Welcome, capsuleers, to your first real venture (pun intended) into the industrial heart of EVE Online. Mining may seem like the calm side of space life—slow, methodical, passive even—but don’t be fooled. It is the foundation of the game’s player-run economy, and understanding how to mine effectively opens the door to wealth, manufacturing, and a surprisingly deep part of EVE’s ecosystem.

This guide covers everything you need to know as a brand new miner: from your first mining frigate to the specialized world of strip miners, ice and gas harvesting, and even what to do with the spoils of your labor. Let’s dive into the rocks.

What Is Mining and Why Do It?

At its core, mining in EVE is simple: hop in a ship, fit a mining laser, find an asteroid, lock on, and activate the laser. That’s it—on the surface. But beneath that simplicity lies a whole structure of decisions, optimizations, and strategy.

Mining is vital to the EVE universe. Every ship, every structure, every module—it all starts with ore, and ore comes from miners. Some players are drawn to mining for its semi-AFK potential, letting them make steady ISK while multitasking. Others love the idea of maxing profits, optimizing output, and being the backbone of an industrial empire. Wherever you land on that spectrum, mining offers real value.

Your First Ship: The Venture

To start your mining journey, you’ll need a proper ship. That ship is the Venture, a beloved entry-level mining frigate. It’s cheap, accessible, and designed specifically for beginner miners and gas harvesters.

Why the Venture?

• Mining Yield Bonus: 5% bonus per Mining Frigate skill level. At level 5, that’s a 25% boost.
• Gas Cloud Harvesting Bonus: Also a 5% bonus per level for harvesting gas.
• Role Bonuses:
  • 100% mining yield (essentially doubling your laser output)
  • +2 Warp Core Strength (helps you escape from warp scramblers—essential for low-sec or wormhole mining)
  • 5,000 m³ dedicated ore hold (so you don’t fill up after two cycles)

How to Get a Venture:

1. Buy it from the market if you’re already established and just branching into mining.
2. Follow the AIR Career Program’s Industrialist Path if you’re new. You’ll earn a Venture, modules, skill points, and mining tutorials just for completing a few early missions.

Fitting Your Venture

Once you’ve got your Venture, you’ll need to fit it for mining. Here’s a solid beginner fit:

• High Slots: 2x Particle Bore Compact Mining Lasers
• Mid Slots: 1MN Afterburner, Medium Shield Extender, Survey Scanner
• Low Slot:
  • Alpha: Nanofiber Internal Structure
  • Omega: Mining Laser Upgrade (adds 5–9% yield)
• Rigs: Small EM Shield Reinforcer, Small Thermal Shield Reinforcer, Small Core Defense Field Extender

This setup balances yield, scanning, mobility, and basic defenses.

Skills: Get That Queue Ticking

Your skill queue should never be idle. Thankfully, CCP has provided two solid starting skill plans:

• Alpha Miner Plan: Short-term foundation (a few days)
• Omega Miner Plan: Long-term growth (over a month)

These plans cover core industrial skills like Mining, Reprocessing, Industry, and more. Don’t overthink it early—get one of these running and refine as you gain experience.

Graduating from the Venture: What’s Next?

Once you’ve outgrown the Venture, it’s time to look toward mining barges and expedition frigates. There are 14 mining-related ships in the tech tree, each suited to different playstyles and levels of risk.

Advanced Frigates:

• Prospect: Improved Venture with better yield and Covert Ops Cloak. Ideal for wormhole mining. No warp core strength bonus.
• Endurance: Specializes in ice mining with cloaking support. Also lacks the +2 warp core strength.

Mining Barges – Tier 1 and Tier 2:

Mining barges use strip miners, which are more powerful than standard mining lasers.

Tech 1 Barges:

• Procurer: Tankiest barge with decent drone defense and a large ore hold. Designed to survive.
• Covetor: High yield, low tank. Strip belts fast but fragile.
• Retriever: Balanced ship with a huge ore hold (27,500 m³). Great for solo, AFK mining.

Tech 2 Barges:

• Skiff: Tanky upgrade to the Procurer with better bonuses.
• Hulk: Upgrade to the Covetor. Highest yield, but fragile and limited cargo space. Requires support fleet.
• Mackinaw: Upgrade to the Retriever. Keeps the large hold and adds better tank and yield.

Choose your next ship based on playstyle. Solo miners gravitate toward the Retriever or Mackinaw. Fleet miners go for Hulks, supported by haulers and defense.

Strip Miners and Crystals

Mining barges use Strip Miner I, Modulated Strip Miner II, or Modulated Deep Core Strip Miner. The modulated versions require mining crystals, tailored to specific ore types.

Crystal Types:

• Type A: High yield, longer cycle time
• Type B: Faster yield, more waste (residue)
• Type C: High waste, used for clearing fields fast

Deep Core Strip Miners are for Mercoxit, which contains Morphite, a rare and valuable mineral. These can trigger damaging gas clouds—handle with care.

Beware: Mining Barges Attract Trouble

Mining barges are expensive, and their value attracts gankers—even in HiSec. Always follow the golden rule: Don’t fly what you can’t afford to lose. Tech 2 barges cost hundreds of millions and can be vaporized in seconds if you’re not careful.

Support Ships: Beyond Barges

• Porpoise: Small fleet booster and hauler.
• Orca: Bigger, better Porpoise with refining capability.
• Rorqual: Capital mining ship for null-sec ops. Can provide massive boosts and go into panic mode to protect fleets.

These ships fall outside the beginner scope, but it’s good to know they exist for later.

Finding Ore, Ice, and Gas

Ore:

• Use the Agency Window > Resource Harvesting > Asteroid Belts.
• Some ore types are location-dependent:
  • HighSec: Basic ores like Veldspar
  • LowSec: Jaspet, Hemorphite
  • NullSec: Mercoxit, high-value ores

Ice:

• Found in Ice Belts via the Agency. Needed for fuel blocks and other industrial uses.

Gas:

• Requires scanning using probe launchers. Found in wormholes and low/null-sec.
• Gas clouds vary in value—some fetch high ISK for use in boosters, reactions, or Tech 3 production.

What To Do With Your Ore, Ice, and Gas

You have three options:

1. Sell Raw Ore: Simple and immediate ISK.
2. Reprocess into Minerals: Can increase profits if your skills and standings are optimized.
3. Manufacture: The most complex route. Turn minerals into ships or modules for higher profits, but requires extensive skill investment.

Reprocessing Tips:

• Train Reprocessing and related efficiency skills to level 5.
• Improve standings with NPC stations—or use player-owned stations with better rates.
• Consider implant bonuses like the Bean Counter series.

Wrapping It All Up

Mining may be slow-paced, but that’s part of the appeal. It’s calming, structured, and surprisingly intricate once you get deeper into it. Whether you’re playing casually while watching Netflix, or building toward an industrial empire, EVE mining has a role for you.

If you want more advanced guides—on moon mining, fleet ops, or capital ships—drop a comment and stay tuned. Until then, stay safe, keep those lasers hot, and may your ore holds be full.

And remember: if you try mining in low-sec without a proper fit… I’ll hot drop you.