Star Citizen Mining Calculator
Calculate your mining yields, refinery times, and aUEC profits. Optimize your runs and manage inert materials.
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Yield Analytics
Star Citizen Mining Guide
Mining in Star Citizen is a multi-step industrial process. Extracting ore is only the first step; maximizing your profit requires managing your cargo composition and choosing the correct refinery process.
The Inert Material Problem
When you shatter a rock with your mining laser, the fragments contain a mix of valuable ore and worthless Inert Material. Your ship's SCU capacity holds both. If you suck up fragments that are 90% inert, you fill your cargo hold with useless rock that cannot be refined or sold.
Example: A Prospector holds 32 SCU (3,200 units). If your cargo composition is 50% ore and 50% inert, you only have 16 SCU (1,600 units) of actual ore to refine.
Refinery Methods Explained
Selling raw ore directly from your ship yields roughly 50% of its market value. To maximize profits, you must transport the ore to a station refinery.
- Dinyx Solventation: The most popular method. It offers the highest yield (lowest waste) and is very cheap, but it is incredibly slow.
- Ferron Exchange: A balanced approach. It processes much faster than Dinyx but has a slightly lower yield and higher cost.
- Cormack Method: Very fast, but yields significantly less refined material. Best used if you need immediate cash flow.
What happens if I don't refine Quantanium in time?
Quantanium is highly volatile. A timer (usually around 15 minutes) starts as soon as you extract the first fragment. If the timer hits zero before you store your ship or start a refinery job, your ship will violently explode.
Can I dump inert material from my cargo?
Currently, you cannot easily vent inert material from your cargo hold once it is collected. You must carefully scan and select which fragments to extract using modules like the FLTR-XL to reduce inert intake.
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