Space Engineers Basic Refinery Guide: How to Use, Refining Speed, & More

Space Engineers is a sandbox game with no shortage of functional blocks. Players select and build from a massive library of interactive structures, ranging from air vents to wind turbines. But one of the key functional blocks to focus on early on is the Basic Refinery. Here, you’ll learn about the Basic Refiner, how to build and use it, its refining rates, and more!

What is the Basic Refinery in Space Engineers?

The Basic Refinery refines ores into ingots, similar to the Refinery, its larger counterpart. However, this basic model can only refine common metals, namely the following:

• Cobalt Ore
• Iron Ore
• Magnesium Ore
• Nickel Ore
• Silicone Ore
• Scrap Metal
• Stone

Similar to other space sandbox titles like Factorio, you must consider the dimensions of various in-game structures. In particular, the Basic Refinery is 8x smaller than the larger variant. Its compact size can be ideal for ships and facilities with reasonably small dimensions. Still, it requires fewer components to build and needs less power to run than the Refinery. The Basic Refinery also has no attachment ports. That means you can’t upgrade it. Plus, it only has two inventory compartments that can hold 4,000 L each by default. Its primary uses may not be ideal for mid to late-game scenarios. However, you can use a mod to connect this functional block with other ore-refining structures for a more efficient production line.

Basic Refinery Specifications

• Dimensions (W, H, L): 1,2,1
• Mass: 2,802 kg
• Integrity: 13,010
• Build time: 40 seconds
• Material Efficiency: 70 %
• Refine Speed: 65 %
• Power Consumption: 330 kW
• Idle Power Consumption: 1 kW
• Inventory Volume: 4,000 L
• Is Airtight: Partially
• Power Consumer Group: Factory
• PCU Cost: 75

Placement and Usage

Players can build the Space Engineers Basic Refinery only on large grids. Connecting it to a Conveyor Network for automatic ore drawing from another inventory is also possible.

Control Panel

Accessing the Basic Refinery’s control panel reveals the following usable options:

• Toggle Block: Turns the device on or off
• Name: Allows the player to create a custom name for the Basic Refinery
• Show on HUD: Displays on the player’s HUD if the Basic Refinery has the Antenna attachment
• Use Conveyor System: Toggles the automatic ore drawing function if the Basic Refinery is in a Conveyor Network

Basic Refinery Refining Rates

Ore	Processing Time	Combined Efficiency	Consumption	Production	Production Time	Resulting Item
Cobalt Ore	4.615 s/kg	21%	0.217 kg/s	0.046 kg/s	21.978 s/kg	Cobalt Ingot
Iron Ore	0.077 s/kg	49%	13 kg/s	6.37 kg/s	0.157 s/kg	Iron Ingot
Magnesium Ore	0.769 s/kg	0.49%	1.3 kg/s	0.006 kg/s	156.986 s/kg	Magnesium Powder
Nickel Ore	1.015 s/kg	28%	0.985 kg/s	0.276 kg/s	3.626 s/kg	Nickel Ingot
Scrap Metal	0.062 s/kg	56%	16.25 kg/s	9.1 kg/s	0.11 s/kg	Iron Ingot
Silicon Ore	0.923 s/kg	49%	1.083 kg/s	0.531 kg/s	1.884 s/kg	Silicon Wafer
Stone	0.015 s/kg	3.53%	65 kg/s	2.293 kg/s	0.436 s/kg	Gravel, Iron Ingot, Nickel Ingot, and Silicon Wafer