If you haven't noticed,
mineral prices are askew and are not going to get much better without CCP involvement. Yes, the market will adjust somewhat, but the aspiration of localized nullsec supply will not be attained, and "high end' ores will continue to be awful isk/hour sources.
There are two Major Problems:
- The changes in compression means that it is harder for null producers to source the appropriate amounts of low/med tier minerals (especially super producers). Producers halting their production because of an inability to source minerals reduces overall demand for all minerals, dropping prices.
- Nullsec Ore Anomalies have entirely too much high end ore as opposed to the low end output. In order for local miners to fulfill the mineral needs of local producers, they would need to cycle belts, producing a surplus of high end minerals. That, or they simply cherry pick the high ends and leave everything else in the belt. Specifically, nullsec producers have issues sourcing Mex and Isogen in meaningful amounts.
These problems are leading to high end minerals plummetting in price, while the low-ends are fluctuating as high sec struggles to fulfill the demand of null producers. If null miners were to cycle belts in order to meet the mineral demand of local producers, the high end market would crash even further, reducing the already sub par isk/hour of mining. In reality, mining is already one of the lowest isk/hour activities, and it is only going to get worse. There are ships specifically designed to "cherry pick" or "ninja mine" ores- neither of which is a viable profession because of the current ore/mineral imbalance.
Potential Solutions:
- Re-balance the distribution of ores in the existing ore anoms. Reduce some of the m3 of high end ores and replace that m3 with Kernite/Plagioclase/Jaspet (even Veld?). This would reduce output of high end minerals as well as enable nullsec miners to be able to supply the much needed minerals of local producers. Reducing output of high ends will lead to a rebound in price for the high ends, making them more valuable and making things like "ninja mining" and "cherry picking" a thing again.
- Suggested by one of the J**bal members: completely remove existing ore anomalies. Replace those with smaller anomalies that have only one (or few) types of ores, with more anomalies spawning as the industry level increases. This would make ore anoms function similar to existing combat anoms, with more numbers of "low end" sites and only a few "high end" sites (such as with sanctum distribution). These sites would be much smaller and more condensed than current ore anoms, and could respawn on a timer, such as 30 minutes, to negate some of the effects of cycling one type of belt over and over.
Both of the above solutions aim at reducing the output of high end ores from nullsec and rewarding leveling a system to industrial level 5. Additionally, the removal of the high ends would be refocused to increased supply of low end minerals, enabling nullsec groups to source their minerals locally in meaningful amounts. Arkonor, supposedly the "most rare" ore in the game, is the
least valuable ore in the game to mine right now. Yes, the market will adjust some, but the overall supply of high ends is "too damn high!"
Despite all of the recent changes to compression, most ore and minerals are still being sourced out of Jita in the form of compressed ores (at least in the CFC).