Gold and silver are useful refinery materials; locating their deposits efficiently avoids treating rare ore searches like routine surface mining.
PC / Global, current base game
WHERE & HOW TO FARM
Where to farm
Planetary ore patches or asteroid fields. Gold and silver can be near other ore layers, but distribution depends on the world.
Use a detector to identify a specific gold or silver signal on a planet or asteroid, confirm the voxel, then bring the ore to a full Refinery. The Basic Refinery cannot process these ores, so verify processing capacity before making a long trip.
Powered large-grid Ore Detector for broad and deeper searches.
Mining ship or Hand Drill with enough cargo capacity.
Powered full Refinery with a working ore input path.
Set the detector to maximum range and sweep open ground or an asteroid cluster, watching HUD signals for gold or silver.
Mark each signal and approach one deposit at a time; do not infer its contents from nearby iron or surface color.
Confirm the target voxel with a drill, then mine the gold or silver ore without removing unnecessary surrounding material.
If the signal continues beneath the first mined area, scan again at a lower level before concluding the deposit is exhausted.
Load the ore into cargo and return it to a powered full Refinery, either by direct input or conveyor connection.
Check the Refinery input and output inventory while processing, then move the ingots to secure storage.
Farming tips
Keep gold and silver ore identifiable in cargo or storage so they are not confused with common ores during transfer.
Plan a return route with room for ore; detector prospecting is of little use if the ship cannot carry the find home.
Repeat, collect and use
Prospecting and mining are repeatable at remaining deposits, but a depleted patch must be replaced by another signal. Revisit a marked site only if it still produces ore.
Common mistakes
Using a Basic Refinery for the job: route gold and silver to a full Refinery.
Assuming one signal means both metals are present: confirm the specific ore before mining.
Leaving the detector unpowered or below maximum range: restore power and check its range setting before scanning.
When to stop or switch
Stop when the full Refinery has the required ingots or the mining ship is at cargo capacity; switch to another signal if the current vein is spent.
