Smelting ore and selling the metal has always been the most profitable way to earn money within that realm of crafting. As far as smelting goes, smelt your poor first, while saving medium and higher qualities of ore until later on. Yes, high and very high quality ore have better yield potential, but not in the hands of a novice smelter. Hope that helps.
Ex
QUOTE (SenoraRaton @ Jan 13 2011, 08:30 AM)
I've looked over the charts, and am wondering if its more profitable to smelt the ore I mine, and sell the metal, rather than selling the base ore.
I have found that prices for ore are around 3/6/12, so 1000k is 120k/240k/480k, and from what I have seen on sage metal goes for 900k/1000. I looked over the charts, and it seems that the average yield is 1/3 for smelting ore. That would mean that if I smelted all my ore I "should" turn a profit of around double. My biggest concern is the intital investment to leveling smelting, and the time investment to smelt the ore. Also, I was wondering what the most efficent way to level smelting is. Should I smelt all my poor ore early, and save the high for higher skill levels for a larger yield, or is it better to smelt the better ore sooner, for more successes and to level up more quickly? I'm willing to keep track of my smelting success/ore expended, but am curious which route I should take. Thanks!:D