Burner mining drill

A Burner mining drill is an early-game mining machine that extracts ore and other resources by consuming burnable fuel rather than using electrical power. It has a fuel inventory, a mining progress indicator, a depletion rate that consumes fuel over time, and an output slot that places mined items onto adjacent belts, chests, or into inserters. Burner mining drills do not require electricity and can run independently as long as they have a supply of fuel.

Burner mining drills can be arranged to form self-sustaining coal mines that require no external fuel delivery. Two drills placed facing each other on the same coal deposit can refuel each other: each drill inserts coal into the other’s fuel slot as it outputs mined coal, so coal gradually accumulates in their fuel inventories. Each drill holds up to 50 coal in its fuel stack, so a pair effectively stores 100 coal together. It takes slightly less than three minutes for two facing burner mining drills to completely fill each other’s fuel inventories; once full they will sit idle until some fuel or output is removed. This idle time can be extended by routing the drills’ output into a buffer chest instead of directly into the neighboring drill’s fuel slot, allowing the drills to continue producing without immediately filling the partner’s fuel inventory.

A more scalable layout works with any even or odd number of burner mining drills on a coal patch by using belts and inserters. Place a burner mining drill and run at least three transport belts from its output in a mirrored “L” shape so the third belt leaves a one-tile gap next to the miner. Place a burner inserter in that gap oriented to insert coal into the miner’s fuel slot. When mirrored across a coal deposit, neighboring arrays will feed each other. When building multiple mirrored arrays, ensure that no two burner inserters pull coal from the same belt tile, or one inserter may starve while another takes the fuel.

The miner’s interface shows the amount of fuel currently in the fuel slot, the rate of fuel depletion (consumption), the current mining progress, and the type and amount of product being produced. Proper placement of outputs and inserters is required to maintain continuous operation without manual refueling.

• Place facing drills on the same coal deposit to let them refuel each other automatically.
• Use a buffer chest between drills to increase runtime before they idle from full fuel inventories.
• When using belt+inserter arrays, mirror the arrangement across the deposit and avoid having multiple inserters take from the same belt tile.
• Monitor the fuel gauge and output flow to prevent drills from becoming idle due to full fuel stacks or blocked outputs.