Mines

The NCR Mine's location on world map. As you can see, it's really public.

There are several mines throughout the world near major cities and players can go there to mine the resources they will need to craft items. Each mine contains resource veins amongst the rocks and in some of the walls. Each vein holds a number of resources of specific type. When a vein is depleted, another vein in the mine is generated. The type of a new vein is in most cases random, although the chance for each type vary, depending on mine. The only exception is if it was the last vein of a type, in such case another vein with the same type is generated.

There are three types of mines : Guarded, Unguarded, and Private mines. In the guarded ones, you can find only basic minerals and iron ore. The unguarded ones contain both basic and high quality materials. Unguarded mines are more dangerous because players can go there to kill miners.

Guarded Mines

Are guarded by NPCs in the similar manner as towns. You can wield weapons there, but attacking is not allowed and will be punished by force. Each guarded mine has 4 resource veins in random locations. When someone depletes a vein, a new vein is generated 2 minutes afterward in a random place at that mining site.

The Klamath Mine's entrance, guarded by rude trappers!

Available resources

These are the resources you can mine safely, in guarded mines:

• Iron Ore.
• Minerals.

Locations

The following list includes the location of all the game's guarded mines:

• Southwest of NCR.
• Southeast of San Francisco.
• West of Klamath.
• Southwest of Junktown.

Slavery In Guarded Mines

Slaves are allowed in public mines, but are not recommended left unprotected by the owners; There are many players who love nothing more than to find a slave in a public mine, kill them, and loot them.

Unguarded Mines

Unguarded mines are more dangerous because players can go there to kill miners, and they also have hostile critters that attack you while you mine. There are no NPC guards and it's only on the player himself to avoid death. Carrying a weapon or having a buddy to protect you is not a bad idea at all. Unguarded mines in Redding, Broken Hills and near Gecko are no-logout (your character won't disappear if you logoff there). Each unguarded mine has 10 resource veins in random locations. When someone depletes a vein, a new vein is generated immediately afterward in a random place at that mining site.

The Redding Mine's entrance, guarded by... hum, nobody.

Available resources

These are the resources you can mine in more dangerous, unguarded mines:

• Iron Ore
• Minerals
• High Quality Iron Ore
• High Quality Minerals
• Uranium Ore only in Broken Hills mine (requires Super Sledge)
• Gold only in Redding mine (requires Super Sledge)

Locations

The following list includes the location of all the game's unguarded mines:

• East of Gecko.
• In Broken Hills.
• In Redding.
• Underground in Ghost Farm—although only Iron Ore and Minerals are available here

Slavery In Guarded Mines

Slaves are allowed in unguarded public mines, but can't be left alone; They will get killed one way or another.

Private Mines

These can be purchased from the resident Mine Overseer, at each of the Guarded mines in the game world. The Overseer will charge you 40,000 caps for directions to the location. A character can own only one private mine at a time. Private mines do not spawn uranium or gold, only normal and high quality ore and minerals. The resources available inside private mines will be refreshed after time. The mine will last for only one real-time day, after which resources will cease to respawn and a notice will display upon entering that says the mine has been depleted. The mine will still exist after depleted until another mine is purchased. Purchasing a new mine will erase the location of the old one.

Slavery

A very efficient way to get resources from mines is to use slavery.

• Slaves don't need a Sledgehammer to mine.
• Slaves don't require you to be at the private mine to work.
• Slaves stop mining at 200kg, even though they can carry more than this.
• Slaves won't be able to survive alone in private mines, you have to guard them anyway possible.

Warning: Never log off on the mine map, your slaves will run away. Log off somewhere else or on the worldmap.

Pathing Errors

A pathing error will stop your slave from mining until fixed by moving the slave to a different spot and giving them orders again.

To minimize the potential for pathing issues, it helps if slaves are as far away from each other as possible. It also helps if you first order them to stay put, then order them to collect resources. Finally, having more than two slaves increases the chance of pathing issues.

The entrance to your personal mine.

Available Resources

Private Mines allows You to dig following resources, but in much less quantity then in Unguarded Mines.

• Iron Ore
• Minerals
• High Quality Iron Ore
• High Quality Minerals

Inside the mine.

Locations

Listed here are the locations where private mines can be purchased. Go to a building at the mine and talk to a guy about buying a mine location:

• At the quarry just west of Shady Sands, aka NCR
• At the mining site just east of San Francisco
• At the mine just west of Klamath
• At the quarry just west of Junktown
• A player faction Bunker Base

A Deathclaw, one out of a handful that guards the private mine.

Dangers

Owning a Mine is simple and easy, but what lurks inside?

• A private mine is preferred for more experienced players depending on what seek shelter inside the mine.
• The critters in the in the mine respawn quickly so be prepared to kill and guard miners.

Notes

• There's 1/6 of chance for that mine will be created without any hostile critters

• Private mines spawn in the north near Redding and Klamath.

• Private mine is initially visible only for it's owner. The mine can be shared by simply taking someone there.

• Killing hostile critters in private mines is a decent way to gain experience.

Mining

A player can use a primitive tool to mine only regular iron ore and minerals. A Sledgehammer however can be used to mine these and high quality minerals, high quality iron ore. A Super Sledge can be used to mine any resource vein in any mine including gold nuggets, and uranium ore.

Alternatively, you can command your slaves to mine for you, and strangely, they don't need any tools for that. This might not work in every mine.

Tactic
Bring a brahmin with you when mining. This will save you from going to your tent/base to unload the materials you just mined. Give everything you mined to the brahmin, and when you are done take the animal to your tent or base and unload whatever its carrying. Alternately, some miners prefer using a dog rather than a brahmin.