🌑 High-Sec Moon Mining — The Core Concept
- Only possible in 0.5 security systems.
- Requires an Upwell Refinery (Athanor or Tatara) anchored at a moon mining beacon.
- The refinery’s Moon Drill extracts a chunk from the moon.
- After a set cycle (6–56 days), the chunk breaks off → drifts → explodes into a moon ore field.
- Pilots mine these asteroids just like belts, but the rocks contain special moon ores (Ubiquitous → Rare).
- These ores refine into moon goo, vital for Tech II industry.
High-sec moons generally produce Ubiquitous ores (not R64s like in null), but they are still much more valuable than veldspar/scordite and very stable ISK sources.
⚙️ Structure Mechanics
- Cycle time: You set how long to pull the moon chunk (short = smaller field, long = larger field).
- Fracture timing: The chunk explodes into ore at the end of the cycle — you must plan corp mining ops around this.
- Despawns: If unmined, the field despawns after a set time.
- Ownership: Any player can mine the asteroids once fractured — you cannot “lock” the ore field. Corp coordination is critical to avoid outsiders poaching.
🚀 Advanced Ship Choices
Mining Hulls
- Exhumers (best yield)
- Hulk → Max yield, tiny ore hold. Requires Orca support.
- Mackinaw → Balanced yield, huge ore hold. Ideal for semi-solo miners.
- Skiff → Tankiest, decent yield. Safer if gankers roam.
- Barges (budget / lower skill)
- Covetor → High yield, but tiny ore hold.
- Retriever → Large ore hold, good for long sessions.
- Procurer → Tanky, corp defense fleets like them.
Fleet Support
- Orca → The backbone of high-sec moon ops. Provides:
- Mining boosts (25–35% more yield).
- Ore compression (critical for hauling bulky moon ore).
- Massive ore bay.
- Porpoise → Cheaper, smaller boosts. Good for starter corps.
- Haulers → DSTs or Orca/Charon freighter for bulk logistics.
🛠 Advanced Fitting Philosophy
Exhumer Yield Fit (Hulk in Fleet)
- 3x Modulated Strip Miner II + correct T2 crystals.
- Survey Scanner II (to avoid wasting cycles).
- Minimal tank (shield extender + hardener).
- 2x Mining Laser Upgrade II in lows.
- Mining Drone IIs.
Role: Maximum yield, relies on Orca for hauling and defense.
Semi-Solo Fit (Mackinaw)
- 2x Modulated Strip Miner II + crystals.
- Survey Scanner II.
- Medium Shield Extender II + Multispectrum Shield Hardener II.
- 2x Mining Laser Upgrade II in lows.
- Ore Hold rigs.
- Mix of Mining + Light drones.
Role: Balanced for miners who don’t always have Orca boosts.
Orca Boost/Compression Fit
- Mining Foreman Burst II (3 charges: Mining Laser Field Enhancement, Mining Equipment Preservation, Shield Harmonizing).
- Ore Compression modules.
- Shield tank in mids + lows.
- Drone Damage Amps + flight of light drones for defense.
Role: Support, logistics, compression.
📦 Logistics & Ore Handling
Moon ore is extremely bulky. Logistics can make or break profitability.
- Compression: Compress ore at the Orca/refinery before hauling — reduces volume massively.
- Hauling:
- Small ops → Orca to station/refinery.
- Large ops → DSTs or freighters (Charon/Obelisk).
- Refining:
- If you have max Reprocessing skills + tax-friendly citadel, refine yourself.
- Otherwise, sell compressed ore raw in Jita/Amarr for consistent profit.
- Corp strategy: Many corps use buyback programs at 90–95% Jita price to streamline hauling.
🧭 Efficiency & Profit Maximization
- Cycle timing:
- Long extraction cycles = more ore, more profit, fewer ops.
- Short cycles = smaller ore fields, but more frequent ops.
- Survey Scanner discipline: Never waste cycles on 100-unit rocks.
- Boosts: Orca boosts turn ~30M ISK/hr solo into 50–60M/hr.
- Specialization: Train T2 crystals for the moon ores in your system. Huge difference in yield.
- Scheduling ops: Corps often run “Moon Ops” with multiple miners, an Orca, and haulers. Coordinated ops clear the field faster and deter poachers.
⚔️ Threats & Security
- Gankers: Even in high-sec, a poorly fit Hulk can be alpha’d. Use Skiffs if you expect trouble.
- Ore thieves: Anyone can warp to your moon belt once fractured. Consider locking down timers so only your corp knows when it spawns.
- Wardecs: If your refinery belongs to your corp, it can be attacked by war-decing entities. Always set vulnerability windows carefully and have a defense plan (or mercenaries on retainer).
💰 ISK Expectations
- Solo Mackinaw, no boosts: 20–30M ISK/hr.
- Solo Hulk, Orca boosting yourself (alt): 40–50M ISK/hr.
- Fleet Op (5–10 Hulks + Orca + Haulers): 50–70M ISK/hr per pilot.
- Corp-run refinery, buyback program: Steady ISK stream, reduced hassle.
🔑 Advanced Tips
- Extraction sync: Time moon fractures across multiple structures to run corp-wide ops efficiently.
- Alt synergy: Orca alt + Hulk main = maximum yield without waiting on corp.
- Market play: Sometimes refined products sell worse than compressed ore — always check Jita vs local buy orders.
- Industrial integration: Feed moon ore into T2 production lines for far higher ISK/ore value than just selling raw.
- Intel discipline: Hide fracture timers from public corp info. Poachers track lazy corps.
✅ In summary:
- High-sec moon mining = safe, steady ISK, excellent for corps and industrialists.
- Success depends on logistics, corp coordination, and fitting discipline.
- With Orca support and proper planning, you can earn 2–3× what normal asteroid mining pays, while feeding industry pipelines.