Space Engineers 2 Ores: How to Find Every Resource

Finding Space Engineers 2 ores comes down to three things: knowing which resources exist, how deep they sit and how to use the Ore Detector. The game barely explains where and how to get raw materials, so this guide covers all of it, plus what to do with your first finds.

⚒️ The 15 Resources in Space Engineers 2

There are currently 15 natural resources you can mine on planets and asteroids:

• Iron, Nickel, Cobalt, Copper, Lead
• Silicon, Magnesium, Chromium, Titanium
• Silver, Gold, Platinum, Uranium
• Ice and Stone

The basic rule according to the community wiki: ore deposits sit at the surface, at medium depth or down to 100 meters deep. Rarer ores and larger veins are generally found deeper. Rare ores also tend to appear in volcanic regions.

🧪 The Ore Detector: Your Most Important Tool

Without an Ore Detector, you are searching blind. There are two versions:

Both versions show nearby ore deposits as markers on your HUD. Important: for the markers to be visible to your whole crew, your vehicle or base needs an antenna. Without one, you only see the markers while you are seated in that grid yourself. If you want to search for deposits together, put an antenna on your mining vehicle. Then every player sees the markers on their own HUD.

📦 Mining: Hand Drill vs. Ship-Mounted Drill

You have two tools for mining:

• Hand drill: for getting started, used directly on foot
• Drill (block version): mounted on vehicles or ships, for larger quantities

Both tools automatically collect the mined ore from the deposits they hit. You don't have to pick anything up manually as long as your inventory has room.

According to the community wiki, the hand drill also comes in four tiers, which you craft at the Gearforge. Higher tiers mine faster. The wiki adds that they can detect and locate nearby ore deposits, so a higher-tier drill partly doubles as a small Ore Detector.

🔗 What to Do with Your Ore: The Production Chain

Raw ore is just raw material at first. The current production chain in Space Engineers 2 works like this:

1. Backpack Building or the Smelter process ore into simple components (e.g. Steel Plate, Electronic Parts, Wire, Motor)
2. The Assembler combines simple components into complex components for advanced blocks
3. The Refinery (optional, for more efficiency) processes raw material into refinery products, which the Assembler combines with simple components into complex components
4. The Fabricator combines refinery products with complex components into hi-tech components for the most advanced blocks

A concrete example is the Construction Component. It costs 5 Iron and takes 0.67 seconds via Backpack Building. At the Smelter, the same component takes only 0.2 seconds. Electronic Parts (5 Silicon) look similar: 1.33 seconds in the backpack versus 0.4 seconds at the Smelter. Once you build regularly, the Smelter clearly beats pure Backpack Building.

According to the community wiki, Wire takes 20 Copper per component and 1.67 seconds via Backpack Building. Here, too, a Smelter pays off as soon as you need Wire in larger quantities, for example for conveyor-heavy bases.

✨ Which Ore You Need for What

Not every ore is equally important. Especially early on, it pays to search with a goal instead of grabbing everything:

• Iron: the base for most early components, including the Construction Component (5 Iron)
• Silicon: processed into Electronic Parts, a core component for many functional blocks
• Copper: the base for Wire, which goes into many electrical components
• Nickel, Cobalt, Chromium, Titanium: mid-tier components and sturdier parts
• Silver, Gold, Platinum, Uranium: rarer, deeper down, relevant for advanced and hi-tech components
• Ice: a separate resource, independent of the other ores

For your first hours, focusing on Iron, Silicon, Nickel and Copper is plenty. You only need the rarer ores once you have unlocked more components and blocks through contracts.

💡 Practical Tips for Finding Space Engineers 2 Ores

• Start with Iron, Nickel and Silicon; you need them for most early components
• Always set the Ore Detector to maximum range before you scan an area
• If you find nothing in an area, moving on pays off more than searching stubbornly; deposits are not evenly distributed
• Build a Smelter as soon as you have the blocks for it; the time saved compared to Backpack Building is significant

Once your first materials are in, the guide to building your first ship shows what to do with them. Which blocks eat the most Steel Plate is covered in the overview of all block types. If you also play SpaceCraft, its resource guide shows how differently scanning works there.

❓ Frequently Asked Questions about Space Engineers 2 Ores

How many resources are there in Space Engineers 2?
Currently 15 natural resources, including Iron, Nickel, Silicon and Copper, rarer ores like Silver, Gold, Platinum and Uranium, plus Ice and Stone.

How do I find ore deposits?
With the Ore Detector. The 1 m detector is unlocked in every survival world; the 5 m detector reaches up to 350 m and is unlocked through the contract “Bulk Delivery - Lead and Gold”.

Why can't my teammates see the ore markers?
Without an antenna, you only see the markers while you are seated in that grid yourself. An antenna on the mining vehicle makes them visible to the whole crew.

Is a Smelter worth it compared to Backpack Building?
Yes. The Smelter produces the same components much faster, a Construction Component for example in 0.2 instead of 0.67 seconds.

How deep are the ores?
Deposits sit at the surface, at medium depth or down to 100 meters. Rarer ores and larger veins tend to be deeper, and rare ores favor volcanic regions.

✨ Conclusion

Finding resources in Space Engineers 2 is not luck. Deposits are distributed across fixed depth levels, and with the Ore Detector and a higher-tier drill you will find them reliably. The real difference, though, lies less in finding than in processing. Invest in a Smelter early and you save noticeable time over pure Backpack Building, on every single component you make over the course of the game.

All information in this article was checked against the community wiki for Space Engineers 2 and Keen's patch notes (as of: October 8, 2026); there is no official wiki for the game.