To refine or not to refine

[chefobigon1]

Ok yeah I stole the subject from a topic before....

I have been doing the math, and maybe I am off on my calculations, but it doesn't seem all that worth it to refine the ore mined. If you bring back a full retriever full of ore 5,000 m3 of Veldspar it would be worth about 510,000 isk raw. If you refine and sell the trit that is about 575,000 isk with the best of skills. So you make 65,000 isk more, but you most likely still have to move it.

[chefobigon1]

I did the math and it seems like I come to about 4-10% gain in refining. I guess in the long run that will add up, but its time spent on refining skills that may not be worth it. I just want to know if others get a larger % of gain.

[VanGoghGaming]

Veldspar Processing is a cheap skill to train so in the long run it is worth training it to level 3 or so along with Scordite Processing or whatever ore you're mining.

[chefobigon1]

I meant is it it worth it to refine all together? If:

5000m3 of unrefined Veldspar= 550,000 isk

5000m3 of refined veldspar= 575,000 isk

The increase in price is not all that much. Its like 4-5%. If you could get 75% from a station that would be worth it but I can only get 50%. Am I doing something wrong?

[VanGoghGaming]

50% is as high as it gets so in order to get zero waste you would need to train some Refining or Refining Efficiency along Veldspar Processing. I'd say it is worth it. You're losing 50-100 mil for every 1 billion ISK that you mine.

[chefobigon1]

Can I build a refinery array? Is that worth it? Is it more work than it is worth?

[fastabenj]

I mine in highsec, so it's really easy to get 100% effeciency. So it's very much worth it, in my mind at least. You have to figure if you're running a macro regularly then you're talking about a LOT of ore over time. If you're losing ISK by not refining, or having crappy refine skills, you're going to end up throwing away a lot of ISK you could be earning. I run a hulk on an alt account, leave it running all day. I pull in like 70m on average per day. Without refining skills I'd be losing several million every day.

[lagmonster]

To sortof hi-jack your topic... can you do the math with my current can please?

I got two full Station Vaults with an equal amount of hi-sec roids....

Who cares about those little amounts after using TM+ for a couple amounts.

Believe us that it's trivial to think about it, so let it go and go mine mine mine

[fastabenj]

Who cares about those little amounts after using TM+ for a couple amounts.

Actually, it was starting to get bulk amounts that I'd pull in with a hulk running all day that got me worried about things like refining, station tax, ect. If you're in a mining frigate, you're only making pennies so you're not really losing much by not refining. But if you're in a hulk, running all day, the difference is several million at least. Every single day. It adds up very quick, and I'd hate to be throwing that much ISK away regularly.

[lagmonster]

and thus by answering that you answer the topicstarter

whois btw talking about 5km3 and a Retreiver

Got my third Station Vault or is it Warehouse almost full... almost 30 million m3 and 100% sure to crash a node as I will start refining in the same station with 3 chars at the same time muahahha

[deepfreeze007]

Refine it m8.

Not refining used to be the case in high-volume ore trading as ppl with good refining skills wanted to buy the raw ores at a slightly lower price and refine it themselves. If you're the seller, you prolly want to refine it yourself at the slightly higher price. Anything that makes you more money for the same amount of work seems like a no-brainer. Also, don't neglect your standings with the station (corporation) you refine at. Standings of 6.67 and higher net you 0% tax. Couple that with the ore specialty skills, you'll get 0 waste AND 0 tax... you get it all!

[rstark]

The point behind refining is that if you have max skills and have a high enough standing with the corp station then you refine so that you can carry much smaller minerals to a different station to get a higher selling price.

For example, I mine Glacial Mass in X system and dock in X Station. Glacial Mass does not sell well in the system that I mine it. However, I am able to go X jumps to a station where the refined isotopes and other other minerals are selling at a high price. I can move 14x more product to market in one shot when i refine. And the price of the refined products are worth more isk then the individual ice could sell for.

So in conclusion, refining in hi security space with no tax allows you to move more of your refined products to a better market and thus get a better price.

In 0.0 space you might want to invest in a Rorqual and learn how to compress your minerals rather then refine. Then refine in low sec.