Refining Ore

Powered base or ship grid with a Refinery and a working ore input path.

Before you go

Check that the Refinery is built, powered, and accessible before hauling ore to it.
Place ore directly in the input inventory or connect cargo through working conveyors.
Choose a full Refinery when processing gold, silver, uranium, or platinum; a Basic Refinery cannot handle those ores.
Allow processing and inspect the output inventory for the material produced by that ore.
For magnesium ore, collect magnesium powder; for silicon ore, collect silicon wafer rather than expecting ingots.
Use conveyor-connected storage to move outputs away from a full Refinery inventory.
Keep separate stocks of raw ore and processed material if you plan to run another batch.

Yield modules suit a setup where saving ore matters; speed modules increase processing pace but require adequate power.
Verify conveyor connection and power before leaving a large batch unattended.

Repeat by feeding additional ore as stock runs low. Processing continues while the Refinery has ore, power, and room for output.

Using the wrong refinery type for precious ores: use a full Refinery for gold, silver, uranium, and platinum.
Expecting all ores to make ingots: check the distinct powder and wafer outputs for magnesium and silicon.
Overfilling output storage: clear or connect inventory before adding another large load.

Stop adding ore when the required material stock is ready or the input/output storage is full; resume after use frees capacity.

Sources & fact checks

Open a guide to find other locations and see what the item is used for.

Research and progression

Refining converts mined ore into useful materials, with the correct block and conveyor setup determining what can be processed.