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The pursuit of mineralogy can make a person very happy indeed!

Mining is a non-combat activity that allows players to excavate various minerals and ores that are used as resources in Cetus, Fortuna, or the Necralisk. It can be performed in the Plains of Eidolon, the Orb Vallis, and the Cambion Drift.

Mechanics[]

Gear Acquisition[]

Before players can begin mining, they must first acquire a Nosam Cutter from Old Man Suumbaat in Cetus for Ostron standing, or a Sunpoint Plasma Drill from Smokefinger in Fortuna for Solaris United standing. Players must then equip the mining tool in their Gear Wheel to use it.

The Sunpoint Plasma Drill is superior to the Nosam Cutters: it can mine Very Rare gems, includes the features of other Cutters, can be upgraded, and can be purchased earlier than most other Cutters as it does not require any Syndicate ranks. It also has the slowest drill progress, making precise timing easier. It does, however, require at least ReputationLarge 2,500 with Solaris United to be able to purchase, which could involve multiple Bounty Missions.

Acquiring a Basic Nosam Cutter in Cetus for a much simpler 500 standing (low enough to be gained during Saya's Vigil) and mining Venus gems that can be traded in for Standing is a quick way to get the Sunpoint Plasma Drill. Keeping the Nosam Cutter after this process is recommended, since the Drill has a remarkably low chance of finding Common and Uncommon ores and gems. However, note that a Nosam Cutter and a Sunpoint Plasma Drill cannot be equipped at the same time.

Finding Veins[]

Out on the Plains, Vallis, or Drift, players have several means of finding resource deposits.

  • Veins stand out visually as bright colored spots surrounded by light grey patches on rocks and rock formations. Red and yellow spots denote Ores, while Blue spots denote Gems. Note that the various fossilized Sentient bones littering the Plains are not rocks (despite bearing a superficial resemblance to them) and will not have any mineral veins.
  • Mining tools have several features to find minerals from a distance. Equipping a Sunpoint Plasma Drill or a Nosam Cutter (default hold Q  and select the desired Cutter) will bring up a HUD with the following features:
    • The left side of the HUD will display icons of rocks indicating the number of mineral deposits within the detector's range (higher tiers of Cutters have an increased detectable number).
    • The right side of the HUD is equipped with a rangefinder that shows the distance to the closest detected mineral vein (higher tiers of Cutters have an increased detection range).
    • An audible repeating tick (akin to a metal detector) will be heard if the detector is within range of a deposit. This sound will grow in pitch if the player is looking in the direction of the vein, and tick more frequently the closer player is to the source.
    • When unzoomed, a faint diamond-shape object will appear over veins that are within your field of view.
    • Higher grade Cutters will also display a gemstone icon on your Minimap when you are close enough, making it much easier to find the deposit.

Mining Process[]

MiningMinigame

Mining minigame

PerfectScoreMiningMinigame

Perfect score

Extraction is now done by heating a deposit to the ideal temperature. Aiming and shooting your Mining tool at any of the heat spots (flashing blue dots) on a deposit will begin the process.

A thermometer gauge ring will appear with boxed indicators that denote where you have to land in order to extract from the deposit. Simply hold the fire button and release when you are inside any of the indicators on the ring. Red deposits indicate Ores and Blue indicates Gems. Landing in the smaller of the indicators yields Gems (even on a Red deposit).
Update 24.0 (2018-11-08) patch notes

Once the player has located a vein, they can begin mining it by equipping their Cutter, and then zooming in on the vein (default hold RMB ). This will reveal 1~3 blue drilling spots. You must aim onto a drilling spot, then press and hold the fire button (default LMB ) while remaining still. A ring of unlit colored lights with white brackets will appear. You can also press the Secondary Fire button after zooming in to adjust the magnification of the zoom (default MMB ).

The goal is to stop firing when the colored lights reach as close to the middle of these white brackets as possible. The brackets can sometimes be moving or changing in size, presenting a challenge in hitting the desired spot. Occasionally, these brackets can also be accompanied by a second, smaller set of special narrow brackets, which players can attempt to hit in lieu of the larger brackets for additional rewards.

A progress gauge will fill up at the top of the Cutter's HUD, composed of 5 small mineral icons determining the amount of resources gained and the quality of the deposit that was just mined, all affected by the timing of the cut. The mining is completed once the yellow gem bar fills up, which will reward a random mineral, either Ore or Gem depending on whether an Ore or Gem deposit was mined. Additionally, successfully hitting the special narrow brackets during mining will grant additional gem rewards on completion, even on ore veins.

The more accurate the timing during mining, the higher the likelihood a better-grade mineral will be mined, and the higher the amount of minerals will be given upon completion. Players can halt cutting at any time, however doing so will immediately "complete" the drilling spot that was cut into, preventing a retry of that spot, and thus reducing the quality and quantity of extracted minerals. This makes uninterrupted cutting most desirable, after clearing the immediate area of enemies.

The result of the mining is determined by different factors:

  • The usual calculation is to first multiply the total amount of filling of small icons by the multiplier of the resource type and then rounding the result to the upper integer number.
    • Blue veins have a x1 multiplier and Red veins have x2. Some resources have no multiplier as there can only be 1 gain, such as Nyth.
    • For example, Coprun has a x2 multiplier and 10 maximum gain from a vein. If the total amount of filling is just below 3 full icons by a small amount then the result will be 6. And if it is above 3 by just a small amount then it will be 7.
  • Minimum and maximum number of gains are also affected by the distance of the vein to the gates.
    • Red veins give a minimum of 3 near the gate and will give at least 6 far away. In both cases, 10 is the maximum number.
    • Blue veins give a minimum of 2 but maximum of 4 near the gate, and will give a minimum of 4 and maximum of 6 if far away.
  • Without boosters, Blue Veins have a maximum gain of 6, and Red Veins have a maximum gain of 10.
    • Resource Booster will double (x2) this amount.
    • Smeeta Kavat's Charm also affects the resulting numbers by the total stack of Charm's given boosts (x2, x4, x8 or even x16, depending on one's luck).
    • While having both boosters, the gain will be multiplied by at least 4; x2 from Resource Booster, and x2 from Charm.

Cutters[]

Cutters can be purchased from Old Man Suumbaat or Smokefinger for standing. More advanced Cutters feature more accurate mining beams, longer mineral detection ranges and Minimap mineral radar. While being able to cut all rarities of ore, only certain Cutters can mine rare gems. Regardless, all Cutters have a base beam range of 9 meters (without upgrades).

NosamCutter
Nosam Cutter
FocusedNosamCutter
Focused Nosam Cutter
AdvancedNosamCutter
Advanced Nosam Cutter
SunpointPlasmaDrill
Sunpoint Plasma Drill
OstronReputationLarge 500
Rank 0: Neutral
OstronReputationLarge 750
Rank 2: Visitor
OstronReputationLarge 1000
Rank 4: Surah
Solaris UnitedReputationLarge 2500
Rank 0: Neutral
Not Upgradable Upgradable
No rare Gems Eidolon & Cambion Drift Gems All rare Gems
Fastest, unstable laser Fast, less unstable laser Slower, stable laser Slow, stable laser
No Radar
30m Detection Range
5 Deposits Detection Amount
No Radar
45m Detection Range
10 Deposits Detection Amount
50m Radar (Minimap)
60m Detection Range
10 Deposits Detection Amount
50m Radar (Minimap)
60m Detection Range
10 Deposits Detection Amount

Widgets[]

Widgets are upgrades that are permanently applied to only the Sunpoint Plasma Drill upon being purchased, enhancing their utility. There are two Widgets available and are both bought from Smokefinger for ReputationLarge 30,000 at the rank of Old Mate. Both Widgets can be applied simultaneously.

SunpointPlasmaDrillRangeWidget SunpointPlasmaDrillSilencerWidget
Sunpoint Plasma Drill Range Widget
Increases plasma beam range.
(9 to 14 meters)
Sunpoint Plasma Drill Silencer Widget
Mine in peace and avoid alerting nearby enemies with this drill silencing widget.

Ores[]

Ores can be mined from red veins in Plains of Eidolon/Orb Vallis and yellow veins in Cambion Drift. Raw Ores can be refined and combined with other Resources in the Foundry to form materials suitable for construction. Unlike Gems, Ores cannot be turned in for standing to their local vendors (with the exception of Cambion Drift's Otak for Otak Tokens), and cannot be traded to other players.

Type Plains of Eidolon Orb Vallis Cambion Drift
Image
Common Coprun
Coprun

Pyrol
Pyrol

Axidite
Axidite

Travoride
Travoride

Adramalium
Adramalium

Bapholite
Bapholite

Uncommon Ferros
Ferros
Venerol
Venerol
Namalon
Namalon
Rare Auron
Auron
Hesperon
Hesperon
Thaumica
Thaumica

Gems[]

Gems can be mined from blue veins. Raw gems can be refined for use in certain Foundry Blueprints, or Traded to other players. Raw gems can be turned in directly for Standing or Standing-related items:

However, once refined, they can no longer be turned for Standing.

Type Plains of Eidolon Orb Vallis Cambion Drift
Image
Common ReputationLarge 50 Azurite
Azurite
Devar
Devar
ReputationLarge 50 Phasmin
Phasmin
Noctrul
Noctrul
Dagonic
Dagonic
Tiametrite
Tiametrite
Heciphron
Heciphron
Uncommon ReputationLarge 75 Veridos
Veridos
ReputationLarge 200 Goblite
Goblite
Rare ReputationLarge 100 Crimzian
Crimzian
ReputationLarge 500 Amarast
Amarast
Necrathene
Necrathene
"Eidolon Gems" Requires Sunpoint Plasma Drill Embolos
Embolos
Xenorhast
Xenorhast
ReputationLarge 400 Sentirum
Sentirum
Nyth
Nyth
ReputationLarge 1000 Zodian
Zodian
Thyst
Thyst

Notes[]

  • A Nosam Cutter and a Plasma Drill cannot be equipped at the same time.
  • A selection of (refined) gems can be bought directly from the traders for Platinum64  under Today's Special.
  • Refined gems are Tradeable under "Crafting Components".
  • Gems are used as materials in open-world crafting, including the creation of Zaws, Kitguns, and Amps.
  • The secondary fire function (default middle mouse button) can be used to enhance the mining tool's zoom level while aiming.
  • Firing the Cutter is considered an alarming action, and will thus alert enemies within the vicinity. Consequently, it will disrupt IvaraIcon272 Ivara's Prowl130xWhite Prowl ability when used, rendering her visible for the duration the cutter is active. The Silencer Widget for the Sunpoint Plasma Drill will counteract this, costing ReputationLarge 30,000 with Solaris United.
  • The color of the Cutter/Drill and its beam is determined by the Warframe's chosen Colors and Energy Color, respectively.
  • The Advanced Nosam Cutter or Sunpoint Plasma Drill is required to mine the Eidolon gems Sentirum and Nyth, while the Sunpoint Plasma Drill is required to mine Vallis gems Zodian and Thyst. Both the Advanced Nosam Cutter and Sunpoint Plasma Drill can mine the Cambion gems Embolos and Xenorhast, although the Sunpoint Plasma Drill greatly increases the chances of finding them.
  • With an Advanced Nosam Cutter or Sunpoint Plasma Drill, it may show that 10 deposits were detected. However, there can be, in fact, more than 10 deposits marked on the Mini-map.
  • Using the built-up charge of VoltIcon272 Volt's passive ability, it is possible to deal damage with a Nosam Cutter or Sunpoint Plasma Drill equal to the amount of electricity stored.
  • The amount of resources yielded in mining are affected by both Resource Boosters and a Smeeta Kavat's double resource buff, multiplying the amount acquired.
  • The frequency of gem deposits is affected by a Resource Drop Chance Booster.

Tips[]

  • Although significantly outclassed by the Sunpoint Plasma Drill, the Focused Nosam Cutter's inability to mine any sort of rare gem makes it ideal for farming gems such as Amarast Amarast
    • The Advanced Nosam Cutter can also be used, but only for Orb Vallis gems.
  • While caves have a high concentration of veins, they may generate in areas that are quite difficult to reach with a cutter, such as high up rock faces and on ceilings.
    • Using IvaraIcon272 Ivara's Dashwire Arrow to create elevation can make reaching these veins much easier.
    • TitaniaIcon272 Titania can also use the cutters in Razorwing130xWhite Razorwing mode, which can aid in scouting for veins, and also reaching veins that are otherwise difficult or impossible to mine, even with the 14-meter beam upgrade for the Sunpoint Drill.
  • Mining veins spawn in greater numbers in areas with many rocks packed closely together, such as caves and rock tunnels. As for specific locations;
    • The area on the Plains where one can consistently find the most mining veins in the smallest area is the bay known as Er-Phryah's Vigil. It is located west and slightly north of the Cetus gates, around Grineer Base #2 (as marked on the map). This bay area can be recognized by the towering Sentient bones in the local shallows, which are periodically electrified by a nearby Grineer machine. This bay and the nearby cave will almost always have 15 or more veins in a relatively small 100 square meter area, making it ideal for mining.
    • The cave system at the Twin Horns is quite close to the Cetus gates, allowing for quick returns to reload the cave, and its large area makes it home to a sizeable number of veins. Players must take care of Akkalak Turrets placed at the far end of the cave, as they can knock miners out of position on top of killing unattentive players.
    • Between Central Maintenance and the small coolant lake behind Fortuna's entrance is a stretch of road with a high number of deposits, as well as a small cave system where more veins can spawn. Both features making it ideal for quick mineral gathering. Be wary of patrols arriving via Condor Dropships.
    • Entering and exiting Deck 12 will respawn any veins.
    • The two cave systems that flank the Catabolic Gutter are quite large and often contain a significant number of deposits, with the northern cave system relatively close to the Necralisk entrance.

Media[]

Patch History[]

Hotfix 33.6.9 (2023-09-12)

  • Fixed several mining locations in the Orb Vallis missing its veins and heat spots (notably at Fortuna Elevator, Deck 12 entrance, and Reflector Control).

Update 33.0 (2023-04-26)

  • Fixed various Mining locations being located under the terrain.

Update 32.3 (2023-02-15)

  • Fixes towards mining veins spawning inside of rocks, making them inaccessible.

Hotfix 32.1.1 (2022-11-03)

  • Fixed crash related to Mining Tool UI.

Update 31.1 (2022-02-09)

  • Added locations for Gems, Ores, and their derived types to their descriptions.

Update 30.9 (2021-11-11)

  • Fixed the highlight diamonds around Mining locations not appearing when you have your Mining tool in hand.

Hotfix 30.7.6 (2021-09-23)

  • Reduced/refined volume of Mining detect sound loop.

Hotfix 30.5.1 (2021-07-06)

  • Fixed an issue where all Mining lasers could benefit from the Silencer Widget, but all along it was intended that only the Sunpoint Plasma Drill could benefit.

Update 30.2 (2021-05-12)

  • Fixed a harmless script error that could occur when joining an Open Zone mission while someone was Mining.

Hotfix 29.6.5 (2021-01-09)

  • The Mining drop rate of Necrathene has been doubled! To make this change, Heciphron Mining drop rate has been reduced by 6% to balance the Necrathene increase.
    • This change is similar to how we increased the Mining drop rate of Thaumica in Deimos Arcana to help alleviate Necramech crafting pain points.

Update 29.5 (2020-11-19)

  • The mining drop rate of Thaumica has been doubled! We’ve also Reduced the chance of getting Namalon while Mining in the Cambion Drift so that the chance of getting Thaumica is significantly increased.
    • Both Necrathene and Thaumica were similarly rare, but Thaumic Distillate is used in a wider variety of Blueprints, so expect to see it appear more often from yellow mineral deposits.

Hotfix 29.0.4 (2020-08-27)

  • Optimized mining visibility more by preventing certain ‘pulsing’ aspects of the world overlapping nodes.

Hotfix 29.0.2 (2020-08-26)

  • Mining veins now have a UI marker present when the Cutter/Drill is equipped and you’re close to it.
  • Improvements to Mining FX/materials in the Cambion Drift to improve visibility.

Update 29.0 (2020-08-25)

NEW INFESTED RESOURCES
HARVESTING THE CAMBION DRIFT

The Cambion Drift has a whole collection of new Resources to earn as you explore and delve into the Heart of Deimos. Unlike the more “natural” Resources of the Plains of Eidolon or the Orb Vallis, the Cambion Drift is a living, breathing landscape with a whole collection of Infested goodies to gather! Visit the Mining Entrati Syndicate member to learn more!

Mining
GEMS
  • Faceted Tiametrite - Common
  • Purged Dagonic - Common
  • Purified Heciphron - Uncommon
  • Stellated Necrathene - Rare
  • Trapezium Xenorhast - Legendary
  • Cabochon Embolos - Legendary
ALLOYS
  • Adramal Alloy - Common
  • Tempered Bapholite - Common
  • Devolved Namalon - Uncommon
  • Thaumic Distillate - Rare

Update 28.0 (2020-06-11)

  • Removed Copernics from Mining Nodes on the Orb Vallis and added to Eximus enemies in the Lua tileset.
  • Removed Pustrels from Mining Nodes in the Plains of Eidolon and added to Eximus enemies in the Infested Ship tileset.

Hotfix 25.7.4 (2019-09-05)

  • Mining will no longer show the player if they're cloaked and zooming in (Loki’s Invisibility etc).

Hotfix 25.4.1 (2019-07-24)

  • Fixed a massive hitch when equipping the Mining Laser.

Update 24.4 (2019-03-08)

Mining Additions & Changes
  • Sunpoint Plasma Drill Range Widget: Increases plasma beam range.
  • Sunpoint Plasma Drill Silencer Widget: Mine in peace and avoid alerting nearby enemies with this drill silencing widget.
  • Reduced Focused Nosam Cutter standing cost to 750 and Advanced Nosam Cutter cost to 1000.

Hotfix 24.2.8 (2019-01-15)

  • Reduced the flashlight FX further when Mining to avoid excessive bloom and inability to see deposits.
  • Improvements towards Vallis Mining deposit spawn locations that resulted in an inability to successfully Mine them.

Update 24.2 (2018-12-18)

    • Mining success FX now reflects the colour of your chosen UI Theme!

Hotfix 24.0.5 (2018-11-12)

  • Added strokes to Mining laser HUD components based on Forum request for improved visibility.

Hotfix 24.0.2 (2018-11-09)

  • Improved Mining visibility in low lighting by dimming the flashlight more when aiming with any Mining tool.

Update 24.0 (2018-11-08)

Smokefinger - Mining

Meet 'Smokefinger', the Orb Vallis mineralogy enthusiast. This Fortuna vendor is your one-stop shop for the mining tools and resources you need! Speak with him in Fortuna to purchase the SUNPOINT PLASMA DRILL a fast-ignition, high-intensity mining tool capable of extracting the rarest of materials with surgical precision, and get to mining the Ores and Gems of The Orb Vallis:

  • Axiditre
  • Noctrul
  • Phasmin
  • Travoride
  • Goblite
  • Venerol
  • Hesperon
  • Amarast
  • Zodian
  • Thyst

Note: Ostron Mining Tools can be used out in The Orb Vallis to mine Gems/Ore, but the Sunpoint Plasma Drill is required to mine the rarest Gems in Vallis.

Mining Changes (Plains of Eidolon & Vallis)

Mining launched with Update 22: Plains of Eidolon and introduced a new resource extracting system to Warframe! Collecting Ore and Gems required you trace a pattern around a deposit using a Mining cutter tool in order to release it from its encasement. Since then it has seen several small iterations over time in order to ease what was at times tricky to execute, especially since the quality of the deposit was affected by the accuracy of the trace (which typically made the process very slow).

With the introduction of a brand new open landscape with deposits of its own, we knew that we needed to add new challenge that required similar levels of precision and skill, but in a speedier fashion and with much more return. So with that said, we have made the following changes to Mining:

Extraction is now done by heating a deposit to the ideal temperature. Aiming and shooting your Mining tool at any of the heat spots (flashing blue dots) on a deposit will begin the process.

A thermometer gauge ring will appear with boxed indicators that denote where you have to land in order to extract from the deposit. Simply hold the fire button and release when you are inside any of the indicators on the ring. Red deposits still indicate Ores and Blue indicates Gems. Landing in the smaller of the indicators yields Gems (even on a Red deposit).

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https://thumbs.gfycat.com/PitifulChubbyAmethystsunbird-mobile.mp4
General mining notes
  • All hot spots must be completed in order to successfully collect Ore/Gems.
    • Heat spots will glow red to indicate when you have successfully completed it.
  • The more heat spots, the harder the extractions become with timing pressures and moving boxes.
  • If all of the indicators are missed, you will still be rewarded a small amount of Ore/Gem (depending on the deposit type).

Hotfix 22.12.3 (2018-02-12)

  • Fixed a script error that could occur when Mining.

Update 22.12 (2018-02-09)

  • Resource Drop Chance Boosters now affect Mining.
  • Fixed a Mining exploit caused by switching weapons while zooming in.

Update 22.11 (2018-01-31)
Mining Additions & Changes: We want you to feel like the perfect Gem that you are, and that means giving Mining a bit of a revisit! Feedback about difficulty level and perfect extraction recognition are just a few of the concerns we acted on and tweaked for the better.

  • Added a new celebratory success sound for doing a perfect Mining extraction in the Plains!
  • Added different levels of FX for Mining success.
  • The Gem count now stays on screen until the Mining reward fades.
  • The Mining outline now stays visible longer (8 seconds) while you're cutting.
  • Reduced the accuracy required to get a perfect Mining extraction, meaning you don’t need to be as close to the line as before!

Hotfix 22.10.2 (2018-01-26)
Mining Buff:
For those of you who may not have been aware, mining in the Plains has a base chance, as well as a bonus based on your accuracy, to reward a rare gem. We’ve increased both the base chance as well as the bonus for accuracy. You can tell how accurate you are by the number of gem icons that you fill up while mining. Each filled gem icon increases the total chance to receive a rare gem.

  • Now: 15% + 3% per filled gem icon
  • Previously: 10% + 2% per filled gem icon

Hotfix 22.8.3 (2018-01-11)

  • Fixed a script error when Mining in the Plains.

Hotfix 22.6.1 (2017-12-08)

  • Improved the ability to hear the mining laser audio more clearly when it's raining.

Update 22.6 (2017-12-07)

  • Fixed crosshair being visible when opening and closing the Gear menu while holding your mining beam.

Update 22.4 (2017-11-23)

  • Fixed minimap Mining markers lingering for the Advanced Nosam Cutter when the tool is put away.
  • Fixed minimap Mining markers lingering for the Advanced Nosam Cutter for Clients if the Host has their Cutter out.

Hotfix 22.2.4 (2017-11-06)

  • Fixed the Mining UI not appearing after switching to a different weapon and then back again.

Update 22.1 (2017-10-25)

  • Limbo can no longer mine while in the Rift. Rocks aren't affected by his Void Magic.

Hotfix 22.0.7 (2017-10-19)

  • Fixed a memory corruption error when using the mining tool.
  • Fixed mining deposits overlapping on certain rocks.

Hotfix 22.0.6 (2017-10-18)

  • Fixed the Mining laser permanently hiding the normal reticle.

Hotfix 22.0.5 (2017-10-17)

  • Optimizations towards Mining.

Hotfix 22.0.3 (2017-10-16)

  • Fixed mining Resources collected in the Plains duplicating if you went from Cetus to the Plains and then joined a Conclave mission.

Hotfix 22.0.2 (2017-10-13)

  • Fixed Mining breaking and the UI getting stuck on screen if you were Mining out in the Plains, walked back into Cetus and then back out into the Plains, and then completed Mining a deposit.

Update 22.0 (2017-10-12)

  • Introduced

Last updated: Hotfix 22.19.1 (2018-05-03)

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