Mining is one of the most commonly practised professions in EVE Online, and for good reason. Anything you want to construct requires minerals harvested through mining, so they’re always in demand. It's also one of the only professions that new players can enter from the get-go, and it’s those newbies that we're looking to help today. We asked our expert community for all your beginner-friendly tips on mining and boy, did you deliver.
From the best mining ships and locations to the best skills to invest in and tips on how to maximise your ISK income per trip, we present the ultimate mining guide for beginners, sourced from our community of veterans.
Choose your ship
By far the most common piece of advice through most submissions was around the best ship to use when mining. Like many, orik Kado swears by the Venture as an entry-level mining ship, mostly because of its reasonable cost. It offers several mining-related bonuses and, as Wadd Enderas emphasises in his video guide to mining for beginners, a +2 bonus to ship warp core strength. This is a big help if you ever need to flee a hostile predator - at least in theory.
Kane Carnifex reckons that before too long, you should progress to a mining barge, of which the Procurer, Covetor, and Retriever are the options. He describes the Procurer as essentially Thomas the Tank Engine (though presumably without the Fat Controller), the Coveter as "the little brother of the Hulk", and the Retriever as best for storing as many resources as possible on each trip. JAKEL33T echoes these thoughts in his video, but also goes on to explain that the Hulk, Skiff, and Mackinaw are essentially the bigger and better versions of the mining barges, but you won't be able to acquire them for some time.
This is all applicable when you're mining in high-security space, which is the best place to start earning your keep. If you're mining with friends though, orik Kado suggests some of your group should have a Porpoise or an Orca. That’s because they grant a productivity boost - and, of course, because company is most welcome in a game like EVE.
Pick your poison
As an Alpha, mining in high-security space is your recommended starting point, but eventually you'll need to look towards minerals that will turn more of a profit. Here's orik Kado with his roadmap for mining and juggling multiple accounts:
"If you decide to focus on mining, I’d advise the following path: First, aim to become an Omega (it’s not easy just by extracting resources, but it’s not impossible). After that, you should train for a mining barge, and you can choose to increase the skill for extracting ice or mercoxit. These are two of the resources with the highest value to sell raw without the need for reprocessing.
"Once you have a somewhat stable economy, start working on a second account. You can train it as an Alpha, and when you have enough economy, upgrade it to an Omega. This will give you a second account to extract even more resources, and you can repeat this cycle until you have as many accounts as you want and can manage at once. Don’t forget, during this process, to train to use the Porpoise, as it will help you be more efficient with your additional future accounts."
Kane Carnifex agrees, explaining there are three types of product to harvest while mining: asteroids, ice, and gas. Asteroids - the source of orik Kado recommended mercoxit - are the biggest of the three. To maximise efficiency, he has a further suggestion: jetcanning. To jetcan is to jettison your ore in a canister immediately after mining it, because the canister’s capacity (almost 28,000 cubic metres) will exceed that of a mining ship’s cargo hold - vastly so, for early ships. Fill up the can then switch to a hauling ship, such as the Miasmos, and you can lug it all back to sell, meaning much less time spent travelling to gather, haul, and sell the same amount of product. Jetcans disappear after one hour, so we recommend that you rename the can to the time at which it was jettisoned.
Stayin' alive
In EVE Online, there are few things worse than losing all your hard-earned resources to hostile ships. Whether they’re player-controlled or NPCs makes little difference to the floating space debris you’ll become if you don’t give some thought to self-defence while mining.
MacGybo is a player who hunts miners, and has two very specific pieces of advice from the other side of the blasters. The first is directed at K-space miners, those at greatest risk of a ganking:
"Pay attention to local chat. If you see that a pilot has an icon next to their name, there’s a good chance that they are a ganker. That doesn’t mean that they’re definitely coming for you, but the chances of it just increased significantly."
And for everyone:
"Use your directional scanner. That will tell you what is in space around you, up to a distance of 14au (astronomical units). That will provide you with enough time to move to safety if something shows up. And by something, I mean catalysts, coercers, or thrashers. It doesn’t matter if you don’t have valuable cargo on board. You’re a miner, and that in itself is enough of a reason for some people to attack you - even in Highsec."
Celltear also recommends using the Procurer, fitted with a tank build, because that will mean you'll be safe from “99.99%” of ganks. Finally, orik Kado advises you don’t forget your drones to help in any unexpected fights.
N.B. Some text has been slightly amended for grammar and brevity. You can find the full texts in the original bounty post.
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