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'''Mining''' with drills turns the ore fields on the surface of the world into a steady stream of raw materials. The fuel-driven '''Wooden Drill''' is available from the start; the electric '''Auto Drill''' comes with the first research. You can also mine fields by hand, see [[BlockFactory:Gathering and Crafting|Gathering and Crafting]].

[[File:BlockFactory_Belts_and_Drills.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Drills feeding belts on the steppe]]

== Drills ==
{| class="wikitable"
! !! [[File:BlockFactory_Wooden_Drill.png|32px]] Wooden Drill !! [[File:BlockFactory_Auto_Drill.png|32px]] Auto Drill
|-
! Epoch
| 0 || 1
|-
! Unlocked by
| Start || Steam Power
|-
! Size
| 2 × 2 || 3 × 3
|-
! Energy
| Fuel, 150 kW || Electric, 90 kW
|-
! Mining speed
| 0.25 items/s || 0.5 items/s
|-
! Output
| in front of its left column || in front of its middle
|-
! Rune module slots
| – || 3
|-
! Noise
| 12 per minute || 10 per minute
|-
! Recipe
| 3 Iron Gear + 3 Iron Plate + 1 Brick Furnace || 3 Electronic Circuit + 5 Iron Gear + 10 Iron Plate
|}
The mining speed is the rate of a drill that stands completely on ore with richness 1. For noise see [[BlockFactory:Enemies|Enemies]], for module slots [[BlockFactory:Rune Modules|Rune Modules]].

== Placing a drill ==
* A drill mines what lies under its footprint. Place it on an ore field; the map shows the fields in their colors.
* The front of a drill faces you when you place it. It hands each item straight to the block in front of its output: onto a belt, into a chest or into a machine. A Wooden Drill placed directly in front of a Brick Furnace feeds it ore without a grabber.
* The Wooden Drill drops in front of its left column, as seen from the drill. Standing in front of it and facing it, that is the right half.
* The Auto Drill drops in front of its middle.
* On a belt, a drill puts items on the '''near lane'''.
* Nothing ever falls on the ground.

== Output buffer ==
If nothing in front takes the item, it stays in the drill's output, and the drill keeps mining: the output collects up to '''100 items''' (at most one stack) and the drill tries to hand them on every few ticks. Only when the output is full does the drill stop and show ''Output full''. A drill on mixed ore also waits when the next ore is a different kind from what already lies in its output.

== Fuel and power ==
The Wooden Drill burns fuel. Press Use to open its window with the fuel slot and the output, or crouch and press Use with fuel in your hand to fill it. With an empty hand, crouch and Use takes the whole output. A [[BlockFactory:Grabbers|grabber]] can keep it fed. Fuel values are listed on [[BlockFactory:Smelting|Smelting]].

The Auto Drill takes no fuel. It needs power from a nearby power pole, see [[BlockFactory:Power|Power]]. With too little power it mines more slowly.

== How much a drill yields ==
The yield depends on the ore blocks under the drill: mining speed × the sum of the richness of all ore blocks ÷ the number of blocks in the footprint.
* '''Coverage:''' a drill that stands entirely on ore mines at full speed. A Wooden Drill with one of its four blocks on ore mines a quarter as fast. Blocks without ore count as zero.
* '''Richness:''' every field is richest in the middle and gets poorer towards the edge, down to half at the rim.
* '''Distance:''' the starting fields near the spawn have richness 1 in the middle. Fields farther out are bigger and richer, the more so the farther they lie from the spawn.
* '''World settings:''' server operators can make fields richer or poorer, see [[BlockFactory:World Settings|World Settings]].
* '''Mixed ores:''' a drill on two kinds of ore mines them in turn, one item per ore block, so the output is mixed in the ratio of the blocks. Sort it with a Splitter filter (see [[BlockFactory:Belts|Belts]]).

== Ore fields ==
Ore fields never run out: a drill never exhausts its field. Drills mine these fields:
{| class="wikitable"
! Field !! Item !! Where
|-
| Iron || Iron Ore || starting field and further out
|-
| Copper || Copper Ore || starting field and further out
|-
| Coal || Coal || starting field and further out
|-
| Stone || Stone || starting field and further out
|-
| Sand || Sand || starting field and further out
|-
| Clay || Clay || starting field and further out
|-
| Gold || Gold Ore || only far from the spawn
|-
| Uranium || [[File:BlockFactory_Uranium_Ore.png|24px]] Uranium Ore || only very far from the spawn
|}
See [[BlockFactory:The World|The World]] for the map and the world layout.

== Uranium needs Sulfuric Acid ==
Uranium Ore can only be mined by an '''Auto Drill''' supplied with '''Sulfuric Acid''': 1 unit of acid per ore. The pipe connection for the acid sits '''in the middle of the drill's back''', opposite the ore output, so one pipe can run along the back of a whole row of drills.
* Without acid, a drill on mixed ground skips the uranium and mines the other ores.
* On pure uranium it waits and shows ''No Sulfuric Acid''.
* The Wooden Drill cannot mine uranium.

See [[BlockFactory:Fluids|Fluids]], [[BlockFactory:Oil Processing|Oil Processing]] (where Sulfuric Acid is made) and [[BlockFactory:Nuclear Power|Nuclear Power]].

== Oil ==
Oil does not come from drills. Oil fields hold single oil wells that an '''Oil Pumpjack''' pumps, see [[BlockFactory:Oil Processing|Oil Processing]].

== See also ==
* [[BlockFactory:Smelting|Smelting]]
* [[BlockFactory:Belts|Belts]]
* [[BlockFactory:The World|The World]]
* [[BlockFactory:Power|Power]]
* [[BlockFactory:Buildings|Buildings]]

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