Processing ores

The problem#

Ore is the slow part of any metal line: you mine it, and a furnace turns each block into a single ingot. Enthalpy's ore chain multiplies what each block gives, at a cost in FE and a few machines. This guide works the chain through for iron, then shows how the same steps apply to other metals, including those that come from other mods.

The iron chain, step by step#

Each step has its own recipe. These are the four that matter for iron:

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4,000 FE

#220%

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3,000 FE

#2

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10 s

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4,000 FE

#2

1. Ore to raw metal. Put an iron ore block in a Triturator. It gives 2 raw iron, and 20% of the time a piece of gravel as well. The recipe takes the ore block itself, so mine ore with Silk Touch; without it, ore breaks into raw metal, which skips this step.
2. Raw metal to dust. Put the raw iron back in a Triturator. Each piece gives 2 iron dust.
3. Dust to ingot. The Kiln smelts each dust into one ingot.
4. Or raw metal and sand to ingots. Put one raw iron and one sand in an Eddy Smelter. It gives 2 ingots and skips the dust.

Any sand counts, including red sand, and the raw metal can go in either slot unless you turn on Alloying mode.

What each route yields and costs#

Per ore block, at the default recipe costs. The Kiln spends the same on a raw metal as on a dust, so a route that smelts raw metal pays 2,000 FE for each ingot it smelts.

Reading the table: smelting straight from the ore is the cheapest per ingot and the poorest per ore. The extra ingots cost FE, and the Eddy Smelter route buys them at the lowest price because the sand does the work the second grind and the extra smelts would otherwise do. If sand is scarce, or your line already ends in a Kiln, the dust route gives the same count.

Keeping the machines in step#

At the base tier one lane of each machine works at the same pace. The time per ore, in seconds, is what each step costs divided by the machine's draw:

A single Triturator that does both grinds spends about 25 s per ore, and a Kiln needs about 20 s to smelt the dust from it. One Triturator to one Kiln or Eddy Smelter keeps pace. When the line backs up, fit a Manifold Module to the slowest machine for two more lanes, or a Celerity Module to work faster; Upgrading machines says which to pick.

Other metals and other mods' ores#

The recipes work on tags, not on single items, so any mod's tin, lead, silver, nickel, aluminum, zinc, osmium, uranium or platinum ore works the same way as iron once the pack has it. Each metal's recipes load only when the pack provides its tag, and each gives the same 2 raw metal per ore, 2 dust per raw metal and 2 ingots per raw metal and sand.

• Copper and gold follow the iron chain exactly, except that a copper ore gives 5 raw copper.
• Dusts smelt in the Kiln because Enthalpy adds a smelting recipe for iron, copper and gold dust. For other metals the dust smelts only if the mod that supplies it gives the dust a smelting recipe; if the Kiln refuses a dust, use the Eddy Smelter route, which needs no dust.
• Alloys are Eddy Smelter recipes too, and the pack decides which exist. Look an alloy up in the recipe browser or JEI, and turn on Alloying mode when a pipe feeds two metals.
• A modded ore that is not tagged as an ore does not grind. Check it in JEI: if the Triturator lists it, it works.

Ores that are not metals#

The Triturator multiplies several other ores as well. The count is what one ore block gives:

Ore	Gives	Per ore
Coal ore	Coal	3
Lapis ore	Lapis Lazuli	9
Redstone ore	Redstone Dust	6
Nether quartz ore	Nether Quartz	3
Diamond ore	Diamond	2
Emerald ore	Emerald	2

Diamond and emerald cost 6,000 FE to grind rather than the usual 4,000 FE.

Pitfalls#

• The gravel fills up. The gravel from the first grind waits in the Triturator's bonus slot. When the slot is full, every lane stops, even though most ores never roll it. Pipe it away or turn on Auto-output.
• Mixed outputs block a lane. A lane will not start if its output slot holds a different item. Let the line empty before you change what a machine makes.
• A pipe into the Eddy Smelter. With Alloying mode off, a pipe can fill both slots with the same ingredient and block the pair. Turn Alloying mode on whenever a pipe feeds it, so the raw metal and the sand each reach their own slot; see Automating a machine line.
• Raw metal straight into the Kiln. It works, and gives one ingot per raw metal, which is what the dust and Eddy Smelter routes beat.

Related#

• Triturator, Resistive Kiln and Eddy Smelter
• Automating a machine line
• Upgrading machines
• Recipes