Prospecting and how to find ore veins
Finding ore
Ore deposits can be found across the map as dark green areas. Except arctic map which is covered in snow.
Prospecting is easy.
You can use your pickaxe til you see ore under the grass layer.
There is 2 types of ore vein deposits - Coal and Iron
Ground layers and what it contains
Ground Layers
Ground contains 3 main layers. dirt, paydirt and solid rock.
Dirt & Paydirt
Dirt is worthless. It can be used for road fill or sell it for $ 1 per ore.
Paydirt is lighter tone from dirt and can be processed , crafted or sold for $ 2 per ore.
Paydirt is slightly lighter color layer from dirt.
- Dirt layer is first 6 meters.
- Paydirt layer starts from 6 meters to 32 meters
- What it contains: Gold, Ruby, Diamond and Silicon ore
Solid Rock
Solid rock can be processed further to get Gravel and valuable ores like Iron, Aluminium, Copper or Silver ore.
- Solid rock layer starts 32+ meters from surface.
- What it contains: solid rock, crushed rock, blasted rock, Iron, Copper, Silver, Aluminium and Gravel
Iron vein deposit
Iron veins contain Iron, Aluminium and Lithium ore.
Does not require production elements to process this ores.
Can be found randomly on different maps as dark areas ( except Arctic map)
Can run thru all layers of the map.
Coal vein deposit
Coal veins contain coal.
Does not require production elements to process this ore.
Can be found randomly on different maps as dark areas ( except Arctic map)
Can run thru all layers of the map.
Production elements
Hopper
Jaw Crusher
Washplant
Most commonly used for input when using dump trucks or wheel loaders.
Washplant
Jaw Crusher
Washplant
Main usage is processing Paydirt
Output:
Dirt
Gold ore
Diamond Ore
Ruby Ore
Silicon Ore
Jaw Crusher
Jaw Crusher
Jaw Crusher
Main usage is processing Blasted Rock ( from Solid Rock layer)
Output:
Crushed Rock
Fractioner
Conveyor Sorter
Jaw Crusher
Important part for getting valuable ores out from Crushed Rock ( jaw crusher)
Output:
Gravel
Iron Ore
Aluminium Ore
Copper Ore
Silver Ore
Cone Crusher
Conveyor Sorter
Conveyor Sorter
Can be used instead of fractioner to turn Crushed rock into Gravel. ( will not give valuable ores what fractioner produces)
Conveyor Sorter
Conveyor Sorter
Conveyor Sorter
Separates valuable ores from dirt & paydirt.
Allows you to build separation lines if you want to forward valuable ores separately from dirt & paydirt.
upper output:
Everything else
Bottom output:
Dirt & Paydirt
Trommel
conveyors & storage
Drop Trommel
Separates valuable ores from dirt & paydirt & coal.
Allows you to build separation lines if you want to forward valuable ores separately from dirt & paydirt & coal.
upper output:
Everything else
Bottom output:
Dirt & Paydirt & Coal
Drop Trommel
conveyors & storage
Drop Trommel
Separates valuable ores from dirt & paydirt.
Allows you to build separation lines if you want to forward valuable ores separately from dirt & paydirt.
upper output:
Everything else
Bottom drop output:
Dirt & Paydirt
conveyors & storage
conveyors & storage
conveyors & storage
You'll find also variety of conveyor connectors and mergers as well as splitters to build your setups and connect everything.
Most importantly every setup should have Conveyor storage in the end to collect all the valuable ore.
Workbenches and what are they used for
Wood Workbench
Wood Workbench
Wood Workbench
All wood building elements and watchtower can be crafted in here.
Input:
- Wood logs
Output:
- All Wood Building elements
- Wood Beam, Planks, Sheet
- Watch Tower
Ore Smelter
Wood Workbench
Wood Workbench
Ore smelter is vital for smelting ores for further sell or usage.
Input:
- iron ore
- copper ore
- aluminium ore
- silver ore
- gold ore
- silicon ore
- lithium ore
- Coal ore
- Oil
Output:
- Iron
- Copper
- Aluminium
- Silver
- Gold
- Silicone
- Lithium
- Plastic
- Rubber
- Steel
Steel Roller
Wood Workbench
Steel Roller
Requires iron or steel ( Ore smelter)
Can be crafted:
- steel beam
- Steel Plate
- Steel Rod
- Empty Barrel
CNC Cutter
Concrete Mixer
Steel Roller
Can be used for crafting
steel building elements, windows, doors and Cell Tower.
Requires:
Steel beam
Steel rod
Steel plate
CNC Mill
Concrete Mixer
Concrete Mixer
Can be used for crafting vehicle spare parts and Radio Array
Requires:
steel beam/rod/plate
wearplate
electronic parts
plastic
rubber
copper
aluminium
lithium
oil
Concrete Mixer
Concrete Mixer
Concrete Mixer
Can be used for crafting concrete building elements.
Requires:
Water
Cement
Steel Press
Small Washplant
Small Washplant
Can be used for crafting wearplate.
Requires:
Steel
Coal
Small Washplant
Small Washplant
Small Washplant
Important workbench to purify Diamond and Ruby ore.
turns gravel into cement
turns paydirt into gold ore
Oil Derrick
Small Washplant
Oil Derrick
Can be used to produce oil, fuel and water.
Requires:
Empty Barrel
Paydirt, Iron and Coal processing setups
Basic
This is basic setup to process paydirt into valuable ores.
Can be used for Coal and iron deposits to process paydirt you may capture with ore veins.
Layout:
Hopper - Conveyor up - Washplant - Storage unit
Sorter version for coal & iron deposits
If you want to separate valuable ore from dirt. works for dirt, paydirt, coal and iron .
Layout:
Hopper - 2x conveyor up - washplant - Conveyor sorter - lower output= Dirt. higher output= valuable ore
Note: if you want coal to go same output as dirt replace Conveyor sorter with trommel sorter.
Extra tip
We all hate when ore misses hopper. Just add roof slopes and corners . wood, concrete or metal, you choose.
I recommend to use either snap or grid build mode ( change by pressing B) to avoid production elements not lining up .
Solid Rock processing setups
Basic
Once you have turned solid rock into blasted rock , you can now feed it into your processing setup.
Layout:
Hopper/input -2x conveyor up - Jaw Crusher - Fractioner - storage
Turning solid rock to blasted rock
Method 1: Excavator(hard)
By using combination of excavator with ripper attachment or dozer ripper you can turn solid rock into blasted rock
Method 2: Explosives(easy)
This method is easier and faster to turn solid rock into blasted rock .
ANFO, Dynamex, TNT and RTX helps you do that. (Draemite and Plowshare Deletes!)
Remember to buy Detonator to set them off ( Store - equipment - hand tools)