Public Mines

The NCR Mine's location on worldmap. 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.

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
• Gold only in Redding mine

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

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 75,000 caps for directions to the location. He will only make a deal with a character once. The resources available inside this mine will be depleted after time, but the location will remain visible to owner.

The entrance to your personal mine.

Available resources

Private Mines have only one resource type, High Quality Iron Ore.

Inside the mine.

In the first 14 real days a new vein is generated 12 hours after a vein has depleted (roughly 220 High Quality Iron Ores can be mined in Private Mine if done regularly). After 14 days new veins won't generate and player can buy a new mine - the old mine will be deleted when a new one is bought. Private Mines usually come with a few mobs of random type inside. The mobs will respawn, although very slowly.

Locations

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

• Southwest of NCR
• Southeast of San Francisco
• West of Klamath
• Southwest of Junktown
• A player faction Bunker Base

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 Iron Ore. A Supersledge can be used to mine any resource vein in any mine including High Quality Minerals, 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.