Shaft Miner

OPERATIONS STAFF
Shaft Miner	Access: Mining Qualifications: At least 18 years of age, have passed an SCC Certified Mining Accreditation course and have at least a recognized certificate in operating shuttle-craft Employers: Orion Express, Hephaestus Industries. Supervisors: Operations Manager Duties: Ore extraction, processing and accounting Guides: Guide to Mining, Guide to Piloting

The Shaft Miners is in charge of all ore extraction and processing in the sector. Generally seen as a low-class assignment, there are minimal requirements to work in this field - however knowledge in piloting shuttle-craft is mandatory in order to arrive at the destinations and knowledge of heavy machinery is helpful in order to make the most of the stellar objects that you will be mining, by setting up the drills and being able to pilot a mining mech.

While generally mining is easy of a task enough, many risks come with the job, including fending off wildlife, dealing with injuries and complications, and other unforeseen conditions. Adding onto the fact that materials are in demand by various departments, you must ensure that your stay on the exoplanet is not cut short by a workplace accident.

You may want to read the Guide to Mining if you want more detail on how some mechanics work if you are planning as playing as a Shaft Miner.

Overview

Simply put, the Shaft Miner has three duties, as follows:

• Extract ore from resource rich areas in the current sector
• Process ore at the Ship's smeltery
• Report the materials yield using a Yield Declaration from the smelter console.

Obtaining Equipment

You operate on a point-reward system while working with The SCC. You will have to mine to obtain points, to then exchange for equipment at the Mining Vendor. For more information, please check the Guide to Mining.

Duties

Piloting the Mining Pod

Once you have all of your equipment ready, you'll be making way to the mining pod on deck one. You'll definitely want to read the Guide to Piloting and Guide to Mining if you're new to this. It may seem daunting at first, but it's really quite easy. The pod is already set roundstart for you to leave right away, but for some extra insurance you can ask for some additional carbon dioxide for your thrusters. There is a room right beside mining for you to fill canisters with additional Carbon Dioxide, if you are planning on long term trips. Usually the standard procedure is to turn the pump to max, and turn the engine’s thrust limit to about 70% to 80%.

Always keep in mind various hazards in deep space, and avoid them if possible. Since your shuttle is small, a meteor hitting your shuttle is, in fact, a big deal.

You can also leverage the advantage of the Horizon's stronger sensors to have the bridge relay to you interesting locations and asteroids. You can always request the Bridge to send you a request to link with their sensors. Feel free to ask them to pilot the Horizon where you need them to be. But keep in mind, the Horizon is a big ship and very slow compared to your pod. The fastest way to do things is to go to where you need to be yourself and ask the Horizon to follow you if possible.

Ore extraction

The process of breaking rock in order to obtain materials. Generally speaking, you will need the following equipment:

• Hardsuit, recommended with a breathing mask (available at the airlock)
• Oxygen tank
• GPS device
• Active suit sensors

As far as equipment go, there is a variety of tools available - the configuration you choose will depend on what you wish to extract, how, and what resources are already available. For a more detailed list, consult this guide. Examples of tools that you may work with:

• Kinetic accelerator (your standard tool for mining, able to break 3x3 rock by pumping it and firing)
• Pickaxe (for breaking rock, not really as effective as it is very slow, but it’s usable)
• Shovel (to obtain impure silicas from the ground, useful for getting sand)
• Mining Drill (An upgrade to the Pickaxe)
• Sonic Jackhammer (An upgrade to the Mining Drill)
• Plasma Cutter (A sidegrade to the Jackhammer - digs as fast, but is also capable of cutting through tougher materials if needed)
• Wrench (for operating the Mining Drills, such as securing their braces)
• Ore Detector (for finding ores, you need to select what to scan for)
• Deep Ore Scanner (for finding deposits under the ground, so you can find places to operate the Heavy Drill)
• Flags (for noting the location of deposits, and also useful for marking areas where you have been)
• Ore Satchel (to quickly amass your ores and dump them into the ore box)

Of course, all of the handheld equipment serves only as a backup when piloting a mech. Do not forget - synthetic units need, instead of an oxygen tank and a breathing mask, a suit cooling unit (obtainable from any autolathe).

Preparation, Foot Mining

To ensure your safety, you are provided with steps to ensure that once you step within the airlock, you are ready:

• Attach the hardsuit helmet and magboots to the hardsuit
• Put an oxygen tank of your choice inside the hardsuit
• Put on the hardsuit (additional breathing mask recommended)
• Verify that breathing mask is properly adjusted (over your mouth, not hanging down)
• Gather all of your chosen gear in your backpack (Pickaxe is too large for operation - hold in hand or attach to belt)
• Put on a backpack
• (Optional)Obtain second air tank and stash it in a backpack
• Stash or satchel and GPS/tracking beacon in hardsuit's hip sockets, roughly at the pocket location

Preparation, Mech mining

If you are experienced in mech piloting, there are a few extra steps required in making a mech EVA-safe.

• (Optional, but recommended) Follow the first five steps of the "Preparation, Foot Mining" guide.
• Enter your mech
• Verify the structural integrity of your mech and charge of its power cell - charge and get repairs as needed.
• Verify the presence of all equipment - minimum drill and hydraulic clamp
• Switch the internals of the mech itself on
• Load an ore box

Furthermore, as a general reminder: Mechs do not actively cool the air of their cabin - and thus, synthetic units also require a sealed suit and suit cooling unit to avoid overheating while operating one.

Setting up the Mining Drills

Mining Drills are huge industrial devices that are able to automatically gather ore from the ground. With it, there are more possibilities for you to get more rare ores from it, such as Phoron, if you manage to find a deposit. Setting one up is a very simple process:

• Using the Ore Detector, find an adequate location to place the drill, mark location with a flag
• Bring drill to flag's location, along with support anchors
• Place the anchors to the sides of the drill
• Secure the anchors using a wrench
• (Optional) Place an ore box north of the drill
• Activate drill

And if you did not place an ore box, here is how to unload the drill once it reports being full:

• Place ore box north of drill
• Using the panel, command the drill to unload.

Mining

See also: Guide to Mining

Once that is done, the actual mining process can begin.

• Bring an ore box with you (or in a mech)
• Locate ores embedded in the rock of the asteroid
• Use the tool of choice to break rock/soil
• Use ore satchel to quickly grab all ores (automated with a mech drill)
• Put ores in ore box (also automated in a mech)

Once you have a sufficient amount of ore, return to the Ship (do not forget to take the materials dug up by the heavy drills, if you have any)

Ore Processing

Back at the Ship comes the step of processing. Place the ore box next to the crate unloader, it will not gather materials out of a box that is held by a mech, so you might need to unload it from that, too. Once you pull the lever, the machine will automatically extract ore and funnel them into the Smelter. Unless specifically requested otherwise, the Smelter should be set according to this guide.

By default, the stacking machine will output stacks of 50 units of material, which makes it easy to count. However, you can configure the machine to produce smaller stacks, or force it to eject an incomplete stack. Put them in a crate and head up.

Distributing

The distributing of ores will most likely be done by you. Of course, you must consider all departments that may or may not require metals.

Engineering: While Engineering has a sum of materials at the start of the shift, however it’s always useful to lend them a few metals, mainly steel, glass, and plasteel. During an Engineering emergency it may be best to prioritize giving metal to them.

Science: Science’s R&D requires a variety of ores, including gold, silver, pitchblende, etc. If a scientist is on duty, giving them these ores is customary, unless there is a machinist, in that case you should split the ores between them.

Operations: The machinist (if there is one) always required materials to build various machines, cyborgs, mechs, and otherwise. Like science, they also require gold and silver, and would appreciate it if you give them some as well. Additionally, some ores may sell for great prices (especially photon) on the cargo shuttle.

Overall, it is recommended that you ask departments if they require certain ores so you can split the load correctly. Sometimes Engineering reports that they have more metal than expected, so you can focus on science, for example.

Yield Declaration

The smelter console will allow you to print those reports. On it are the details of what you gathered. Don't forget to put your name on it and a signature at the bottom. Get it stamped by at least a Hangar Technician if not the Executive Officer while handing off the crate of resources to claim the title of best miner, or simply show that you have not been in the bar all shift.

Beyond the Job

There is, honestly, very little to do in Mining beyond Mining. Though something you can do is, since you are on the asteroid with mining gear, assisting a Xenoarcheologist in their digs - avoiding strange-looking rocks and dig through everything else. Sometimes your GPS might pick up a strange signal from somewhere on the rock, leading to crashed shuttles or abandoned structures. Exploration can be fun and rewarding, or really dangerous. As a miner, you will learn to bring the right tools for the job in no time. Teaming up with a buddy or two might also help.

Traitoring

You are an EVA specialist with a lot of destructive tools at your disposal. Breach the bridge with seismic charges, perform magboot checks on security, test your kinetic accelerators in a vented hallway and figure out why exactly the diamond pickaxe is so feared in bar fights. Creativity is your limit with this job, just make sure to have a reason for blowing up parts of the ship or fistfighting scientists in your own hardsuit. Connections help a lot with your tasks. Unsuspecting scientists will let you in if you bring them nice things and equip you with way too many weapons if you tell them there is carp outside, while your best friends in operations might ignore a sniper rifle you just ordered with the captain's spare.