Mining

Mining requires the following items:

• A Finder/Seeker
• An Excavator/Extractor
• Survey probes

Beginner-level mining equipment is available for purchase from the Trade Terminal. More advanced mining equipment can be manufactured, looted, or obtained from other colonists, either through direct trade, through the auction, or in shops. Survey probes can only be purchased from the Trade Terminal.

The power of your Seeker can be augmented by attaching an amplifier. An amplifier is attached simply by dragging and dropping it on a seeker in your inventory. Amplifiers are obtained the same way as other advanced mining equipment.

Once acquired, mining equipment is found in the 'Tools' category of your avatar’s Inventory.

The Mining Process

Mining is divided into three steps, performed in this order.

• Prospecting - The act of searching for and locating deposits of resources.
• Excavating - The act of collecting resources from a deposit.
• Refining  - The act of turning raw natural resources into useful materials.

Prospecting

In order to prospect, you must first Equip a Finder/Seeker. This will open the tool’s User Interface, or UI for short.

Selecting Resource Type

Once the UI is opened, select which type of resource you want to search for - mineral ore or energy matter. You can also search for both types at the same time. Select the resource type(s) by left-clicking the mineral ore icon and/or the energy matter icon. The selected resource type(s) will be highlighted, and the amount of survey probes consumed per drop will be displayed.

Mineral ore drops consume twice as many survey probes as energy matter drops. Searching for both types at the same time consumes as many probes as performing one drop of each type.

Making a Drop

When you have equipped the finder and selected a resource type, you are ready to make a drop. Simply left-click while in Aim Mode to make a drop. The UI will then display the results of the drop.

Locating the Find

If a drop is successful, a Claim Marker will appear over the location of the resource deposit and a Resource Deed to the find will be placed in your inventory. The Claim Marker will be marked on your SatNav, and the direction to the find will be displayed in the Finder/Seeker UI.

Extracting

The resources you have found must be extracted from the Claim Marker. To do this, you need to equip an Extractor/Excavator, while aiming it at the Claim Marker. Operate the Extractor by left-clicking while in Aim Mode.

The resources extracted will be displayed in a loot window and placed automatically in your Inventory. The Claim Marker, as well as the Resource Deed, are removed once a deposit has been exhausted.

You must extract the resources within a certain time frame, or the Claim Marker and Resource Deed are automatically removed. The amount of time remaining to excavate a claim can be seen by viewing the Resource Deed’s info panel.

Refining

Mineral Ore and Energy Matter must be refined using a Refiner before they can be used by crafters. Ores are refined into Ingots, and Energy Matters into a range of refined energy products.

When you refine Mineral Ore and Energy Matter you also reduce their weight. This is useful as your movement speed diminishes if you're carrying too much weight.

Simply drop a resource stack into the refiner UI and left-click “Refine” to refine it. The Refiner UI is opened by equipping a refiner and left-clicking while in aim mode.

You can only refine one resource at a time.