Maximizing Your Mining Profits Options

[Saffy]

I had stumbled upon some mining details while browsing Ushi No Tane recently. Seeing the probabilities for refining and the cost of each possible outcome, I figured I could calculate on average what refining will produce. My results show that the wonderfuls (particularly white) are the only items worthwhile.

For each item I have listed its selling price before refining along with the math showing its price when refined. If a value is negative then it means you're going to lose money on average for refining it.

For clarification, I am calculating an expected rate of return for refined items. I multiply the probability of each outcome by its selling price, add them all up, and subtract the refinery fee of 35G.

--

Junk Ore = 10G

Junk Ore Refined
= 1*(Junk) - 35
= 10 - 35
= -25G

--

Iron Ore = 20G

Iron Ore Refined
= 0.5*(Junk) + 0.5*(Iron) - 35
= 0.5*10 + 0.5*50 - 35
= 5 + 25 - 35
= -5G

--

Copper Ore = 30G

Copper Ore Refined
= 0.6*(Junk) + 0.4*(Copper) - 35
= 0.6*10 + 0.4*70 - 35
= 6 + 28 - 35
= -1G

--

Silver Ore = 40G

Silver Ore Refined
= 0.7*(Junk) + 0.3*(Silver) - 35
= 0.7*10 + 0.3*100 - 35
= 7 + 30 - 35
= 2G

--

Gold Ore = 50G

Gold Ore Refined
= 0.85*(Junk) + 0.15*(Gold) - 35
= 0.85*10 + 0.15*150 - 35
= 8.5 + 22.5 - 35
= -4G

--

Rare Ore = 150G

Rare Ore Refined
= 0.9*(Junk) + 0.1*(Rare Metal) - 35
= 0.9*10 + 0.1*240 - 35
= 9 + 25 - 35
= -1G

--

Red Wonderful = 30G

Red Wonderful Refined
= 0.75*(Glass) + 0.2*(Garnet) + 0.05*(Ruby) - 35
= 0.75*10 + 0.2*270 + 0.05*830 - 35
= 7.5 + 54 + 41.5 - 35
= 68G

--

Yellow Wonderful = 30G

Yellow Wonderful Refined
= 0.75*(Glass) + 0.2*(Amber) + 0.05*(Topaz) - 35
= 0.75*10 + 0.2*250 + 0.05*550 - 35
= 7.5 + 50 + 27.5 - 35
= 50G

--

Green Wonderful = 30G

Green Wonderful Refined
= 0.6*(Glass) + 0.2*(Peridot) + 0.15*(Jade) + 0.05*(Emerald) - 35
= 0.6*10 + 0.2*350 + 0.15*190 + 0.05*690 - 35
= 6 + 70 + 28.5 + 34.5 - 35
= 104G

--

Blue Wonderful = 30G

Blue Wonderful Refined
= 0.6*(Glass) + 0.2*(Lapis Lazuli) + 0.15*(Aquamarine) + 0.05*(Sapphire) - 35
= 0.6*10 + 0.2*300 + 0.15*420 * 0.05*620 - 35
= 6 + 60 + 63 + 31 - 35
= 125G

--

Purple Wonderful = 30G

Purple Wonderful Refined
= 0.7*(Glass) + 0.2*(Spinal) + 0.1*(Amethyst) - 35
= 0.7*10 + 0.2*220 + 0.1*420 - 35
= 7 + 44 + 42 - 35
= 58G

--

White Wonderful = 30G

White Wonderful Refined
= 0.6*(Glass) + 0.2*(Crystal) + 0.15*(Opal) + 0.05*(Diamond) - 35
= 0.6*10 + 0.2*170 + 0.15*330 + 0.05*1330 - 35
= 6 + 34 + 49.5 + 665 - 35
= 719.5G

[Darth-Paper-Boy]

Math is cool. Trying to get ore processed is amazingly annoying. I haven't even found close enough rare ore to even chance it so far... but the stuff sells as much as processed gold as-is so who cares?

[Saffy]

I haven't seen much math in Harvest Moon since the told Tomato/Corn debate. I believe Tomatoes won because you could get extra harvests.

But I find the information useful at least D: I was refining a lot of ores at first, but it's good to know I don't need to bother except for Wonderfuls. Now I need to go hunt for some white ones.

[Marley]

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/lalaexdee.gif) Ores are useless for making profits; I knew that already. Only thing you need the metal for is making tools; after that, there's really no point.

White Wonderfuls tend to congregate below floor 30 or so in the Garmoni Upper Mine (obviously, they're only found in that mine). At a certain point that I could never quite pinpoint, Yellow Wonderfuls start to become more common that white ones. But in the lower floors, from my experience, white ones are more common.

[Chase What Matte...]

I hate trying to mine and get something good...
It always comes out as Scrap Metal... :(

[General_Wolfy]

I really don't like mining..ever...I'm not sure why.

At least I know which wonderfuls to bother with now though.

[Chase What Matte...]

Mining in TOT gave A LOT more Profit!
But Mining in AP is almost useless, it's only good if you want accessories.

[Marley]

Or if you go for White wonderfuls. A stack of 99 can bring in quite the haul.

Mining in ToT was so much more profitable 'cause you could tell what was gonna turn into what when you got it refined. Also refining was free. >[ But ores and wonderfuls didn't stack in ToT, and I hated that. :[

I love mining; it's usually one of my favorite minigames.

[Zen Clarke]

Actually, I've found mining to be quite profitable. Every once in a while, I'll go mining and refine, and get quite a lot of good things. And don't knock ores out just yet. Even junk ore and scrap metal can be profitable if you get a lot (sure, it's a shame to get scrap metal, but still). If you have a large rusack, and decide to spend a day in the mine (I usually wait until a rainy day to go when I do; so I don't have to worry about crops), don't completely ignore the junk ore. If you can get a lot of it (which everyone knows you can), you can make a pretty big profit off of it. If you manage to get a full stack of 99 junk ore, that right there is 990G! So, I wouldn't say that all ore is completely profit-less. It'd be more of a profit to just ship the ores unless you're trying to get metal for upgrading tools (which I do. But since I've gotten all my things up to iron, whenever I come across iron ore, I'll just ship it as an ore instead).