Mining barge guideTank, hold or yield

Three barges, one trade-off

The Procurer, Retriever and Covetor share almost everything. All three need Mining Barge I and Astrogeology III, and only Omega accounts can fly them. Each has two high slots for Strip Miners (or Ice or Gas Harvesters), three low slots, three rig slots and the same resistances. What differs is where ORE spent the hull: on hitpoints, on the ore hold, or on mining speed.

Hold and HP are the hull values you see in Show Info. m³/min is two Strip Miner I with Mining IV, Astrogeology III and Mining Barge I, no upgrades: where you stand the day you first undock one. The Covetor mines 21% more than the Retriever at every Mining Barge level. The Retriever mines 11% more than the Procurer, rising to 15% at Mining Barge V.

How long until the hold is full

This is the number that decides most of it. Once the hold is full, the lasers stop until you dock or hand the ore to someone else. A Covetor fills up almost four times as often as a Retriever.

Barges use the skills from the table above. Exhumers use Mining Barge V, Exhumers I and Astrogeology V, the least you need to fly one. The same number of Mining Laser Upgrades on each ship shortens every bar by the same share, so the order doesn't change.

Procurer: when you might get shot

The Procurer has 17,000 HP, more than half again the Retriever's 11,000 and more than twice the Covetor's 8,000. Mining Barge adds 6% shield HP per level, and a third mid slot leaves room for more tank. Its role bonus gives +50% drone damage and hitpoints, and with a 100 m³ drone bay it can clear belt rats on its own.

Most gankers only attack when the kill is worth more than the ships they lose to CONCORD. Every extra hitpoint means they need more ships. Fly it in 0.5 and 0.6 systems, near trade hubs, in systems where the map shows recent kills, and whenever you can't keep an eye on Local.

The cost: it mines the slowest, and its hold is 58% of the Retriever's, so you dock about every 28 minutes.

Retriever: when you mine alone

The Retriever carries 27,500 m³, plus 5% per Mining Barge level: 34,375 m³ at level V. Its role bonus adds 10% Strip Miner yield on top of 3% per level, so it also mines faster than the Procurer. At the skills above, one hold lasts 46 minutes.

When you mine alone, the hold matters more than the lasers. Every trip to station is time the lasers sit idle, and the Retriever makes about a quarter of the Covetor's trips. That is why it's the default for mining in highsec on your own.

Its 11,000 HP is in the middle. If ships are dying in your system, switch to a Procurer; with only two mid slots, the Retriever can't close the gap with modules.

Covetor: when someone else hauls

The Covetor's role bonus cuts Strip Miner cycle time by 25%, from 45 to 33.75 seconds. Mining Barge adds 3% yield and 6% Strip Miner range per level. It mines 21% more than a Retriever and 35% more than a Procurer, and it aligns fastest: 12.5 seconds against the Procurer's 17.7, before skills.

The price is a 9,000 m³ hold that fills in 12 minutes, and 8,000 HP. It pays off when ore leaves your hold without you docking: an Orca or Porpoise in your fleet takes it into its fleet hangar, or a second character in a hauler picks it up. On your own, the trips eat the difference. Once a round trip to station takes more than about 4 minutes, a Retriever brings home more ore per hour.

With 8,000 HP it is the easiest barge to gank. It belongs in fleets where someone is watching Local.

One fit for all three

The same modules work on every barge: tank in the mid slots, yield in the lows, shield HP in the rigs. The Procurer puts a second shield extender in its third mid slot.

High slots

2 × Strip Miner I (Mining IV, Astrogeology I)

Mid slots

Medium Shield Extender I, Multispectrum Shield Hardener I (Procurer: add a second extender)

Low slots

Damage Control I, 2 × Mining Laser Upgrade I

Rigs

3 × Medium Core Defense Field Extender I

Drone bay

5 × Hobgoblin I (for belt rats; you can launch one per Drones level)

CPU is the limit. The Procurer uses 301 of its 310 with no fitting skills. The Retriever needs 273 against 260, so it needs CPU Management I; the Covetor needs CPU Management III. Both are in plan 2 below. Before skills, this fit takes the Procurer's shield from 6,000 to about 11,600 HP. Modules and rigs cost about 9.6M ISK in Jita, more than half of it the two Strip Miners.

In a fleet with someone watching Local, a Covetor can swap the Damage Control for a third Mining Laser Upgrade I. That needs CPU Management IV.

The next step: exhumers

Each barge has a Tech II version with the same job: the Skiff replaces the Procurer, the Mackinaw the Retriever, the Hulk the Covetor. They get two more mid slots, one fewer rig slot, 4% shield resistances per Exhumers level, bigger holds, and more yield once Exhumers is trained up. Flying one takes Exhumers I and Mining Barge V, and Exhumers itself needs Astrogeology V and Spaceship Command IV: about 1.52M SP, or 35 days after plan 2.

Yield is compared with the barge each one replaces, at Mining Barge V. At Exhumers I an exhumer barely out-mines its barge, and a Hulk mines 4% less than a Covetor. The gain comes at Exhumers IV and V: a Mackinaw at Exhumers V mines exactly as fast as a Covetor at Mining Barge V, with almost five times the hold. The hulls cost about five times as much as a barge, so stay in a barge until you can afford to lose an exhumer.

Skill plan

Two blocks, in order. Copy one, then in game use "import from clipboard" in the Skill Queue window. Each line is one level, and prerequisites always come first.

Spaceship Command 1
Mining 1
Mining 2
Mining 3
Mining 4
Mining Frigate 1
Mining Frigate 2
Mining Frigate 3
Science 1
Science 2
Science 3
Science 4
Astrogeology 1
Astrogeology 2
Astrogeology 3
Industry 1
Industry 2
Industry 3
Industry 4
Industry 5
Mining Barge 1

CPU Management 1
CPU Management 2
CPU Management 3
Power Grid Management 1
Power Grid Management 2
Power Grid Management 3
Shield Upgrades 1
Tactical Shield Manipulation 1
Mechanics 1
Hull Upgrades 1
Mining Upgrades 1
Drones 1
Light Drone Operation 1
Mining Barge 2
Mining Barge 3
Mining Barge 4
Astrogeology 4

About 700k SP for both. Times assume a fresh character with no implants and 20/20 attributes: 1,800 SP an hour on Omega. Starting skills make it shorter; remove matching lines from your queue before importing. The first 13 lines of plan 2 (about 11 hours) are the fitting skills the fit above needs. The last four add about 13% yield on a Retriever or Covetor.

Common questions

Which mining barge should I buy first?

A Retriever, unless ships are dying in your system; then a Procurer. The Covetor only pays off when someone else takes the ore out of your hold.

Is the Covetor worth it for solo mining?

Rarely. It mines 21% more than a Retriever but fills its hold in 12 minutes instead of 46. Once a round trip to station takes more than about 4 minutes, the Retriever brings home more ore per hour.

Which barge is best for ice?

With Ice Harvesting I and Mining Barge I, one Ice Harvester I cycles in 223 seconds on a Procurer, 196 on a Retriever and 155 on a Covetor. An ice block is 1,000 m³, so their holds fit 16, 28 and 9 blocks. Same rule as ore: Retriever alone, Covetor in a fleet.

How much ISK does a barge make per hour?

At the skills above, mining Scordite valued at the Jita buy price for compressed ore (124 ISK per m³ on 27 September 2026): about 4.2M ISK an hour in a Procurer, 4.7M in a Retriever and 5.6M in a Covetor while the lasers run. Trips to station come off that, and raw ore sold in a local station usually fetches less.

Can barges mine gas?

Yes. Barges and exhumers fit Gas Cloud Harvesters in their high slots, and the Covetor and Hulk have a role bonus that cuts gas cycle time by 30%.

How do I get 1 million SP in EVE Online?

Sign up through a player's Recruit a Friend link, or log in through it with an account that has never used a recruit link. The SP arrives in your account's redeem queue, and you choose which character gets it.