Crystal Mining Guide
- It’s a very quick way to get some money / credits and doesn’t require a big ship or any sort of management with ore.
- Head to Argon Prime.
- Explore out the snake like asteroid field in the system (noted in red hexagons on the map).
- You can see them on asteroids by just waiting for them to blink/shine at you very briefly. It’s quite noticeable once you see it a few times.
- Shoot directly at the crystal with your primary weapon when in range. (Best not to use ammo based weapons so you gain the most profit of this venture. Weapons like; Torpedos and Missiles.)
- Shoot the crystal node a few times until pieces break off and then bring them into your inventory by holding the ”O” key.
- Pick up the crystals by holding down the key that activates the device used to pull free floating items into your ships hold.
- Note 1: You may pick up unstable crystals which are considered illegal by some factions.
- Note 2: If you destroy the asteroid the crystal node is sitting on no crystals will drop.
Crystal Types
Purple (Bandannite)
Most common, least valuable (850cr – 1,150cr).
Blue (Menelaene)
Common, a lot more valuable than purple crystals (8,500cr – 11,500cr).
Green-Yellow (Aguilite)
Uncommon, a little more valuable than blue crystals (17,000cr – 23,000cr).
Orange (Mitonene)
Rare, a lot more valauble than green-yellow crystals (25,555cr – 34,500cr).
White (Burnite)
Very rare, extremely valuable and worth way more than orange crystals (200,000cr – 300,000cr).
Assuming you got a pile of different crystals? Sell the crystals to a trader but make sure to pick the right one, otherwise you could lose millions in credits selling to the wrong trader! Always check your prices when selling.
It is a time consuming task finding and extracting the crystals but it is well worth it early on for quick credits.
Note: There is an achievement tied to this means of making money (Called: “Miner’s Luck”). By mining Burnite crystals you complete the achievement for mining the most valuable crystals in the game.
You can mine these crystals in other systems with asteroid fields, but once you got a feel for mining crystals in the Argon prime system where it is safe? You can move on to other systems all the way to the most dangerous systems like Faulty Logic and Aliya’s Misfortune.
