Refining is the step that decides how much aUEC your mining or salvage run is actually worth in Star Citizen Alpha 4.10.1 — and it is the step most new players get wrong. Raw ore straight out of a rock is not sold at top value; you take it to a Refinery Deck, dispatch a work order, pick a processing method, and wait. Pick the right method and you keep far more material. Pick the wrong one — or refine something you should have sold raw — and the fee plus the lost time eats your profit.
This guide covers every refining method in the current live build, where the Refinery Decks are, how work orders actually behave, and the one decision that matters most: refine, or sell raw.
Quick answer: how refining works and what to pick
- What it is: refining converts raw mined ore (and, since Alpha 4.3.2, salvaged Construction Materials) into a more valuable processed commodity you then haul and sell.
- Where: at a Refinery Deck, found on Rest Stop stations. Dispatch a work order at a terminal in the processing center, choose your method, wait the timer, then collect the refined output with a cargo ship and sell it at a Trading Console.
- Best all-round method: Dinyx Solventation — low cost, high yield, but very slow. Use it when time doesn't matter.
- Best balance of yield and wait: Ferron Exchange — nearly Dinyx-level yield at a moderate cost and a much shorter timer. For genuine fast turnover, use a fast method like Gaskin Process or Cormack Method.
- When to skip refining entirely: if you need aUEC right now, or the ore is low-value, sell it raw. No timer, no fee, no second cargo run.
- Patch note: all facts below apply to Alpha 4.10.1 (LIVE since 16 September 2026). Refinery fees, yields, and commodity prices shift between builds, so the terminal's own quote is always the final word.
What is refining in Star Citizen?
Per the official community wiki, "Refining is the process by which ore and other raw materials obtained from Mining and Salvage are filtered and purified into a more valuable resource. These resources may then be transported and sold for higher profits."
The industrial loop has four practical steps, and refining is the middle one:
- Mine or salvage the raw material.
- Refine it through a work order at a Refinery Deck.
- Haul the finished commodity out with a cargo-capable ship.
- Sell it at a Trading Console (or keep it as a crafting input).
The key thing to understand up front: the refinery does not pay you when the job finishes. A completed work order produces processed commodity boxes that still sit at the station. You have to physically load them onto a ship and fly them to a buyer. That extra cargo run is part of the cost of refining, and it's exactly the part solo players forget when they do the math.
Every refining method in Alpha 4.10.1
There are nine refining methods. Each trades off three things: speed (how long the timer runs), cost (aUEC fee per unit of ore), and yield (how much refined material you keep — a bonus or a penalty versus the raw amount). The live method table from starcitizen.tools, with the approximate base-yield figures community refinery calculators report for Alpha 4.10.1:
| Method | Speed | Cost | Yield | ~Base yield |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dinyx Solventation | Very low | Low | High | ~93% |
| Ferron Exchange | Low | Moderate | High | ~90% |
| Pyrometric Chromalysis | Low | High | High | ~88% |
| Electrostarolysis | Moderate | Moderate | Moderate | ~85% |
| Thermonatic Deposition | Low | Low | Moderate | ~83% |
| Gaskin Process | High | High | Moderate | ~80% |
| Kazen Winnowing | Moderate | Low | Low | — |
| Cormack Method | High | Moderate | Low | — |
| XCR Reaction | High | High | Low | — |
To put the yield gap in money terms: on a large, high-value batch, a 4.10.1 community refinery calculator shows Dinyx Solventation keeping about 93% of the material on a roughly 19-hour timer, versus Ferron Exchange at about 90% on a ~9.5-hour timer. That ~3% is a lot of aUEC on a full hold — but only if you can afford to leave the ore sitting that much longer.
The single most important caveat, straight from the wiki: "Ingame tooltips for the different methods are incorrect in terms of speed, cost, and yield." Do not trust the in-game blurb on each method — trust the actual quote the terminal gives you for your specific ore, at that specific station, right now. Request a quote, read the real numbers, then decide.
How to read the table
- Maximum money, patient: Dinyx Solventation. Highest retained material for the lowest fee — the cost is a brutally slow timer that can run many hours on a big load. Ideal if you're logging off anyway (jobs run in real time whether you're online or not).
- Strong yield, reasonable wait: Ferron Exchange and Pyrometric Chromalysis both keep a lot of material; Ferron costs less, Pyrometric costs more.
- Fast turnover: Gaskin Process and Cormack Method finish quickly so you can cycle loads, at the price of either a higher fee or a lower yield.
- Generally avoid: XCR Reaction (fast but high cost and low yield) and Kazen Winnowing (low yield for not enough speed) are rarely the best call for valuable ore.
Where are the Refinery Decks?
Refinery Decks are dedicated areas inside Rest Stop stations, added back in Alpha 3.12.0. As of Alpha 4.10.1 there are refinery decks across Stanton, Pyro, and Nyx — community refinery directories catalog 18 stations in total. You'll find them at these locations:
Stanton system
- ARC-L1 Wide Forest Station (ArcCorp)
- CRU-L1 Ambitious Dream Station (Crusader)
- HUR-L1 Green Glade Station (Hurston)
- HUR-L2 Faithful Dream Station (Hurston)
- MIC-L1 Shallow Frontier Station (microTech)
Nyx system
- Levski
Pyro system
- Orbituary, Checkmate, Ruin Station, and Stanton Gateway all carry refineries.
Each deck also has a store and rental terminals — you can buy OxyPens, mining armor, the Pyro RYT Multi-Tool, ship mining laser modules, and mining gadgets, or rent a few vehicles right there. Handy if you want to refuel, restock, and refine in one stop.
Refinery specialization matters. Different decks are better or worse at processing specific minerals, so the same work order can quote differently depending on which station you're standing in. If you're min-maxing a high-value haul, it's worth checking the quote at the station nearest your mining field before committing — the travel-versus-bonus trade is real.
How to dispatch a refinery work order
- Fly your mined ore (or salvaged Construction Materials) to a station with a Refinery Deck and head to the processing center.
- Interact with a refining terminal and select a suitable vehicle that's holding your raw material. Since Alpha 4.2.0 you can also refine mining-bag contents pulled from station inventory, not just what's in a ship's hold.
- Choose which stored ores to refine and pick a refining method.
- Request the quote — the terminal shows the generated yield, the total cost, and the time. Confirm to start the work order.
- Wait out the timer. All refinery jobs complete in real time whether you're logged in or not, so you can queue a long Dinyx job and come back later.
- When it's done, load the refined commodities onto a cargo ship via the freight elevator and sell them at a Trading Console.
Refine or sell raw? The decision that actually matters
This is the question every miner asks, and the honest answer is: not every load is worth refining.
Refining wins when the extra material you retain — plus the usually higher price of the refined commodity — beats the sum of the refinery fee, the hours the job ties up your ore, and the risk and time of a second cargo run to sell it. That's most true for high-value ore (think Quantainium, Bexalite, Taranite, Borase and similar), where a high-yield method like Dinyx or Ferron adds up to a meaningful chunk of aUEC.
Sell raw when:
- You need aUEC now and can't wait out a timer.
- The ore is low value, so the fee and the extra hauling run outweigh the yield bump.
- You don't have a cargo ship on hand to move the refined output, or you can't safely make a second trip.
A useful frame: refining is a time-for-money trade. If your time is the bottleneck, raw sales keep the loop fast. If material efficiency is the goal and you've got patience (or you're logging off), refining is where the real margin lives. Run the terminal quote and compare it against the raw-sell price before you commit — the numbers are right there.
New to the money loop? Refining sits between mining/salvage and the sell. For the stages on either side, see our Star Citizen guides below.
- Star Citizen Mining Guide (Alpha 4.10.1) — how to find, fracture, and extract the ore you'll refine.
- Star Citizen Salvage Guide (Alpha 4.10) — hull scraping and Construction Materials you can now refine too.
- Star Citizen Best Trade Routes (Alpha 4.10.1) — where to sell refined commodities for the most aUEC.
- Star Citizen How to Make aUEC Fast (Alpha 4.10.1) — how refining stacks up against every other money loop.
A quick note on aUEC, persistence, and wipes
aUEC is still test currency. It can be wiped at any patch with no reimbursement — Alpha 4.8 (May 2026) was a full wipe. Alpha 4.9, 4.10, and 4.10.1 have all been no-wipe, and in-game-acquired items carry over under Long Term Persistence, but never treat a stockpile of refined commodities as permanent. If a big wipe looms, sell before it lands.
And the boundary that never changes: buying aUEC or game credits from a third party, or paying someone to grind for you, violates RSI's Terms of Service. The Rules of Conduct explicitly prohibit "gathering in-game virtual… items or resources for sale outside the Game" and "performing in-game services in exchange for payment outside the Game, e.g., power-leveling," along with selling Virtual Goods such as ships or Game credits. Refining is the legitimate, in-game way to multiply your haul — no gray market required, and none is safe.
FAQ
Which is the best refining method in Star Citizen? For maximum profit with no time pressure, Dinyx Solventation — it has the highest yield at the lowest cost, but the job runs very slowly. If you want material back faster, Ferron Exchange keeps a high yield at a moderate speed and cost. Always request the terminal quote first, because in-game tooltips for speed, cost, and yield are known to be inaccurate.
Is it better to refine ore or sell it raw? Refine high-value ore when the retained material and higher refined price beat the refinery fee plus the time and the second cargo run. Sell raw when you need aUEC immediately, when the ore is low value, or when you can't make a return trip to collect and sell the refined output.
Do refinery jobs continue when I log off? Yes. All refinery work orders complete in real time whether you are logged in or not, so you can start a long job — like a big Dinyx Solventation batch — and collect the refined material next session.
Where can I refine ore in Alpha 4.10.1? At Refinery Decks on Rest Stop stations: ARC-L1, CRU-L1, HUR-L1, HUR-L2, and MIC-L1 in Stanton; Levski in Nyx; and Orbituary, Checkmate, Ruin Station, and Stanton Gateway in Pyro.
Can I refine salvaged materials, not just mined ore? Yes. Since Alpha 4.3.2 you can refine salvaged raw Construction Materials at a Refinery Deck, with the type depending on the size of the salvage ship used. It's the same work-order flow as refining mined ore.
Does the refinery pay me automatically when the job finishes? No. A completed work order produces processed commodities that still sit at the station. You have to load them onto a cargo ship and sell them at a Trading Console yourself — that extra haul is part of refining's real cost.
