MINING / VISUAL FIELD GUIDE
Mine by hand, from tool to sale
A small mining trip without buying a mining ship.
01
STEP 1 OF 7
Fit the attachment before you leave
Buy the tool and its mining attachment, then equip both. A tractor attachment is a different tool head. Check that you can draw the mining tool and that your pack has free storage.
SC Nomads preparation suggestion: practise drawing, stowing and changing tool mode at a safe location. Take a cheap kit and decide how you will get back before entering a cave.
- 1
Check the assembled tool in inventory
Separate controls: I Open personal inventory. Equip the Multi-Tool with the OreBit mining attachment, then a compatible pack. Inspect the attachment on the tool before leaving the shop area.
What you should seeYou can identify the mining attachment and have empty carried storage for the collected material.
RSI Equipping Your CharacterThat did not happen
A TruHold tractor or a LifeGuard medical attachment does a different job. Return to storage or the shop and fit the OreBit.
Multi-ToolOreBit mining attachmentCompatible backpackHelmet and supplies
Read the complete guide as text
The same published instructions in one readable view. Use the steps above for controls and practice panels.
Fit the attachment before you leave
Buy the tool and its mining attachment, then equip both. A tractor attachment is a different tool head. Check that you can draw the mining tool and that your pack has free storage.
SC Nomads preparation suggestion: practise drawing, stowing and changing tool mode at a safe location. Take a cheap kit and decide how you will get back before entering a cave.
Check the assembled tool in inventory
Open personal inventory. Equip the Multi-Tool with the OreBit mining attachment, then a compatible pack. Inspect the attachment on the tool before leaving the shop area.
Expected result: You can identify the mining attachment and have empty carried storage for the collected material.
If it did not work: A TruHold tractor or a LifeGuard medical attachment does a different job. Return to storage or the shop and fit the OreBit.
Give yourself a route out before a route in
SC Nomads first-trip exercise: choose a reachable small deposit near a known exit. A deep cave adds navigation, falls and exposure to the mining lesson. You can learn the tool without making all of those problems part of the first attempt.
Record the last familiar landmark
Before entering an unfamiliar passage, turn around and identify what it looks like from the return direction. Keep a short sequence of junctions or screenshots, then return through one junction as a rehearsal.
Expected result: You can retrace the route without needing the resource marker to point home.
If it did not work: If two passages look identical, stop there and improve the route record. Continuing farther does not make the way back clearer.
Set a return trigger
Check carried supplies and decide to turn back while enough remains for the return. With a friend, agree that both people leave when either reaches that trigger.
Expected result: The session has a limit that does not depend on filling the last storage slot.
If it did not work: Leave early if navigation, injuries or exposure slow the return. The backpack target is optional; a route out is essential.
Choose a hand-sized deposit
The official industrial guide lists small deposits such as Aphorite, Dolivine and Hadanite for the OreBit. Alpha 4.1 separated hand mineables from the ground-vehicle set, so an old ROC gem route may teach the wrong target selection.
Inspect the tool readout before firing. A deposit beyond the tool’s capability is a reason to move on, not to hold maximum power indefinitely.
Read one deposit before firing
With the mining tool in hand, aim at a small mineable deposit until its analysis appears. Read the material and any capability warning before starting.
Expected result: The tool recognises a mineable target. You have a reason to mine this deposit rather than an ordinary cave wall.
If it did not work: Reposition close enough for the readout. A large ship or ROC rock is not made suitable by firing at it for longer.
- Fracture
- Breaking the solid deposit into pieces that can be collected. A glowing rock is not yet a collected resource.
Learn what the energy window is telling you
Keep the tool on one suitable deposit. The useful energy band is where fracture can progress. Below it, more waiting may accomplish nothing; above it, excess energy makes the attempt dangerous. The lesson below illustrates the relationship, not an exact hand-tool screen.
Start low and watch the response
Activate the mining beam and make a small power increase. Watch the rock-energy indicator move before adding more. Keep the tool aimed at the deposit throughout the observation.
Expected result: You can tell whether this amount of power makes energy rise, fall or hold.
If it did not work: If power changes but energy does not respond, inspect aim, range and deposit suitability. Do not keep scrolling upward without understanding the result.
Reduce early, then make small corrections
As energy approaches the useful band, reduce the rate of increase. Use small adjustments to hold it there while the fracture indicator advances.
Expected result: Fracture progress increases while rock energy stays in the productive band.
If it did not work: If energy races beyond the band, stop applying the beam and let it settle. Reposition or select an easier deposit before trying again.
Stop and identify the result
When the deposit breaks, stop the fracturing input. Inspect the pieces before using the collection function in the next step.
Expected result: You can distinguish the intact deposit from the small pieces now available.
If it did not work: Do not keep heating a new piece merely because your previous power setting worked. The smaller target can respond differently.
Field note: If an input differs, open Options > Keybindings, select your actual device, then Advanced Controls Customization. Find the named mining, salvage or tool action. Keep your working custom profile; resetting every binding is unnecessary.
Break the deposit, then collect the pieces
The mining beam heats the deposit. Rock energy is its response; laser power is your input. They are different readings. A short collection lesson is below, and the energy exercise comes before this step.
Switch to collection only after the break
After the rock separates, use the hand tool collection function and aim at one small piece within reach. Watch the piece and your available storage.
Expected result: The collectable piece is removed and its material appears in carried storage.
If it did not work: If the piece remains, check reach, free storage and the equipped attachment. A vehicle mining shortcut is not the hand tool collection shortcut.
Check one sample before collecting everything
Open your carried inventory and inspect the material name and quantity from the first piece. Compare that with the resource you expected.
Expected result: You have physical material, with a name and quantity you can take to a buyer.
If it did not work: A rock disappearing is not proof of a successful transfer. Check nearby pieces and your actual carried storage before leaving.
- Attachment fitted
- Deposit compatible
- Collected material visible
- Return route clear
Bring the sample to a buyer and close the trip
For this first exercise, aim for a completed small sale before aiming for a full pack. Keep your exact material name visible. A raw ship-ore work order and a hand-gem sale are different workflows.
Select the storage that holds your sample
At a commodity buyer that accepts the material, open Sell and select your accessible inventory. Read the resource, accepted quantity and offered total before confirming.
Expected result: The terminal recognizes the sample you actually carried home.
If it did not work: If it is absent, check the selected inventory and whether this kiosk buys that material. An equipment shop is not automatically a commodity buyer.
Check the transaction, then decide on a bigger run
After the sale compare the remaining resource and your balance. Keep a note of the buyer and any transfer step that was necessary.
Expected result: Your next mining trip has a proven return and sale route.
If it did not work: If only part sold, account for the remainder before leaving. Do not call the whole backpack sold because one transaction succeeded.
- Route retraced
- Material identified
- Buyer accepted a sample
- Unsold remainder accounted for
Before you commit
Mining is not the only risk underground. Preserve a route back, monitor your suit and avoid dropping your only tool. Leave room for the resources you intend to collect.
Keep one small sample until you confirm a buyer or recipe accepts that material. This guide does not promise a fixed gem price, spawn location or guaranteed mining profit.
Sources & guide information
Sources checked 14 October 2026. Latest-known defaults; gameplay review on your build is welcome.. Reference information, not a claim of current-patch playtesting.
CIG Industrial Gameplay Guide, checked 14 October 2026CIG Alpha 4.1: Hathor, mining and collector missionsRSI Shopping in the VerseRSI Equipping Your CharacterRSI Set up keybindings for your peripherals, checked 14 October 2026RSI Mining Basics, historical HUD reference, checked 14 October 2026RSI Commodities, checked 14 October 2026