on the auger for any future updates.
with maxed mining skills, the steel pick axe out strips the auger making it irrelevant
used to be, having the full set of mining books, you had a 10% chance to 1 shot ores and stone blocks. that made the auger with its high hit speed but low damage value out mine pick axes. but the current way it is, I can 1 shot stone, gravel, coal, shale, and nitrate and 2 shot iron and lead with a steel pick axe, but takes 4 hits to take out stone, and 6 to take out the others with the auger. This drastically slows down mining, wastes gas, and is so far noisier than any other method of mining. It makes the auger for practical purposes obsolete.
with auger supposedly meant to be the top end mining tool, the current abilities and costs make it only better than stone tools. I am not sure how to make it the top end with fuel costs, low block damage and heat accumulation, but I do think this is something that needs to be addressed going forward.