Mining
Mining drills are used to automate the extraction of resources. Drills are the first step to automating manufacture, although most resources have to be smelted in a furnace for further usage.
Mining Speed Formula
Metal and mineral resources have a "mining hardness" rating. The rate at which they are produced is given by:
(Mining power - Mining hardness) * Mining speed / Mining time = Production rate (in resource/sec)
To calculate the time needed for one resource-item use this formula:
Mining time / ((Mining power - Mining hardness) * Mining speed) = Seconds for one resource item
Mining power and speed are functions of the miner while hardness and time are functions of the metal or mineral you are currently mining (you can place a miner over a mixed field).
Mining By Hand
When mining by hand or with a tool such as the iron axe, the formula is modified slightly:
(1 + Mining Speed Modifier) * .6 * (Tool power - Mining hardness) / Mining Time = Production rate (in resource/sec)
This uses a player mining speed of .01 per tick or .6 per second, and their bare hands with no axe uses a Tool power of 1. The Mining Speed Modifier is typically 0, but can be modified via mod or console command.
See also Calculate Time for production?.
Drill types
| Item | Total raw | Mining power | Mining speed | Mining power | Covered area | Max health |
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- | 1 | 0.6 | - | 1 x 1 | 250 |
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2.5 | 0.35 | 300 kW (burner) | 2 x 2 | 150 |
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3 | 0.5 | 90 kW (electric) | 5 x 5 | 300 |
Note, that the Burner mining drill covers exactly its size (2x2, and so covered area is also just 2x2), while the Electric mining drill is one tile bigger (size is 3x3, but covered area is 5x5). Place Electric mining drills in the center of resource fields as narrow as possible, but at the borders of the field, more loosely to get a more continuous throughput by having more equal resources per miner.
Output
| Resource | Burner M. Drill | Electric M. Drill | Electric M. Drill Speed Module 3 x3 |
Electric M. Drill Prod. Module 3 x3 |
Electric Mining Drill Productivity Module 3 x3 Beacon (Speed Module 3 x2) x8 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Power: 2.5 Speed: 0.35 |
Power: 3.0 Speed: 0.5 |
Power: 3.0 Speed: 1.25 |
Power: 3.0 Speed: 0.275 Bonus: +30% |
Power: 3.0 Speed: 2.275 Bonus: +30% | ||
| Iron | Hardness: 0.9 Time: 2 |
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| Copper | Hardness: 0.9 Time: 2 |
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| Coal | Hardness: 0.9 Time: 2 |
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| Stone | Hardness: 0.4 Time: 2 |
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| Uranium | Hardness: 0.9 Time: 4 |
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Unlike most other equipment, mining drills will output resources directly without the need of inserters. This includes Transport belts, Chests, other mining drills (makes only sense for Burner mining drill), Furnaces, Assembling machines etc.
