Auction Mining

Auction Mining is MINERAL's primary token distribution mechanism. It uses a Dutch auction model where miners compete to operate token-emitting veins by bidding ETH.

Overview

Parameter	Value
Mining Veins	4 (Amethyst, Emerald, Sapphire, Ruby)
Auction Type	Dutch auction (price decays over time)
Auction Duration	3,600 seconds (1 hour)
Start Price Cap	1 ETH
Initial Start Prices	0.1 / 0.2 / 0.3 / 0.4 ETH (per vein)
Minimum Price	0.01 ETH
Mine Cooldown	None (0 seconds)
Token Emission	Continuous (per second, per vein)
Revenue Split	80-8-3-3-6

How Dutch Auctions Work

A Dutch auction starts at a high price and decreases linearly over time until someone buys. In MINERAL:

Start Price ─────────────────────────── HIGH
    \
     \
      \  Price decays linearly
       \
        \
         \
          ──────────────────────────── MIN_PRICE

|← ──── AUCTION_DURATION ──── →|

Price Formula

elapsed = current_time - auction_start_time

If elapsed >= AUCTION_DURATION:
    price = MIN_PRICE

Otherwise:
    remaining = AUCTION_DURATION - elapsed
    price = max(startPrice * remaining / AUCTION_DURATION, MIN_PRICE)

The price decays linearly from startPrice down to MIN_PRICE over the AUCTION_DURATION.

Next Auction Start Price

When someone mines a vein, the next auction's start price is set to:

nextStartPrice = min(paidPrice * 2, START_PRICE_CAP)
nextStartPrice = max(nextStartPrice, initialStartPrice)  // floor protection

The price doubles from what was paid
Capped at START_PRICE_CAP to prevent overflow
Floored at the vein's initial start price (prevents zero-trap: if mined at MIN_PRICE, the next auction doesn't start at 2 * MIN_PRICE but at the vein's original start price)

Mining a Vein

Step by Step

Check the current price — Each vein shows its current auction price, decaying in real time
Set a max price — Anti-sandwich protection. Your transaction reverts if the price exceeds your specified maximum
Send ETH — Call mine(slotId, maxPrice, operatorRecipient) with ETH equal to or greater than the current price
Start earning — You immediately begin earning MINERAL tokens per second at the vein's emission rate
Hold or defend — You earn tokens until someone else mines your vein (or the emission epoch changes)

What Happens When You're Mined Over

When another miner takes over your vein:

You stop earning tokens immediately
You receive 80% of the price they paid (credited to your pendingEth balance)
Your accumulated unrefined MINERAL remains in the RefineVault, ready to refine

Anti-Sandwich Protection

The maxPrice parameter prevents MEV attacks:

You specify the maximum price you're willing to pay
If the on-chain price at execution time exceeds your max, the transaction reverts
This prevents frontrunners from manipulating the price before your transaction lands

Cooldown

An optional minMineInterval parameter (set at deployment) can enforce a minimum time between mines on the same slot. This prevents rapid-fire mining attacks.

The Four Veins

Vein	Mineral	Base Emission Rate	Relative Value
Slot 0	Amethyst	0.4 tokens/sec	Lowest (budget entry)
Slot 1	Emerald	0.8 tokens/sec	Medium-low
Slot 2	Sapphire	1.2 tokens/sec	Medium-high
Slot 3	Ruby	1.6 tokens/sec	Highest (premium)

Higher emission veins are more profitable per second, so they command higher auction prices. The market finds equilibrium: if Ruby's price is too high relative to emissions, miners will shift to cheaper veins. If Amethyst is underpriced, someone will take it.

Emission Rates Change Over Time

Emission rates follow the epoch-based halving schedule. Every 28 days (one epoch), rates can decay by a configurable percentage. See Tokenomics & Emissions for the full schedule.

Revenue Distribution (80-8-3-3-6)

Every ETH paid to mine a vein is split:

Recipient	Share	Description
Previous Operator	80%	Paid to the miner who was displaced
BuybackVault	8%	Accumulated for buyback & burn
StakingVault	3%	Distributed as ETH rewards to stakers
AutoLPVault	3%	Accumulated for auto-liquidity provision
Treasury	6%	Protocol development fund

Payment Flow

Miner pays ETH to mine a vein
    │
    ├── 80% → Previous Operator's pendingEth (pull-based)
    ├── 8%  → BuybackVault (direct transfer)
    ├── 3%  → StakingVault.fundRewards() (direct transfer)
    ├── 3%  → AutoLPVault (direct transfer)
    └── 6%  → Treasury (direct transfer, with pendingEth fallback)

Pull-Based Payment (Previous Operator)

The previous operator's 80% is not sent directly. Instead, it's credited to a pendingEth mapping. The operator must call withdrawPendingEth() to claim it.

Why pull-based?

Prevents reentrancy attacks
Supports smart contract wallets that may have complex receive() functions
Ensures the mine transaction never fails due to the previous operator's wallet

First Miner (No Previous Operator)

When a vein is mined for the very first time (or after protocol deployment), there is no previous operator. In this case, the 80% share goes to the treasury instead.

Pool Mining

For miners who want to participate without actively managing positions, MINERAL offers pool mining on each vein.

How Pools Work

Deposit ETH to a vein's pool (minimum 0.01 ETH)
Pool accumulates ETH from all depositors
When the pool has enough ETH to mine the vein, anyone can trigger a pool mine
The pool becomes the vein operator and earns tokens
When the pool is mined over, the 80% payout is distributed pro-rata to all pool depositors
Token emissions are also distributed pro-rata

Pool Target Max Price

Pool depositors can set a maximum price they're willing to accept for the pool mine:

setPoolTargetMaxPrice(slotId, maxPrice) — Sets your max
The pool mine will only execute if currentPrice <= poolTargetMaxPrice
You can only decrease your max price (never increase) to protect other depositors
If you fully withdraw, your max price setting is cleared

Pool Locking

After a pool successfully mines a vein, the pool becomes permanently locked:

No new deposits allowed
No withdrawals allowed
The pool earns tokens and ETH until it's mined over
Once mined over, depositors can claim their share of ETH and unrefined tokens

Pool Claim Functions

Function	What You Claim
`claimPoolUnrefined(slotId, to)`	Your share of earned unrefined MINERAL tokens
`claimPoolEth(slotId, to)`	Your share of the 80% payout when pool was mined over

Overshoot Handling

If the pool has more ETH than the current vein price, the overshoot (excess ETH) is distributed pro-rata back to pool depositors as claimable ETH.

Token Accrual (Unrefined)

How Tokens Accumulate

Every second a vein is operated, tokens accrue to the operator:

accrued = ratePerSecond * elapsedSeconds

The EmissionsController reserves this amount from the remaining supply, and the RefineVault credits it to the operator as unrefined MINERAL.

Epoch-Spanning Calculations

If an operator holds a vein across an epoch boundary (when rates change), the system correctly calculates emissions using both the old and new rates — with a geometric series formula for precise cross-epoch calculations.

Claiming Unrefined Tokens

Operators (or pool depositors) claim their unrefined tokens via:

claimPoolUnrefined(slotId, to) for pool participants
Automatic accrual during mine/settle operations for direct operators

Unrefined tokens must be refined to become tradeable MINERAL. See Refining Mechanism.

Strategy Guide

For Individual Miners

Strategy	When to Use	Risk
Snipe low	Mine when price has decayed near MIN_PRICE	Low cost, but slow token accrual if someone mines you quickly
Mine at premium	Mine at higher price for immediate control	Higher cost, higher risk if mined over quickly
Vein rotation	Monitor all 4 veins, mine the best value	Time-intensive but optimal
Hold position	Stay on a high-emission vein long-term	Works if competition is low

For Pool Depositors

Strategy	When to Use
Passive earning	Deposit to a pool and earn proportional rewards
Low max price	Set a low `poolTargetMaxPrice` to only mine at cheap prices
Multi-pool	Deposit to multiple vein pools for diversification

Key Insight

The optimal mining strategy depends on the ratio of auction price to expected token earnings. If a vein is cheap and emissions are high, it's a good mine. If the price is high relative to remaining epoch emissions, it might be better to wait.

Technical Details

Contract Parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
`slotCount`	immutable	4 (Amethyst, Emerald, Sapphire, Ruby)
`AUCTION_DURATION`	immutable	3,600 seconds (1 hour)
`MIN_PRICE`	immutable	0.01 ETH
`START_PRICE_CAP`	immutable	1 ETH
`slotInitialStartPrices`	immutable	[0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4] ETH
`minMineInterval`	immutable	0 (no cooldown)
`MAX_SLOTS`	constant	32 (protocol-level maximum)
`MIN_POOL_DEPOSIT`	constant	0.01 ETH

Security Features

ReentrancyGuard on all state-modifying functions
Pausable — Owner can pause/unpause mining in emergencies
Pull-based ETH — Previous operator payments use pull pattern
Anti-sandwich — maxPrice parameter on all mine functions
Ownable2Step — Two-step ownership transfer

Overview​

How Dutch Auctions Work​

Price Formula​

Next Auction Start Price​

Mining a Vein​

Step by Step​

What Happens When You're Mined Over​

Anti-Sandwich Protection​

Cooldown​

The Four Veins​

Emission Rates Change Over Time​

Revenue Distribution (80-8-3-3-6)​

Payment Flow​

Pull-Based Payment (Previous Operator)​

First Miner (No Previous Operator)​

Pool Mining​

How Pools Work​

Pool Target Max Price​

Pool Locking​

Pool Claim Functions​

Overshoot Handling​

Token Accrual (Unrefined)​

How Tokens Accumulate​

Epoch-Spanning Calculations​

Claiming Unrefined Tokens​

Strategy Guide​

For Individual Miners​

For Pool Depositors​

Key Insight​

Technical Details​

Contract Parameters​

Security Features​