How to Get Uranium in RimWorld: Mining, Scanners and Costs
RimWorld 1.6.4871 (Steam rev598) · Core, with DLC options
Mine visible ore or buy a starter supply when you need uranium right away. For larger amounts, a long-range mineral scanner can target uranium specifically. A ground-penetrating scanner plus deep drill works on the home map, but that scanner picks a random resource.
Uranium is dark grey and weighs 1 kg per unit. In unmodded play it does not irradiate colonists.
Choose a uranium source
| Method | Best for | What to expect |
|---|---|---|
| Mine visible ore | An immediate local supply | 40 base uranium per tile; natural veins are configured for 6–12 tiles. |
| Trade | A small shortage | Check bulk goods traders and faction settlements. Base market value is 6 silver; actual prices and stock vary. |
| Long-range scanner | Uranium specifically | Choose uranium, then travel to the site. Approximately 600–840 per site at baseline yield. |
| Ground scanner + drill | Mining on your home map | Wait for a uranium discovery. Each deposit cell stores 300 units before Mining Yield adjustment. |
Surface figures assume 100% Mining Yield and a 100% surface mining difficulty multiplier. Actual recovery and generated deposit shapes can vary. Use the yield estimator to adjust your plan.
Recognize the ore before mining
Look for dark, flecked rock in hills and mountains. Select a tile and check that its name is uranium ore; color alone is easy to misread. Each ore tile has 4,000 HP, so give a capable miner time to finish and keep a hauler available.
To mine: open Architect → Orders → Mine, mark the ore, and assign a colonist to Mining. Leave a safe route for hauling the uranium back.
Target uranium with a long-range scanner
- Build and power the scanner. Research Long-range mineral scanner, then build it under Architect → Misc. It requires 200 steel, 6 components, 2 advanced components and Construction 8. Supply 700 W and keep its whole footprint unroofed.
- Select uranium before scanning. Select the scanner and change its target mineral to uranium. New scanners start with gold selected; changing the target does not change an already discovered site.
- Assign a researcher. Enable Research work and keep the interaction spot reachable. The nominal random-find interval is 4 workdays, with a guaranteed find after 8 workdays without a discovery, at 100% Research Speed. These are active work durations; sleep and other jobs extend the calendar time.
- Plan the trip and return load. Enter the discovered site within 30 days. Bring miners, food, medicine, protection and enough carrying capacity to return with the ore.
Two timers: enter the site within 30 days. After a normal arrival, the on-site detection/raid countdown is usually about 9.35–12.65 days, depending on site conditions. That timer leads to hostile raids. Read the displayed site timer; gravship arrivals use separate handling.
A baseline uranium site represents about 600–840 kg of uranium alone. Leave capacity for food and equipment too. Pack animals can help. Transport pods need a separate return plan, and shuttle or gravship options depend on your DLC and progression.
Mine uranium on your home map
A ground-penetrating scanner finds random buried resources. Once it finds uranium, a deep drill extracts it. A drill cannot discover uranium by itself.
| Building | Construction cost | Operation |
|---|---|---|
| Ground-penetrating scanner | 150 steel, 4 components, 1 advanced component | 700 W · unroofed · Research work |
| Deep drill | 100 steel, 2 components | 200 W · Mining work |
Research Ground-penetrating scanner and Deep drilling. The scanner has a nominal random-find interval of 3 workdays and a guaranteed find after 6 workdays without a discovery, at 100% Research Speed. It cannot be tuned to uranium.
Select the detected deposit to check the resource, then position a powered drill within reach. A uranium cell stores 300 units, extracted in 15-unit base portions. Mining Yield changes recovered output. Seven fully populated cells give a baseline of 2,100 uranium; this is an example, not a promised deposit size.
Drill producing only stone? Check that uranium remains within its extraction radius, the drill has power, Mining work is enabled, and the interaction spot is accessible. Without a mineral deposit it produces stone chunks where terrain allows. Move it when the uranium is exhausted. Manned drills can also trigger insect activity, so watch alerts and give the miner a clear escape route.
Other sources and DLC options
- Ancient caskets and salvage: destroying an ancient cryptosleep casket can leave 3 uranium. Deconstruction recovery is a separate calculation. Ancient dangers can contain threats; treat salvage as an incidental source.
- Anomaly: a creepjoiner’s Transmute steel ability can produce uranium, but the outcome is random.
- Odyssey: some asteroid and orbital sites contain uranium ore. Check the site and transport requirements; quantities vary.
- Rewards and events: uranium may also arrive through quest rewards or resource pods. These are useful bonuses rather than a dependable schedule.
What to spend uranium on
| Item | Uranium | Planning note |
|---|---|---|
| Ship engine | 70 | A conventional escape ship needs at least 3. |
| Ship reactor | 70 | At least 1. |
| Ship cryptosleep casket | 14 | One per passenger. |
| Recon / prestige recon / locust armor | 10 | Standard recon also needs 80 plasteel and 3 advanced components. Variants require Royalty and have different additional costs. |
| Marine / prestige marine / grenadier armor | 20 | Standard marine also needs 100 plasteel and 4 advanced components. Variants require Royalty. |
| Cataphract / prestige cataphract / phoenix armor | 50 | Royalty. Standard cataphract also needs 150 plasteel and 6 advanced components. |
| Uranium slug turret | 60 to build | Starts with 30 shots. Reserve another 60 for each full reload at standard maintenance costs. |
| Ordinary cryptosleep casket | 5 | Separate from the ship casket. |
| Uranium mace | 50 | Strong blunt damage, with a slower swing than some materials. |
Conventional escape ship: 294 uranium for one passenger. That is 3 × 70 for engines, 70 for the reactor and 14 for one casket. Add 14 per extra casket. This is only the uranium subtotal: you still need a computer core, sensor cluster, structural beam and all other required materials. Odyssey gravships use a different plan.
Uranium gives stuffable blunt weapons a ×1.5 damage multiplier and ×1.10 melee cooldown; the damage bonus is not a direct damage-per-second multiplier. It also makes non-flammable walls with 750 HP, but consider reserving scarce early uranium for equipment or ship parts.
Uranium budget calculator
Count the items you plan to build. Armor entries cover the family’s body armor, including the listed Royalty variants. New slug turrets start loaded; the reload field is your spare ammunition reserve.
Estimate ore and deep-deposit yield
Enter the miner’s displayed Mining Yield. The surface difficulty multiplier applies to ore tiles, including long-range sites. Deep drilling uses Mining Yield without that surface multiplier.
Frequently asked questions
Does uranium irradiate colonists?
No. Uranium does not irradiate colonists or contaminate nearby food in unmodded play.
How much uranium does the escape ship need?
A minimum conventional escape ship for one passenger needs 294 uranium: three engines at 70 each, one reactor at 70 and one ship cryptosleep casket at 14. Add 14 per additional casket. Other ship parts and materials are also required.
How much uranium does a slug turret use?
A uranium slug turret costs 60 uranium to build and starts with 30 shots. An empty-to-full reload costs 60 uranium at standard maintenance costs; custom storyteller maintenance settings can change this.
Which scanner should I choose?
Choose long-range scanning when you need uranium specifically and can handle the trip. Choose ground scanning and drilling when home-map mining matters more than choosing which resource appears next.
Why do some guides list different yields?
This guide covers 1.6.4871 (Steam rev598): uranium drilling uses 15-unit base portions, and long-range generation targets roughly 600–840 baseline uranium per site. Other guides may list different values. Always account for the miner’s yield and, for surface ore, difficulty.
Further reading: Uranium · Long-range scanner · Deep drill · Slug turret. Some wiki figures differ from this version.
Related: Steel · Plasteel · Deep drilling guide