Ore Processing

As your facilities grow, likely so does your intolerance to long and arduous mining trips. Probably. In any case, our machines are capable of processing ores through a complex, 5-stage chain that can multiply your ores by an average factor of 10.125!

In case that doesn't sound appealing, you must still process at least Titanium, Olivine, and Copper ores to extract Tungsten, Pyroxene, and Rhenium respectively.

You will start with raw materials or ore blocks which will be processed through their Crushed, Washed, Chunk, Solution, and Crystal forms.

At any point you can stop processing and smelt the ore material into their respective final product forms (i.e. Crushed Silver Ore or Silver Ore Solution into Silver Ingot). Stage 1 guarantees doubling of the ore, each subsequent stage has a 50% of doubling each processed item. This means that on average, stages 2-5 have an average multiplier of 3x, 4.5x, 6.75x, and 10.125x.

Stage 1

The first stage of ore processing is handled by the Grinder which will crush raw materials/ore blocks into Crushed Ore. This is the only stage which requires no upgrades or the Ore Processing recipe mode. It is available rather early, so prioritize getting a Grinder as soon as possible.

Stage 2

The HydroSieve will process Crushed Ores into Washed Ores. At this stage you will start needing the Ore Processing recipe mode, which is not available by default on any of the machines. You will need to craft and install the above upgrade module onto your HydroSieve.

Stage 3

The Voltaic Injector refines Washed Ores into Ore Chunks. The cost of upgrade modules takes a sharp turn upwards around this point. Investment in power tier upgrade modules is heavily recommended at this point to avoid bottlenecks.

Pyroxene and Tungsten

Pyroxene and Tungsten Trioxide will appear as byproducts from Olivine and Titanium processing.

Stage 4

The Chem Lab will dissolve Ore Chunks into vials of Ore Solution using a small amount of Sulfuric Acid. A dedicated production line of Sulfuric Acid solely for ore processing is recommended.

Stage 5

The ElectroCentrifuge will precipitate Ore Solution into Ore Crystals with Hydrochloric Acid. Once again, a dedicated supply line of acid is recommended since the waste products from Silicone Rubber and Fluoropolymer production is not enough.

Rhenium(VII) Oxide

Rhenium(VII) Oxide will appear at the very end of processing Copper ores. If acid supply is somehow a bottleneck this late in the progression tree, prioritize copper ores as Rhenium is used for the best upgrades and equipment.