Mining

Resources and sites

Mining is the only source of the five raw ores: Iron, Titanium, Tungsten, Iridium, and Nexium. Belt scans show the metal composition and expected cycle yield before a ship begins work.

Persistent belts progress from early iron/titanium mixes into Tungsten, Iridium, and Nexium territory. Gas Clouds and Deep Core sites never yield Nexium; Nexium comes from the dedicated deep belts and unstable high-risk sites.

Event belts are finite, discoverable windows. The first valid ship or Fleet to start a cycle owns the belt. Its next yield is committed from the belt reserve at cycle start: cancelling before expiry returns that committed reserve, while a final cycle begun before expiry may finish after it. Once a finite reserve is depleted, the belt disappears.

Cargo handling

Ore enters the active ship cargo first. Move it to the Industrial Warehouse before batch refining, or use Station Cargo if the Warehouse is full.