-level Mining Ships (Tech I). They are rather small, quite fragile, and their cargo space is limited. | |
Ships of this type:
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| Description - Advanced (Tech II), specialized mining frigates. They are able to fit advanced Cloaking Devices, and support bonuses for them which increases their survivability greatly and makes them well-suited for Mining operations in Nullsec and Wormhole space. | |
Ships of this type:
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| Description - The next step in the evolution of the Mining ships. Mining Barges boast large Ore bays and good defensive capabilities (except the Covetor). They are able to fit Ice Miners and Strip Miners which increases their mining and harvesting efficiencies greatly. | |
Ships of this type:
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| Description - the advanced (Tech II) variants of Mining Barges. These ships were designed as direct upgrades from their Tech I counterparts, and as such, they boast (depending on a model) Large Ore Bays, Great Toughness, and solid Mining yield and efficiency. | |
Ships of this type:
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| Description - Industrial Command Ships were designed with the Mining Fleet support in mind. They boast vast Ore bays which enable them to store resources gathered by smaller vessels. These ships are also able to mount the Mining Foreman Bursts which improve yields of up to 256 other ships in the Mining fleet. | |
Ships of this type:
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| Description - These ships were designed to help in large-scale Mining operations. They give massive bonuses to other Mining fleet ships and are able to compress ore, which makes it easier to transport in large quantities. Capital Industrial Ships also boast Maintenance and Clone bays, however, they must be anchored in order to use those modules or the Ore compression systems. | |
Ships of this type:
Now, that you have familiarized yourself with all Mining and Industrial ships available, it is time to take a closer look at the entry-level Mining Ship - the Venture and its basic setup. |
The basic Venture setup and Mining strategy
If you are interested in this chapter, you probably have just finished the Career Tutorial and got your hands on a brand new Venture type Mining Frigate. In this section of our guide, we will feature the very basic Venture's module setup, that will allow you to begin your Ore gathering endeavor, and defend yourself from NPC pirates. We do not recommend using this setup in areas other than Hisec, for obvious reasons. Some efficiency-improving tips for players new to Mining will also be featured in this section. | |
| Module Slot | Module fitted |
| High Power Module I | EP-S Gaussian Scoped Mining Laser- The basic mining laser with an optimal range of 16km, an Ore yield of 50m³ per minute, and the 60-second Cycle time; it requires Mining I |
| High Power Module II | SecondEP-S Gaussian Scoped Mining Laser |
| Medium Power Module I | Limited Adaptive Invulnerability Field I- The basic level shield booster, which increases shield resistance bonus against all damage types by 25%; it requires Tactical Shield Manipulation I |
| Medium Power Module II | Medium Shield Extender I - boosts the shield's strength by 750HP; it requires Shield Upgrades I |
| Medium Power Module II | ML-3 Scoped Survey Scanner- allows you to scan the composition of Gas Clouds, Ice, and Asteroids, it has 20km Scanning Range and requires CPU Management I |
| Low Power Module I | Elara Restrained Mining Laser Upgrade- increases the yield of your Mining Lasers but at a cost of them using up more CPU; it provides 8% Mining yield bonus at a cost of 8% CPU penalty and requires Mining Upgrades I |
| Rig I | Small Core Defense Field Extender I - Increases your Shield capacity (which is good) and your Signature Radius (which is bad); it provides a 15% bonus to Shield's Capacity and requires Shield Rigging I |
| Rig II | SecondSmall Core Defense Field Extender I |
| Rig III | Small Anti-Thermal Screen Reinforcer I- Increases your ship's thermal resistance, but also boosts your Signature Radius; it provides 30% bonus to Thermal Damage Resistance and requires Shield Rigging I |
| Drones | Hobgoblin I- Light Scout Drones with limited offensive capabilities. Two of them might be enough to protect you from NPC pirates roaming the Hisec asteroid fields; They require Light Drone Operation I, and Drones III |
Now, that your Venture is fully optimized for Mining and Survivability, it is time to find an Asteroid Belt (those can be found via the overview menu), warp to it, scan it with your Survey Scanner, and proceed to mine asteroids with the most resources available in them. The next question is - what to do with gathered Ore? There are two basic options; you can either sell or refine it. Refined resources are more expensive, but refining process requires a fee (unless you have the following skills: Refining V, Refinery Efficiency V, and a corresponding Ore Conversion Skill), and a tax (taxes can be avoided by increasing your relations with Station's Owner to high enough level). You should calculate your projected income from refining resources and compare it with the amount of ISK that you would gain from just selling those resources; you should then chose the more profitable option. | |
| How to improve your Mining efficiency in Venture: | |
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END NOTE
We hope that you have found this Guide useful and informative. If we have missed a piece of information that is important to you, please let us know!
Please do note that this is an early version of our guide, and we will be happy to receive constructive criticism, that will help us improve it, so leave your suggestions in the comments section below.
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FAQs
What is the best thing to mine in EVE Online? ›
The best ores to mine currently are Pyroxeres, Kernite and Plagioclase, all of which can be found in high-security space. Scordite, Veldspar and Omber aren't too far behind and are worth mining if the more valuable ores run out. Finding a good system to mine in can be tricky.
What is the most profitable ore to mine in EVE Online? ›Mercoxit. Mercoxit is considered by some people to be the most profitable ore to mine in the game because it is worth the most isk/m³.
How do you mine faster in EVE Online? ›- Training mining skills.
- Fitting different modules to your mining ship.
- Installing implants in your character.
- Be part of a mining fleet and receive fleet boosts.
It is one of the few professions immediately available to beginning players and many industrialists started their careers by mining. Mining is considered a very economically safe profession, as minerals are always in demand. Mining requires specialized modules or drones, and specialized mining ships also exist.
Is mining in EVE profitable? ›Mining isn´t very profitable ISK per hour wise but it can be done mostly afk. lawlessX a écrit : Fe2O3 a écrit : Skill up a bit then join a nullsec corp/alliance and profit.
How do I make a lot of money in EVE? ›How to Make ISK in EVE Online [Tutorial] - YouTube
What is the best thing to mine? ›Answer: Best includes Ethereum, Monaco, Monero, Vertcoin, Grin, Monero, ZCash, Bitcoin Gold, Haven, Ravencoin, Litecoin, and Aeternity. Check comparison mining calculators to confirm because profitability keeps changing. Be sure to check the top cryptocurrency mining software you can use to mine these cryptocurrencies.
Is mining worth it eve echoes? ›eve echoes mining: compressed ore
The ore you mine from this asteroid can be processed into 10x the usual yield of minerals, meaning it's pretty valuable! They are a slightly rare spawn, but as with any ore, the chances of finding them increases in lower sec.
Rorqals can mine with drones so in theory rorqals are “specialized” for mining with drones so they should be able to mine mercoxit or gas for that matter. Orca and Rorqual are technically support ships.
Does the orca compress ore? ›In EVE Online's latest update, the Industrial command ships Rorqual, Orca, and Porpoise now give nearby fleet-mates the ability to instantly compress their own harvested resources.
Can Alpha clones use drones? ›
Yea they can use T1 drones and factions drones. Thanks for answers! NO PROBLEM ENJOY! To be more specific, Alphas can use tech 1 and faction combat drones, as well as tech 2 light combat drones (they could previously use T2 mediums as well, but a patch aimed at nerfing popular botting methods undid that).
What is the best mining barge Eve? ›The Covetor has the greatest mining yield (about 10-20% more than a Retriever or a Procurer) out of the T1 mining barges, but has the smallest Mining hold (it holds only about 5-8 minutes' worth of mined ore) and the least tank.
Is Orca a capital ship EVE? ›The Orca is a mining support ship, classified as an Industrial Command Ship. The Industrial Command Ships (8x, 55M ISK) skill is required to fly it. Note that even though it is listed under "Capital Industrial Ships" in the EVE market, it does not require the Capital Industrial Ships skill.
How do I find asteroids to mine in EVE? ›Shane Plays: EVE Online: How to find and mine an asteroid - YouTube
How do you mine Mercoxit? ›Mercoxit is mined for one reason: Morphite. This valuable gem is only found within mercoxit, thus making its value vastly higher than any other ore in the universe. Mining mercoxit requires the use of special deep core strip miners to extract the morphite. The portion size for refining is 250 ore units.
Is PVP in EVE Online profitable? ›PVP is Not Rewarded, With One or Two Exceptions
With experience points and money, a player can buy better modules and better ships. Better modules and better ships are the way to advance in World of Warships. In EVE Online, PVP does not reward the pilot.
In your Overview Window, click on the "Mining" tab, and then click on the "Type" column to sort the asteroids alphabetically and scroll until you find the kind of asteroid that you want to mine. In the example shown here, that type was "Dense Veldspar."
How do you mine moon ore in EVE? ›Any Refinery that is deployed at an Upwell Moon Mining Beacon can install a Standup Moon Drill in order to rip large chunks out of the nearby moon and then lift them up to fracture them into smaller asteroids that can be mined by capsuleers. This process is also called "Moon Mining".