Mining - The Best Ore to Mine - Answered!

So, lately everybody has different ideas of whats the best ore to mine for the most amount of money for the shortest amount of time, and depending on who you ask, you're gonna get different answers. . So, I did a study of the mining process. These are the current statistics I have, and it will all be added up at the end.

 

Statistics:

Metal Merchant: -4%

Gold: $960

Silver: $720

Bronze: $624

Iron: $192

 

Quantity of ore required to smelt:

Gold: 20kg

Silver: 20kg

Bronze: 15kg

Iron: 5kg

 

Quantity of coal required to smelt:

Gold: 25kg

Silver: 20kg

Bronze: 15kg

Iron: 10kg

 

Time required to smelt:

Gold: 46.99 seconds

Silver: 38.63 seconds

Bronze: 32 seconds

Iron: 24.48 seconds

 

Average time required to collect 5kg worth of ore (with a level 5 pick-axe):

(average time is collected out of 5 time trials)

Gold: 41.08 seconds

Silver: 16.74 seconds

Bronze: 12.04 seconds

Iron: 6.95 seconds

Coal: 3.12 seconds

 

Note: The reason why there is an average out of 5 is because not every single hit of the pick-axe will give you ore. I timed how long it took to get from 0kg of ore to 5kg of ore 5 times, and created an average.

 

The Math:

So, taking into account the time it takes to:

- Mine the required amount of ore to smelt

- Mine the required amount of coal to smelt

- Waiting for the smelter to finish smelting the ores into bars

 

Rough equation is as shows:

(Time to mine 5kg of ore x quantity required to smelt + time to mine 5kg of coal x quantity of coal required to smelt + smelt time = total time in order to get from mining ore to smelted bars (not accounting for the time it takes for the ores to refine int he grinder, and actual player movements to shift ores into the grinder and smelter etc., It would take:

 

(41.08 x 4 + 3.12 x 5 + 46.99) = 226.91 seconds to get $5,760 (6 bars)

(16.74 x 4 + 3.12 x 4 + 38.63) = 118.07 seconds to get $4,320 ( 6 bars)

(12.04 x 3 + 3.12 x 3 + 32) = 77.48 seconds to get $3,744 (6 bars)

(6.95 x 1 + 3.12 x 2 + 24.48) = 37.67 seconds to get $1,152 (6 bars)

 

Conclusion:

So, with my rough math, Bronze is the best ore to mine for the most amount of money for the shortest amount of time.

 

Additional Notes:

Why did I do this?:

For knowledge and the community and because I was really bored one day and had too much time on my hands.

 

How much money and time did this cost me?:

$31,250 in game cash and a few hours of my life.

 

Is this actually accurate?:

I mean, this could definitely be done more accurately and efficiently, as I didn't measure the amount of time it takes to refine ores in the grinder, nor did I measure the time it takes to transport the ores around and sell it to the metal merchant (and the times were recorded by my hand and not some Olympic split millisecond stopwatch), but, this is good enough for me.

 

Extra:

This was fun but I don't think I'll ever do it again if the mining process changes. If you found this information helpful, or if you have any comments you'd like to add, please feel free to add them below; any feedback (or rewards for my contribution/hard work?) is much appreciated!

Edited October 17, 2021 by Dexter

Mine

dexter is a closeted maths teacher and is slowly showing it (this is really cool btw)

Hey, I have always wondered what the actual statistics of mining are, so thanks for this! This obviously took a lot of time and effort, so like damn good job on this. This would really help out new players.

Well dexter now I just need to learn how to mine and I’m set XD

can you write my math investigation on factor remainder theorem

Dexter grinding in the mines

Tell me you’re bored in lockdown without telling me you’re bored in lockdown..... hahahah

Thanks, I thought silver was the best but I was wrong.

This is really helpful

wow

very cool

coal is preety cheap