Define both choices before refining
Mining does not automatically end at a refinery. Every stack of ore presents at least two decisions: sell it in its current form or process it and sell the recovered materials. The better choice depends on the exact ore, the number of complete recipe batches, the structure and your reprocessing yield, the market you could realistically reach, and the costs of each route.
The relevant quantity is net realizable value, not merely a comparison between a raw price quote and a list of outputs at their highest visible sell prices. If you cannot sell a recovered mineral stack at the displayed rate or reach the market cheaply, the apparent profit is not dependable.
A usable ore-to-materials checklist
- Copy the actual ore and ice stacks from the EVE inventory window. Open the prefilled Veldspar example in Reprocessing Center, then paste your own inventory.
- Enter the yield for the facility and character you intend to use. Yield may depend on skills, modules, implants, structure or station context; do not assume someone else's percentage applies to you.
- Check how many complete recipe portions fit in the stack. The remainder is not magically refined.
- Inspect every recovered material, its quantity and whether reliable buy orders or sell orders support the selected pricing method.
- Compare the same trading strategy on both sides: both sell immediately, or both place and manage orders. Include taxes, fees, hauling and time for both.
- Only then decide whether to transport raw ore, refine locally, move minerals or keep the input for manufacturing.
Worked example: more gross value but less cash
This is a fictional recipe for explaining the arithmetic, not the yield for Veldspar or any in-game ore. Suppose an illustrative ore stack contains 1,000 units. Each full 100-unit batch would produce 300 units of one fictional material before facility yield. With an assumed 80% net yield, the ten full batches yield 2,400 recovered units. Imagine that the material could sell for 150 ISK each, while selling the raw ore would return 335,000 ISK after its own transaction costs.
| Step | Illustrative calculation | Value |
|---|---|---|
| Whole recipe batches | Floor(1,000 / 100) | 10 batches |
| Recovered output | 10 × 300 × 80% | 2,400 units |
| Recovered gross value | 2,400 × 150 | 360,000 ISK |
| Sale costs (assumed 5%) | 360,000 × 5% | 18,000 ISK |
| Hauling and handling | Assumed cost | 22,000 ISK |
| Refine-route net | 360,000 − 18,000 − 22,000 | 320,000 ISK |
| Raw-route net | Assumed after costs | 335,000 ISK |
The refined materials appeared to be worth 360,000 ISK, but the net proceeds were 15,000 ISK lower than the raw route. A player comparing only gross values would have chosen the wrong route under these assumptions.
Why leftovers change the answer
Suppose the same fictional recipe requires 100 input units and you hold 1,050. Only 1,000 fit into ten whole portions, leaving 50 units unprocessed. Those leftovers still have value: they remain in inventory and may be saved for a later batch or sold in their original form. A calculator that silently treats the leftovers as lost will make refining look worse than it is; a calculator that refines the leftovers anyway will exaggerate recovered output.
Real recipes and item group rules differ. Validate eligibility, portion size and recovered outputs in the tool instead of applying the fictional numbers above to an actual mineral or ore.
Decisions the calculator cannot make for you
Reprocessing calculations cannot guarantee an instant buyer for every recovered output. They also cannot automatically price your opportunity cost: travel time, exposure to dangerous routes, hauling contracts, refining taxes, blueprint demand, or whether a structure is accessible when you arrive. Price differences can disappear during transit.
For a very large mining operation, rerun the estimate using the likely execution depth rather than assuming you can clear the entire volume at the first visible price. If you belong to a corporation with a buyback program, compare that written offer with a true after-cost outside sale; convenience and certainty may be worth more than a narrow theoretical spread.
Next: see how buy and sell prices differ and how to appraise a mixed inventory.