Mining Op's

Mining op's are a great way of making money. They consist of a team of people who group up and mine large portions of the asteroids out of an asteroid or ice belt. Generally there are three roles. Miners and Haulers are all that are really needed in high sec, but in more dangerous op's there may also be defense.

Miners

Miners are the most important part of a mining op. Step one is to get into the best mining ship you can, be that a Mining Barge, Battleship, or even just a Cruiser or Frigate. Next, fly to a belt, turn on your mining lasers, and extract as much of the ore in the belt as it can.  Most miners ultimate goals are to get into a Hulk, since that is the best ship in the game to mine ore with. Generally the most effective way to work in a group is to mine, and as your cargo fills jettison the orecan which peacefully floats next to their ship. That way either you or one of your companions can get into a hauler and move the ore all at once, saving valuable time. Once a can is expelled the in game time should be the name of the can, and a new can should be made every hour. That way a can doesn't expire, wasting valuable effort. Please note that once ore has been jettisoned anyone can pick it up, even ore thieves.

Haulers

Haulers have one job. Get in an industrial ship with as much cargo space as possible, and move as much ore as they can from the belts to a station. Of all the members in a mining op they require the most trust. They collect all of a miners hard work, after all. As a hauler you must remember to never take all of the ore in a can. Always leave at least one unit so that the can doesn't pop and interrupt your miners as they work. Leaving bookmarks next to the cans they jettison is also a good idea since it can save you the effort of flying to the cargo container every time in your big slow ship. Also remember to carry open secure containers in your cargo. These take up space, but the space inside them is larger than what they take up. You are basically provided with free cargo space. Remember, the larger your cargo, and the faster you can move, the better.

Defense

Defense can be both the most important, and useless part of a mining op. They are nice to have when things do go bad, but generally they are unneeded since drones are more than enough to kill npc rats in high sec mining op's. In high sec the only thing defense will do is kill ore thieves, and sometimes that can cause more trouble than its worth by giving the pirates kill rights on your care bear miners. The job of defense in low or null sec is to tank rats, and protect the mining op from intruders. In most situations all that they have to do is warp into an asteroid belt before the rest of the group, and if there are any rats they simply sit there and take the damage, keeping anything from attacking their allies. Keeping the rats alive means more will not spawn and replace them. This is important because if rats warp in later, they attack fleet members at random. This can force a mining barge to warp out, cutting down the time it is mining, and thus cutting profits. Being cap stable is a requirement (this way your capacitator doesnt run out, and you can tank forever). It is also nice to equip a good warp jammer in case any ore thieves or pirates come into the system. The last thing anyone wants is someone killing your group and stealing your hard earned isk. The lower the sec you are mining in, and the higher chance of being attacked, the more necessary defense becomes.

Selling

You just had a successful mining op and now have a ton of ore. What do you do with it? Well depending on your skills, you can either sell the ore, or refine it and sell the materials. First lets talk step one. Open your cargo, click on the rocks you have, and look at the market info. Once you have done that, find which system and station offer the best prices for your ore that is worth moving to. (if something is 10 jumps off for an extra bit of isk it might not be worth it.) Now that you have moved your ore to a station that pays well for your efforts, you have a choice. Do you sell the ore, or refine it first? Depending on your refining skills it may be best just to sell the rocks as they are, but ultimately you need to research for yourself. In a competitive market you should probably sell your rocks without refining because others will pay you more than you could make, and make marginal profit off of you. Everybody wins.