Sandustry Lava, Scoria, and Cinder

Lava is a density-75 liquid that appears naturally in deep lava caves. You cannot launch lava as a particle the way you launch sand. To relocate heat, you convert it through Scoria and Cinder, then remelt Cinder where your factory actually needs a burn bed. That loop is how late-game slag halls stop depending on a lucky cave under the shakers.

The relocation recipe

Official wiki and itch notes agree on the cycle:

Lava + Cryoblaster (ice) → Scoria → explosive (Rocket Launcher) → Cinder → Flamethrower → Lava again.

Material	Type	Density (community wiki)	Notes
Lava	Liquid	75	Not launchable. Water on lava becomes Steam. Auto-burns slag and flowers.
Scoria	Frozen lava	—	Intermediate; blast it, do not try to belt lava.
Cinder	Solid powder	50	Launchable, burnable, floats on water. The portable form of heat.

Tools 3 unlocks the Cryoblaster (freeze water and solidify lava). Guns branches unlock the Rocket Launcher used to shatter Scoria. Tools 1 Flamethrower remelts Cinder. Timing versus gold research: do not rush lava logistics before Kinetic Slag Press exists — heat without a press is just scenery. See Tools and Weapons Priority.

Why factories want lava

A lava pit under a slag belt burns Slag → Burnt Slag without you holding the Flamethrower. The same heat auto-burns flowers when you want Amethelis drops instead of babysitting harvest (Flowers and Planters). Community beginner setups build the pit like this:

1. Place Filters set to allow only Cinder.
2. Fill those filters with Cinder.
3. Ignite with the Flamethrower so Cinder becomes Lava trapped in the filter bed.
4. Wall the sides — lava leaks. A conveyor or block jacket keeps the pool in the burn lane.
5. Drop Slag onto the pool; take Burnt Slag onward to the press.

Never leave Water above or below the pit. A stray rocket turning nearby water into steam, then rain, deletes lava (steam interaction). Keep slag halls dry (Water Management).

Harvesting the first Cinder stash

Early on you find lava underground, not a warehouse of Cinder. Typical sequence:

1. Unlock Cryoblaster and a Rocket Launcher (or another explosive that breaks Scoria).
2. Freeze a lava tongue into Scoria.
3. Blast Scoria into Cinder.
4. Vacuum, Grabber, or Hauler Drones the powder to a marked chest above your future burn hall — Cinder is easy to lose in water because it floats.
5. Only remelt what you need. Spare Cinder is strategic reserve.

Lights help in lava caves so you do not Cryoblast the wrong puddle (Collectors and Lights). Grappling Hook and hover (Fluxite) make the commute saner (Fluxite Upgrades).

Density and filters

Community charts place Lava between RedSand and Gold on density lists. That matters when mixed columns hit a filter bank: lava will not sort like sand. Cinder at density 50 matches Burnt Slag’s neighborhood — do not dump both into one “allow solids” filter or you will ignite the wrong pile. Dedicated allow Cinder vs allow Burnt Slag roofs keep the press drop clean (Filters, Material Ratios).

Combat and safety

Lava damages careless mining. Cryoblaster is the off switch: freeze, then either blast to Cinder or leave Scoria as a plug. Do not quench lava with water if you wanted to keep the pool — water becomes steam and the heat disappears. Embers from lava can ignite Moss and Flowers (Hotfix 8 behaviour still worth respecting). Separate botanical wings from slag burners.

Automation tips

• Launchers move Cinder, not lava. Design the long-distance heat pipeline as a cinder belt, remelt at destination.
• Drones haul cinder from a cave cache when belts cannot cross a steam chimney (Drones).
• Thermal buffers on conveyors (when your build has them) can burn slag in transit so the lava pit is optional — still useful as a dump for overflow.
• If rain keeps killing pits, roof the hall and vent steam away from the pool.

Early Access context

Lava logistics is a mid-game skill in the Early Access build that entered on 2026-08-13. Demo players may see lava caves before they can relocate them. EA is where portable cinder warehouses become normal. Pair this page with Dig Deeper for cave access and Slag Processing for why the heat exists.

Related

• Water, Ice, and Steam — Steam is lava’s enemy.
• Kinetic Slag Press — Destination of burnt slag.
• Buildings Hub — Filters and pipes that contain leaks.

Portable lava is just Cinder with extra steps. Freeze, blast, haul, remelt — then your shakers can sit on the surface while the planet’s heat works underground.