Aluminum Ore

Aluminum Ore is a metal ore used as a construction material and as a raw resource for producing Aluminum. It is also one of the materials that can be fed to certain critters for resource conversion. In the Spaced Out! expansion, it can be harvested on rocket missions from renewable Space POIs, specifically Frozen Ore Asteroid Fields and Forested Ore Fields.

Aluminum Ore is especially valuable because it can be refined into Aluminum with no mass loss in a Metal Refinery. This makes it the preferred processing method when the goal is to maximize Aluminum output. It can also be processed in a Rock Crusher, but this is far less efficient and is generally not worth doing unless the Rock Crusher is the only available option.

• Metal Refinery: 100 kg Aluminum Ore → 100 kg Aluminum
• Rock Crusher: 100 kg Aluminum Ore → 50 kg Aluminum + 50 kg Sand

Beyond industry, Aluminum Ore can be used as food for Stone Hatches and Smooth Hatches. Feeding it to Stone Hatches causes them to excrete Coal and increases the chance that they will lay Smooth Hatch eggs. Feeding it to Smooth Hatches causes them to excrete Aluminum at 75% mass conversion.

Because it is both a building material and a refinery feedstock, Aluminum Ore is most useful in the early and midgame when Aluminum production is being established. If a colony has access to a Metal Refinery, it should usually be used over the Rock Crusher to avoid wasting half the material. The Rock Crusher conversion is only attractive if the player specifically needs a small amount of Aluminum quickly and does not mind losing material efficiency.

When available from space, Aluminum Ore can be a renewable resource source in long-running colonies. Frozen Ore Asteroid Fields provide it at a higher rate than Forested Ore Fields, making them the better source for large-scale Aluminum production.