Skill Discussions

I just started and understand that turning my ORE into Minerals requires reprocessing.
I also read old data which seems to be out of date after some recent changes and having a hard time getting the new skill basics for reprocessing.

I am mining in a Venture and would like to get the most ISK I can out of mining, but just plan to mine HS Ores, then trade with the profits.

1) Should I just get the ORE to Jita and sell it = train other mining skills for a few months?
or
2) Skill some in reprocessing and try to turn the ORE into Minerals, then to Jita to sell?
3) If #2, which skills to get more ISK out of my ORE (for HS reprocessing only)
4) If #1, how can I compress it to get more for it?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

You need to get at least to Mining Barge before worrying about reprocessing skills. It is entirely not worth it to reprocess and take the minerals to Jita until you can max out your reprocessing skills. Even then, your profit margin's going to be a bit shallow. I would suggest, as a start, getting Mining Upgrades to 4, as the T2 mining laser upgrades are worth the effort. There's no reason really ever take them to 5, as your fits probably aren't going to be that intensive on CPU.

Next, work towards getting a barge and fitting a strip miner. The barges all offer different things.

Procurer - Heavy tank, middling cargohold, less m3/cycle. Fits a single Strip Miner. Barge of choice for low/nullsec operations.
Retriever - Middling tank, large cargohold, middling m3/cycle. Fits a pair of strip miners. Barge of choice for hi-sec.
Coveter - Low tank, Low cargohold, Middling m3/cycle. Fits a trio of strip miners. Usually used only for ice mining, if at all.

After that, work on getting your Mining barge to 3, and work on some tank. Tactical Shield Manipulation is an important skill for a miner, because you can easily be ganked in hi-sec. Having some damage mitigation is always a good idea. Getting it up to 4 will allow you to use t2 invulns. Some basic drone skills are worthwhile, especially if you ever plan a move to null or lowsec. I would suggest getting drones to V, and working towards getting light drones to II, as well as adding in some mining drones for extra iskies when rats aren't about. Drone Interfacing will also increase damage drones do, as well as m3 mining drones can do.

After all this, you should worry about reprocessing, right?! Wrong!

Now, if you plan on going into an ice belt, then you need to get Ice Mining up to V as soon as you can. Each skill increase drops your cycle time by a lot. If you just want to stick to basic mining, that's fine too.

After all this, you should get your Mining up to 5, and Astrogeology up to at least 4 before even thinking about reprocessing. Five would be better, but that skill time is a bit of a headache for a low-sp character who needs a lot of things. Reprocessing to IV allows you to get basic hi-sec ores unlocked. Train all of these to IV, starting with Veldspar and Scordite, the two most common h-sec ores. This will allow you access to Modulated Strip Miners, and T2 crystals, meaning more m3!

After that, you should work up your Astrogeology and Mining Barge skills. Each one of these increases your m3/cycle times dramatically, and Mining Barge decreases the cycle time as well. Once you get both to V, you should have access to Exhumers. They are incredibly expensive, and very pretty gank targets. Make sure before getting into one, you have a way to rebuy the ship, as well as insure it, and also have a decent tank.

There's a lot of SP that goes into mining. My biggest suggestion, by far, is to join a corp that does mining, hi-sec, low-sec or null. They will have resources you don't have access to, like compression arrays, which can make a Procurer full of Veldspar into something you can shove in a rookie ship. Often, they also have boosts, and members that can help you out immensely. Finally, many mining corps also offer a buyback program, which will buy your ore. My corp in null, for example, buys the mineral content at 90% Jita, based on nullsec perfect refine. It usually comes out to just under Jita prices for the basic rock.

Lastly, don't forget about your core fitting skills. Make sure you have them decently trained to at least IV. You don't have to train them all up at once, you can space them out between skills. It helps a lot if you do it this way, since you can be doing things whilst training up those skills. Getting them to V is important, but not as important as doing something you enjoy with the character rather than sitting on your hands for a month. If you need help, let me know.

If you would like to save your ore up some one can either take it by contract or even by it off of you.
Unlike other people I don't condone the punishment on new industrialist , also what where you mine there are people out there that would violate the law in order to kill you just because you dont pvp or pay them isk

fyp

Train skills for jam drones (ec-300), damage control, reinforced bulkheads, always rig your retriever/covetor with transverse bulkheads and try to mine in 0.7 or higher with them. With a procurer you can go anywhere but try to at least have a damage control in the low slots since it already has a very high yield and you'll usually spend two cycles or less on one asteroid. Keep your ship moving, orbit an asteroid or something.

If you plan on reprocessing and using Jita as a trade hub, get enough standing with caldary navy, 6.6 or something so you don't have to pay the refining fee, and get a refining implant as high as you can afford. If you find implants expensive, try to install a jump clone, implant it and leave it at your refinery, jumping to it once in a while to melt everything and then jump out (but that has a cool down).

Always check if you get more isk for the ore before refining since most times refining isn't profitable if you don't have the refining skills at five (get an implant and standing with the npc corporation that owns the station you are using to refine). Refine in stations that have the base refining at 50%, some give less so watch out for those.

Compressing ore just helps you move it around easier but it also makes gankers eyeball you more. Raise gallente industrial to level three or four and get a kyros/miasmos if you need to move minerals/ore around. Put on some inertia stabilizers, damage control, shield extenders/hardeners and the rigs that give you the most ehp. Always tank your ships, and with those two industrials there's no reason not to.

I second this. When I first started I made most of my isk mining Massive Scordite and selling it in a station in the system I was mining in, one Venture load at a time. Make sure you get drones trained so you can fight off the rats. Don't bother with mining drones.

Look for ore anomalies and mine stuff like Hedbergite, Hemorphite and Jaspet for better isk/hour (and to just get some variety!) Only issues there would be finding a good price in the same system.

For long term Ice mining is better isk/hour and less skill intensive to get it maxed. Get into a Procurer then aim for Skiff and get your fitting skills and shield skills up so you can t2 everything. Not 100% gank proof but you will be a less tempting target than that Mackinaw sitting nearby.

This. Reprocessing as a new player requires too much time to even bother. You need both reprocessing and the ore specific skill to even compete, as well as a high standing with an NPC corp to avoid taxes.
Compressing ore is way easier, far less skill intense (though with higher initial costs for the tower and the compression array). But unless you intend to use the minerals for manufacturing yourself, compress the ore. Less annoying, easier to haul, more profit than reprocessing.
Also, a compression array saves some time while mining, as you don't have to dock as long as you mine in the same system.