Mining
| Mining | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Type | Activity |
| Needs | Pickaxe |
| Per Vein | 3 |
| Gem Chance | 10 per cent |
| Skill | None |
Mining is how ore leaves the ground. Activate a vein with a pickaxe in your inventory, or attack it with one equipped, and it gives up three pieces at one piece per three swings. No skill governs it and no perk improves it, which makes it the one part of the smithing chain that plays the same at level 1 and level 50.
What Comes Out
Each piece of ore carries a ten per cent chance of arriving with a random, level dependent gem. A depleted vein eventually respawns along with the rest of its location.
Two ingots have no ore behind them. Steel Ingot is smelted from one Corundum Ore and one Iron Ore together, and Dwarven Metal Ingot comes from Dwemer scrap metal salvaged out of ruins.
Special Cases
Stalhrim deposits need an Ancient Nordic Pickaxe and take six swings per sample instead of three. Soul gem geodes in Blackreach give two to three empty Soul Gems of any size, black gems included, with grand and black starting to appear at level 16.
Hearthfire adds clay and quarried stone deposits, which behave differently from every other vein: they never run out, and they give four samples per three swings rather than one.
Yield Per Vein
Clay and stone need the Hearthfire add-on.
| Vein | Yield | Swings |
|---|---|---|
| Ore vein | 3 pieces | 3 per piece |
| Stalhrim deposit | 3 samples | 6 per sample |
| Soul gem geode | 2 to 3 gems | 3 per gem |
| Clay or stone | Unlimited | 3 per 4 samples |
Pickaxes That Work
One in the inventory is enough; it need not be equipped.
| Pickaxe | Note |
|---|---|
| Pickaxe | Every vein except Stalhrim |
| Ancient Nordic Pickaxe | The only one that mines Stalhrim |
| Notched Pickaxe | Also a usable weapon |
| Rocksplinter | Unique, mines normally |
Crafting Materials
