Satisfactory First Iron Line: A 60 Ore/min Worked Plan

Write the three limits before placing machines

The cited Wiki rates a 100%-clock Miner Mk.1 at 30, 60 or 120 ore/min on impure, normal or pure nodes. A Mk.1 belt carries up to 60 items/min. A default Iron Ingot Smelter consumes 30 ore/min. These numbers describe maximum steady-state flow under specific assumptions, not what a newly powered line instantly achieves.

Check node purity in your world. A pure node does not make one Mk.1 belt carry 120 ore/min, and an impure node cannot keep two default Smelters continuously fed at 30 each.

References: Official Satisfactory Wiki: Miner · Official Satisfactory Wiki: Conveyor Belts · Official Satisfactory Wiki: Smelter

Build a visible input-to-output chain

First connect a powered Miner to a short Mk.1 belt and one Smelter set to Iron Ingot. Confirm the Smelter actually receives ore and outputs ingots. Then use a splitter to feed a second Smelter. Keep the belts short while debugging so you can see whether an item stops at extraction, the split or the machine input.

A machine can be idle for reasons unrelated to throughput: no power, incorrect recipe, no input, blocked output or startup delay. Inspect the machine interface and indicator rather than treating every pause as a ratio error.

1. Check the node is normal purity and the Miner Mk.1 is powered.
2. Connect one Mk.1 belt; confirm ore reaches a powered Smelter set to Iron Ingot.
3. Confirm ingots leave the first Smelter before splitting the ore supply.
4. Add a second Smelter through a splitter and inspect both input buffers over time.

References: Official Satisfactory Wiki: Miner · Official Satisfactory Wiki: Smelter · Official Satisfactory Wiki: Conveyor Belts

Worked arithmetic, not a measured production test

Under the stated assumptions, 60 ore/min supply − (2 × 30 ore/min demand) = 0 ore/min nominal spare input. That leaves no sustained capacity for a third default Smelter. An output stack filling up or one machine pausing can also mean the downstream line is blocked; the arithmetic alone cannot identify the fault.

If you use a pure node, the cited Miner can nominally extract 120 ore/min, but one Mk.1 belt caps the transported flow at 60. Upgrading extraction without upgrading the bottleneck belt will not double this particular line. If you use an impure node at 30, only one default Smelter is nominally supplied.

References: Official Satisfactory Wiki: Miner · Official Satisfactory Wiki: Conveyor Belts · Official Satisfactory Wiki: Smelter

Trace the first actual bottleneck

Watch the earliest point with a backlog or starvation. Ore piling up at the Miner while the belt is full suggests transport capacity. A Smelter with ore but no ingot output suggests power, recipe or blocked output. One Smelter full while the other starves suggests split behavior or belt connections, not necessarily insufficient extraction.

When sharing a screenshot, include node purity, clock speed, machine recipe, belt mark, power state and both Smelter input/output buffers. That turns 'my factory is slow' into a checkable problem.

Game build / alternate recipes / clock settings:
Node purity and Miner mark:
Belt mark and first full or empty segment:
Smelter inputs and outputs:
Power state / one change / observed result:

Before you play

• Node purity and clock setting confirmed.
• Miner output reaches the belt and first Smelter.
• Two 30 ore/min demands compared with 60 ore/min supply.
• Actual stalled boundary inspected before adding machines.

Frequently asked questions

Sources & revision notes

Editorial revision: September 23, 2026. Source notes give the scope of each reference; the revision date is not a gameplay test date. Official documentation describes the publisher's system; community sources can contain errors. Use your installed game's own descriptions when they disagree.

1. Official Satisfactory Wiki: Miner (Community)

   Officially hosted, community-edited reference consulted September 23, 2026 for default Mk.1 extraction and node-purity limits. Check your installed recipe and clock settings.

2. Official Satisfactory Wiki: Smelter (Community)

   Community-edited reference consulted September 23, 2026 for the default Iron Ingot recipe at 100% clock; alternate recipes and overclocking are outside this example.

3. Official Satisfactory Wiki: Conveyor Belts (Community)

   Community-edited reference consulted September 23, 2026 for Mk.1 belt capacity; use the installed build for any changed throughput.