Designations

Mining

Using the mining designation tool, you can select an area that should be excavated. The designated area has to be within a Mine Control Tower operation area, although this area can be modified, and selected anywhere in your colony. One dug-out square of height one is 24 - 42 units of loose material, and an accurate value is shown in #Density of Dumped Materials.

Dumping

You can select a zone where the trucks will automatically dump materials. This way the player can build ramps to reach areas with different elevation without needing to dig out the ramp, and at the same time, the materials can be dumped into the ocean, thus increasing the building area, allowing building of ports on uneven coast, or digging out materials on the beach that are below the sea level.

Retaining Wall are quite helpful if you wish to keep the terrain stable.

Loose Storage is more space efficient than a single height dumping zone, however, this holds only true for dumping zones lower than height 3. Meaning if you dump around height 3 amounts of material, it will be on par with storing that material in Loose Storage. Loose Storage II is more space efficient until dumping height 6, and Loose Storage III is more space efficient until dumping height 9.

It should be noted though that ports need to be placed on ground at least +2 sea level and at +5 maximum.

It is also possible to dump specific materials to a specific area. For that you need to assign a vehicle to the storage that you want to empty, assign that storage to the Mine Control Tower, allow dumping of that resource in the Mine Control Tower, and order the storage to be emptied. You might also have to restrict the storage to be emptied only by the assigned trucks only, as otherwise, other trucks might start dumping that resource elsewhere.

Density of Dumped Materials

The density of each material is shown in the following table. Density means an amount of materials for filling up 1 grid x 1 grid x height 1. Note that every ore and some other materials depend on "Ore Yield" at difficulty settings on game start.

Density of Dumped Materials (Version 0.4.9C)

Materials	Density		Effect of "Ore Yield"
	unit/grid3	relative
Iron Ore Copper Ore Gold Ore Limestone	2.17	10	yes
Coal	2.60	12	yes
Rock Gravel	2.17	10	no
Sand	2.17	10	yes
Slag Slag Crushed	2.17	10	no
Dirt Compost	1.52	7	no
Waste	2.17	10	no

Below is a table the density values and slopes that materials make when dumped or mined.

Density is the amount of material acquired when mining. Specific Volume is the inverse of Density, i.e. how much volume material will fill when dumped.

Slope values describe materials tendency to flatten out when dumped or having its side mined. Slope values represent the in-game unit in terms of the height divided by length. The angle of repose has been calculated on assumption that the game's units of length and height are equal.

Properties of Minable/Dumpable Materials (Current as of v0.7.8)

Material	Relative Density(%)	Specific Volume	Min slope	Max slope	Avg slope	Avg Angle of Repose(°)
SandDisrupted	100	1.00	0.7	0.8	0.75	36.9
Compost	70	1.43	0.6	1.2	0.90	42.0
Dirt	70	1.43	0.6	1.2	0.90	42.0
DirtBare	70	1.43	0.6	1.2	0.90	42.0
DirtLush	70	1.43	0.6	1.2	0.90	42.0
DirtNoDetails	70	1.43	0.6	1.2	0.90	42.0
FarmGround	100	1.00	0.6	1.2	0.90	42.0
Sand	100	1.00	0.8	1.0	0.90	42.0
SlagCrushed	100	1.00	0.8	1.0	0.90	42.0
Landfill	100	1.00	0.4	1.5	0.95	43.5
BauxiteCrushed	100	1.00	0.7	1.6	1.15	49.0
BauxiteDisrupted	100	1.00	0.7	1.6	1.15	49.0
CoalDisrupted	120	0.83	0.8	1.5	1.15	49.0
CopperOreCrushed	100	1.00	0.7	1.6	1.15	49.0
GoldOreCrushed	100	1.00	0.7	1.6	1.15	49.0
Gravel	100	1.00	0.7	1.6	1.15	49.0
IronOreCrushed	100	1.00	0.7	1.6	1.15	49.0
LimestoneDisrupted	100	1.00	0.7	1.6	1.15	49.0
QuartzCrushed	100	1.00	0.7	1.6	1.15	49.0
QuartzDisrupted	100	1.00	0.7	1.6	1.15	49.0
TitaniumOreCrushed	100	1.00	0.7	1.6	1.15	49.0
UraniumOreCrushed	100	1.00	0.7	1.6	1.15	49.0
LandfillOld	100	1.00	0.6	2.0	1.30	52.4
Slag	100	1.00	0.8	1.8	1.30	52.4
UraniumDepleted	100	1.00	0.8	1.8	1.30	52.4
FlowersPurpleLush	70	1.43	0.9	1.8	1.35	53.5
FlowersRed	70	1.43	0.9	1.8	1.35	53.5
FlowersWhite	70	1.43	0.9	1.8	1.35	53.5
FlowersYellowLush	70	1.43	0.9	1.8	1.35	53.5
ForestDirt	70	1.43	0.9	1.8	1.35	53.5
Grass	70	1.43	0.9	1.8	1.35	53.5
GrassLush	70	1.43	0.9	1.8	1.35	53.5
GrassNoDetails	70	1.43	0.9	1.8	1.35	53.5
CopperOreDisrupted	100	1.00	0.8	2.0	1.40	54.5
GoldOreDisrupted	100	1.00	0.8	2.0	1.40	54.5
IronOreDisrupted	100	1.00	0.8	2.0	1.40	54.5
RockDisrupted	80	1.25	0.8	2.0	1.40	54.5
TitaniumOreDisrupted	100	1.00	0.8	2.0	1.40	54.5
UraniumOreDisrupted	100	1.00	0.8	2.0	1.40	54.5
ForestFloor	70	1.43	1.0	2.0	1.50	56.3
Coal	120	0.83	1.4	4.0	2.70	69.7
Bauxite	100	1.00	1.6	4.5	3.05	71.8
Limestone	100	1.00	1.6	5.0	3.30	73.1
Quartz	100	1.00	1.6	5.0	3.30	73.1
Bedrock	200	0.50	2.0	5.0	3.50	74.1
CopperOre	100	1.00	2.0	5.0	3.50	74.1
GoldOre	100	1.00	2.0	5.0	3.50	74.1
IronOre	100	1.00	2.0	5.0	3.50	74.1
Rock	80	1.25	2.0	5.0	3.50	74.1
RockNoGrassCover	80	1.25	2.0	5.0	3.50	74.1
TitaniumOre	100	1.00	2.5	6.0	4.25	76.8
UraniumOre	100	1.00	2.5	6.0	4.25	76.8
HardenedRock	100	1.00	4.1	5.0	4.55	77.6

Tree Harvesting

You can define which trees can be harvested by the Tree Harvester using the left mouse button, and deselect them with the right mouse button. The harvester will start harvesting trees that are closest to it. You need to assign a transport to the harvester, like a Pickup, so that it can dump the cargo somewhere, the same way as with the diggers.

For automated and sustainable tree growing and harvesting, see Forestry Control Tower.