What you need
- A Solana wallet you control, on the device you will mine from.
- SOL to deploy, plus a little extra for network fees.
- The real site: ore.com. The ORE token's address is
oreoU2P8bN6jkk3jbaiVxYnG1dCXcYxwhwyK9jSybcp. The retired 2024 token also starts with "oreo", so compare the whole address.
How to mine ORE, step by step
Open ore.com/mine and connect your wallet
Check the address bar says ore.com before you approve anything. ORE never asks for your recovery phrase.
Choose Lite or Pro mode
Lite mode spreads your SOL over all 25 tiles across several rounds. Pro mode lets you pick the tiles, the number of rounds, how many split and solo tiles to mine, and Motherlode limits.
Check the grid, then set your amount
The SOL already on the grid decides your share of the ORE. Put the round's total into the calculator below before you deploy.
Deploy and wait for the draw
When the round closes, an onchain entropy program draws one winning tile. Every tile has the same 1-in-25 chance.
See what you won
Each round has 15 split tiles and 10 solo tiles. On a split tile, the 1 ORE is shared in proportion to the SOL each miner put there. On a solo tile, one miner takes the whole ORE, with odds weighted by their share. About 1 round in 500 also pays out the Motherlode.
Settle and claim
Your SOL comes back and your ORE builds up as unrefined ORE. Claiming it costs a 10% refining fee, which goes to the miners still holding unrefined ORE, so waiting earns you a share of other people's fees. Settle each round before it expires, or its rewards can be lost. Near expiry, bots can settle it for you for 0.00001 SOL.
What mining really costs
Since 12 August 2026, losing tiles no longer pay their SOL to the winners. Older guides describe the old rules. Today, every tile pays a 1% admin fee, and tiles that don't win also pay 10% of what's left to the protocol, which uses it to buy back ORE.
| Your tile | Chance | SOL you get back | Fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wins | 1 in 25 | 99% | 1% |
| Doesn't win | 24 in 25 | 89.1% | 10.9% |
| Spread over all 25 | every round | 89.5% | 10.5% |
The math for spreading evenly: 1% + (24 ÷ 25 × 99% × 10%) = 10.504% of everything you deploy. Picking fewer tiles changes your luck, not that expected cost. The fee comes back as ORE only if your share of the round's ORE is worth more than it.
Is this round worth mining?
Round calculator
Read the SOL already on the grid at ore.com/mine and enter it below. The defaults are 2 October 2026: a typical round, ORE at $116, SOL at $118.57.
Expected result per round, by SOL on the grid
Your deployment and prices above. Above the line mining is worth it on average; below it, it costs you.
Expected values: your share of the round's 1.2 ORE (1 to the winning tile, 0.2 to the Motherlode on average) is your SOL ÷ all SOL on the grid; the 10% refining fee is taken off; the fee is 10.504% of what you deploy. Single rounds are lucky or unlucky; these numbers are what many rounds average out to. Network fees are left out.
What the chain says right now
We read the last 60 rounds straight from the ORE program on 2 October 2026. The median round had 10.2 SOL on the grid, between 8.5 and 12.8. At that day's prices, break-even is about 10.1 SOL.
In plain words: ORE mining pays about what it costs. That isn't bad luck. Whenever mining pays more than it costs, more SOL piles in until it doesn't. Some rounds are a little better, some a little worse, and the Motherlode adds a lottery on top.
Lite or Pro mode?
| Lite mode | Pro mode | |
|---|---|---|
| Tiles | All 25, spread across several rounds | The ones you choose, split or solo |
| Results | Steady: a small share of every round | Lumpier: you win big or lose the fee |
| Expected cost | 10.5% of what you deploy | The same on average |
| Best for | Starting out | Miners who watch the grid round by round |
Five mistakes new miners make
- Ignoring the grid. The more SOL on the grid, the smaller your share of the same 1.2 ORE. Check before every session.
- Redeploying blindly. Every time your SOL goes round, the 10.5% fee applies again. From $198, five full turnovers leave $113.68 of SOL before any ORE you win.
- Claiming every small win. Each claim of unrefined ORE pays the 10% refining fee. Holding it a while earns you part of other miners' fees.
- Forgetting to settle. Rewards from a round that expires before it is settled can be lost.
- Using a copy site or token. Mine only on ore.com and compare the full ORE address above.
Want ORE without playing every round?
Mining is a game you play every minute: watch the grid, deploy, settle, claim, and pay the fee again each time your SOL goes round. Some people would rather collect ORE without playing.
A few Solana tokens pay their holders in ORE instead. One is Armored Kitten ($ARMORED), the community this guide belongs to: 3% of every $ARMORED trade goes to its holders, paid in ORE several times an hour, with nothing to claim. It's a young memecoin with a small pool, so its price can swing hard.
We put the same $200 through both routes, mining ORE and holding the kitten, with live prices and measured trading costs.
Questions people ask
Is ORE mining profitable?
On average, about break-even. On 2 October 2026 the typical round had 10.2 SOL on the grid and break-even was about 10.1 SOL. Single rounds can win or lose much more than that, and the Motherlode can pay a lucky miner far above it.
How long does an ORE mining round take?
A little over a minute: rounds measured on chain take 75 to 78 seconds, including a short break between rounds.
Do I lose my SOL if my tile doesn't win?
No. A tile that doesn't win gets 89.1% of its SOL back; the winning tile gets 99%. The difference is the fee.
What is the Motherlode?
A jackpot that grows by 0.2 ORE every round. Each round has a 1-in-500 chance to pay it out, and the whole balance is then shared by the miners on the winning tile, in proportion to their SOL.
What changed in ORE mining in August 2026?
On 12 August 2026, losing tiles stopped paying their SOL to the winners. Now every tile gets most of its SOL back, and the protocol keeps a fee that funds ORE buybacks.
What is the refining fee?
Mined ORE starts out unrefined. Claiming unrefined ORE costs 10%, and that 10% is paid to miners who are still holding unrefined ORE. Refined ORE is claimed with no fee.
Sources
- ORE program source,
program/src/checkpoint.rs: one winning tile per round, the 1% admin fee and the 10% protocol fee on other tiles, settlement and expiry. GitHub - ORE source,
api/src/state/miner.rsandapi/src/consts.rs: the refining fee and the 0.00001 SOL settlement fee. GitHub - ORE's own guides: How mining works, Lite mode, Pro mode, Claiming rewards, Refining.
- ORE changelog: the 12 August 2026 change. ore.com/changelog
- Solana chain, 2 October 2026: the ORE Board account
BrcSxdp1nXFzou1YyDnQJcPNBNHgoypZmTsyKBSLLXziand the Round accounts of rounds 424,819 to 424,878 (median 10.2 SOL deployed, range 8.5 to 12.8). - Jupiter price API, 2 October 2026: ORE $116 to $118.54 during the day, SOL $118.57.