Ice harvesting is the process of mining ice fields (commonly called “ice belts”). This mined ice can then refined and used to fuel capital ship jump drives, manufacture fuel for player-owned starbases (POS), and light cynosural fields. Ice mining can only be done with specialized modules (ice miners and ice mining lasers) which can only be fit to Mining Barges and Exhumers or Expedition Frigates. Unlike ore mining, ice miners mine one block of ice (with a volume of 1000 m3) per cycle; as it's not possible to increase this yield, the only way to mine ice more efficiently is to decrease the ice miners' cycle times.

Advantages of Ice Harvesting

• Reduced attention required by the miner when compared with ore mining.
• Ability to be self-sufficient for POS fuel.
• Easier to mine without a dedicated hauler (longer cycle times mean fewer trips to the station).
• Fun factor of 4-hourly 'Ice Rush' when a belt spawns, as dozens of miners rush in to clear the belt.

Disadvantages of Ice Harvesting

• Reduced ISK yield compared to ore mining. While ice commands similar prices to ore, it's not possible to mine ice continuously due to the 4 hour respawn timer on ice belts.

Ice belts can be found in every region of New Eden, but only in certain systems (a good place to see which systems is dotlan). Each of these systems can contain between 1 - 3 ice belts. Each belt is on a 4 hour timer and they disappear once mined out, they then respawn 4 hours later. Unlike asteroid belts ice belts don't respawn after downtime, they are on a fixed 4 hour timer. Unlike asteroid belts, ice belts are a type of Cosmic Anomaly, meaning they will appear in a different location in the star system every time they respawn, and can be found using your ship's onboard scanner (but do not require scan probes to find).

As with ore asteroids, each ice asteroid contains one type of ice (so, for instance, an asteroid called “Blue Ice asteroid” will contain nothing but Blue Ice). There are twelve different types of ice asteroids, split into three categories: faction asteroids, enriched faction asteroids, and standard asteroids.

• The ice from faction asteroids (which contain Clear Icicle, Glacial Mass, Blue Ice, or White Glaze) refine to small quantities of Heavy Water, Liquid Ozone and Strontium Clathrates, but large amounts of their respective faction's isotope (Helium Isotopes, Hydrogen Isotopes, Oxygen Isotopes, and Nitrogen Isotopes). Each of these asteroid types is only found in the regions of space controlled by their respective faction (so, for instance, Blue Ice asteroids only spawns in Gallente space, and refine to (amongst others) Oxygen Isotopes, which are used to fuel the jump drives on Gallente ships and to manufacture fuel for Gallente POSes).
• The ice from enriched faction asteroids (which contain Enriched Clear Icicle, Smooth Glacial Mass, Thick Blue Ice, or Pristine White Glaze) works the same way as regular faction asteroids, but contain more of the same materials. These asteroids are only found in nullsec (in systems controlled by their respective factions).
• The ice from standard asteroids (which contain Glare Crust, Dark Glitter, Gelidus, and Krystallos) contains large quantities of Heavy Water, Liquid Ozone and Strontium Clathrates, but no faction isotopes. These asteroids are only found in low-sec and nullsec.

Assuming perfect refining skills (0% waste), ice asteroids refine to the following: