Grismar's EVE Wiki : MoonMining

Moon Mining

This article explains Moon Mining, as part of the articles on Player Owned Structures (Starbases).

The article is based directly on Zhuge Liang's excellent guide on the eve-online.com forums (oog). It has been added to this Wiki to make it available in the IGB. You can also download this guide in PDF format (oog), as converted by Bobozobo.

Note that these articles are maintained independently from the guide and the PDF. Changes and corrections made here will not appear in the guide or PDF. Additions and changes have already been made to this page as the guide on the forums is somewhat out of date.

On this page:

• [4] Moon Mining
  • [4.1] What is it?
  • [4.2] What you need to moon mine
  • [4.3] Configuring the harvesters
  • [4.4] Stage 1: Raw Materials
  • [4.5] Reaction blueprints
  • [4.6] Stage 2: Processed Materials
  • [4.7] Stage 3: Advanced Materials
  • [4.8] Stage 4: Tech 2 Components
  • [4.9] Teamwork

Related pages (the other chapters):

• [1] PlayerOwnedStructure
• [2] IceMining
• [3] MoonSurveying

[4] Moon Mining

[4.1] What is it?

Moon mining involves using your POS' Moon Harvesting Array to extract Raw Materials from the moon it is anchored at. This only works with moons that actually have materials. To find if you have a suitable moon, you have to do some MoonSurveying.

The materials you harvest can be sold to other players or developed into more complex materials - eventually leading to Tech 2 components, which are needed for the construction of all T2 modules and ships.

[4.2] What you need to moon mine

You cannot mine moons with your ship or mining barge, you will need at least:

• An anchored and online POS, with
• A Moon Harvesting Array, needed to extract materials from the moon, and
• A Silo, needed to store the mined materials.

You may also need some Coupling Array, if you need to buffer the output of reactors or harvesters. You will need a Reactor Array if you plan to process the mined materials yourself at this POS.

[4.3] Configuring the harvesters

To configure Your Harvesters

• Open your Control Tower's management window
• Click the 'Production' tab
• Click 'Change type' for your Moon Harvester
• Select the desired material produced by your moon
• Click 'Apply' on the management window

The next step is change the type for the Silo to tell it to store the same thing that you are harvesting. NOTE: Changing Harvester and Silo types can only be done while the Moon Harvesting Array and Silo structures are offline.

Click the 'change type' button on the Silo. You can now select the Raw material you want it to store. You can only select one type of material to store in a silo at any time. Note that the drop down list for the Moon Harvesting Array and Silo differ slightly.

Next you need to configure the process flow for the POS. Drag the output icon (right) of the Harvester Array (which should now be the selected raw material icon) into the input slot (left) of your Silo. Click 'Apply' to save and online your silo('s) and then harvester(s).

[4.4] Stage 1: Raw Materials

There are two types of Raw Materials: Gases and Metals. Gases are common, Metals are more rare, but combinations of both are needed if you plan to process your materials yourself.

Gases: Atmospheric Gases, Evaporite Deposits, Hydrocarbons and Silicates.
Metals: Cadmium, Caesium, Chromium, Cobalt, Dysprosium, Hafnium, Mercury, Neodymium, Platinum, Promethium, Scandium, Technetium, Thulium, Titanium, Tungsten, Vanadium.

A Moon Harvesting Array can mine 100 units per cycle of whichever raw material your moon has. So if your moon produces Atmospheric Gases and Tungsten, you can mine 100 of either but not both at the same time unless you have two online Moon Harvesting Arrays.

[4.5] Reaction blueprints

Reaction blueprints are much like a blueprint used for manufacturing ships or modules. When installed into a Reactor Array structure, they tell the reactor what type of material to create based on the materials being fed into it. In most cases your reactor will be connected directly to your moon harvesters, so you will need to get a Reaction Blueprint that matches the materials produced by your moon. Without a proper Reaction blueprint, your Reactor Array will not work.

Moon material processing is performed in two stages:
Raw Materials --( Simple Reaction )--> Processed Materials
Processed Materials --( Complex Reaction )--> Advanced Materials

To get from one material state to the next you need to put the materials into a Reactor Array and install the right Reaction Blueprint to create the next level of a material. There are many types of materials and many types of Reactions but all the materials fall into the above 3 groups and any Tech 2 component will be made up from Advanced Materials alone. The more processing you can perform yourself, the better the profit you're likely to make on the materials you've mined.

Installing A Reaction Blueprint in your Reactor:

• Rightclick on your Reactor Array and click 'Access Resources'
• Drag and Drop the Reaction blueprint in that corresponds with the materials produced by your moon

[4.6] Stage 2: Processed Materials

It is at this stage of Moon Mining where you first use the Reactor Array. The Reactor Array mixes various raw materials together to produce processed materials. Reactor Arrays need a Reaction Blueprint to determine which materials to produce.

NOTE: Not all materials can be combined in a reaction. You need a reaction blueprint for the materials you plan to combine.

You need to configure the Reactor before onlining it. Insert the correct Reaction Blueprint and the Reactor will automatically prepare itself and detect whether you have the two or more materials it needs for the Reaction. The Reactor will look in your Silos and can also be fed directly from Harvesters. The Reactor is configured on the Production tab of you Control Tower, drag the output icon (right) of a Reactor into a Silo configured to store the result of the reaction. You may have to buy some of the materials your moon or POS does not produce and manually place them into silos feeding into the Reactor.

[4.7] Stage 3: Advanced Materials

Similar to the previous stage you can now change your Processed Materials into Advanced Materials (the ingredients for Tech 2 components). Advanced Materials require two or more Processed Materials to make.

[4.8] Stage 4: Tech 2 Components

You will need a Tech 2 Component Blueprint from market. (For example a Magpulse Thruster Blueprint).

Take the Tech 2 component blueprint to a normal station factory and put your advanced materials in your hanger. Tech 2 components may require a couple of advanced materials, you may have to trade or buy the missing Advanced Materials.

For an exact breakdown of Raw Materials (and Simple Reactions) and Processed Materials (and Complex Reactions), take a look at the Reaction Material Info Page.

[4.9] Teamwork

It is impossible to build a T2 part from start to finish with a single POS. You will simply not have all the materials needed throughout each stage to do so. You will need multiple POS to obtain everything you need and process them. Bear in mind CT's have limited powergrid and cpu meaning there are only so many structures you can have online at one POS. The most efficient and cost effective way of T2 production is working with one or more dedicated industrial partner corporations. There may quite a bit of transportation involved, as not all moon materials can be found in every area of the galaxy.

---

Current EVE version: 2.13.4561 (Dragon)