diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 01705854c9..4e422704d0 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -28,3 +28,5 @@ truffle-security-output.json
 .coverage_contracts
 etherrouter-address.json
 ganache-chain-db
+.DS_Store
+*.sqlite*
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/packages/reputation-miner/ReputationMiner.js b/packages/reputation-miner/ReputationMiner.js
index 21930630d6..249ba2f68c 100644
--- a/packages/reputation-miner/ReputationMiner.js
+++ b/packages/reputation-miner/ReputationMiner.js
@@ -62,9 +62,11 @@ class ReputationMiner {
     if (minerAddress) {
       this.realWallet = this.realProvider.getSigner(minerAddress);
     } else {
+      // TODO: Check that this wallet can stake?
       this.realWallet = new ethers.Wallet(privateKey, this.realProvider);
-      console.log("Transactions will be signed from ", this.realWallet.address);
+      this.minerAddress = this.realWallet.address;
     }
+    console.log(`Transactions will be signed from ${this.realWallet.address}`);
   }
 
   /**
@@ -1347,20 +1349,28 @@ class ReputationMiner {
    * @param  { Bool }    saveHistoricalStates Whether to save historical (valid) states while syncing
    * @return {Promise}               A promise that resolves once the state is up-to-date
    */
-  async sync(blockNumber, saveHistoricalStates = false) {
-    if (!blockNumber) {
-      throw new Error("Block number not supplied to sync");
-    }
+  async sync(blockNumber = 1, saveHistoricalStates = false) {
+
     // Get the events
     const filter = this.colonyNetwork.filters.ReputationMiningCycleComplete(null, null);
     filter.fromBlock = blockNumber;
     const events = await this.realProvider.getLogs(filter);
     let localHash = await this.reputationTree.getRootHash();
+
+    console.log(`Beginning sync from block ${blockNumber} and hash ${localHash} with ${events.length} cycles to go`)
+
     let applyLogs = false;
+    // We're going to apply logs if:
+    // - We're syncing from a user-provided hash (which is this conditional)
+    // - We find a match for an on-chain state in our db (which is the loop below)
+    // - We are syncing from scratch (e.g. no user-given or on-chain state is found, localHash is 0)
+    if (localHash !== `0x${new BN(0).toString(16, 64)}`) {
+      applyLogs = true;
+    }
 
     // Run through events backwards find the most recent one that we know...
     let syncFromIndex = 0;
-    for (let i = events.length - 1 ; i >= 0 ; i -= 1){
+    for (let i = events.length - 1 ; i >= 0 ; i -= 1) {
       const event = events[i];
       const hash = event.data.slice(0, 66);
       const nLeaves = ethers.BigNumber.from(`0x${event.data.slice(66, 130)}`);
@@ -1369,22 +1379,24 @@ class ReputationMiner {
       if (res.n === 1){
         // We know that state! We can just sync from the next one...
         syncFromIndex = i + 1;
+        localHash = hash;
         await this.loadState(hash);
         applyLogs = true;
         break;
       }
     }
 
-    // We're not going to apply the logs unless we're syncing from scratch (which is this if statement)
-    // or we find a hash that we recognise as our current state, and we're going to sync from there (which
-    // is the if statement at the end of the loop below
+    console.log(`Syncing forward from index ${syncFromIndex} with local hash ${localHash}`)
+
     if (localHash === `0x${new BN(0).toString(16, 64)}`) {
       applyLogs = true;
     }
 
     for (let i = syncFromIndex; i < events.length; i += 1) {
-      console.log(`${new Date().toLocaleTimeString()}: Syncing mining cycle ${i + 1} of ${events.length}...`)
       const event = events[i];
+      const time = new Date().toLocaleTimeString();
+      console.log(`${time}: Syncing mining cycle ${i + 1} of ${events.length}, from block ${event.blockNumber} and localHash ${localHash}`);
+
       if (i === 0) {
         // If we are syncing from the very start of the reputation history, the block
         // before the very first 'ReputationMiningCycleComplete' does not have an
@@ -1433,7 +1445,8 @@ class ReputationMiner {
     localHash = await this.reputationTree.getRootHash();
     const localNLeaves = await this.nReputations;
     if (localHash !== currentHash || !currentNLeaves.eq(localNLeaves)) {
-      console.log("ERROR: Sync failed and did not recover");
+      console.log(`Error: Sync failed and did not recover, final hash does not match ${currentHash}.`);
+      console.log("If the miner has been syncing for a while, try restarting, as the mining cycle may have advanced.");
     } else {
       console.log("Sync successful, even if there were warnings above");
     }
@@ -1504,7 +1517,9 @@ class ReputationMiner {
     }
     const currentStateHash = await this.reputationTree.getRootHash();
     if (currentStateHash !== reputationRootHash) {
-      console.log("WARNING: The supplied state failed to be recreated successfully. Are you sure it was saved?");
+      console.log(`WARNING: The supplied state ${reputationRootHash} failed to be recreated successfully. Are you sure it was saved?`);
+    } else {
+      console.log(`Reputation state ${reputationRootHash} was loaded successfully.`);
     }
   }
 
diff --git a/packages/reputation-miner/ReputationMinerClient.js b/packages/reputation-miner/ReputationMinerClient.js
index c546a2433e..d2e6645ca3 100644
--- a/packages/reputation-miner/ReputationMinerClient.js
+++ b/packages/reputation-miner/ReputationMinerClient.js
@@ -211,7 +211,7 @@ class ReputationMinerClient {
    * @param  {string}  colonyNetworkAddress The address of the current `ColonyNetwork` contract
    * @return {Promise}
    */
-  async initialise(colonyNetworkAddress, startingBlock) {
+  async initialise(colonyNetworkAddress, startingBlock, startingHash) {
     this.resolveBlockChecksFinished = undefined;
     await this._miner.initialise(colonyNetworkAddress);
 
@@ -219,6 +219,10 @@ class ReputationMinerClient {
     const numEntries = minerStake.amount.div(this._miner.getMinStake());
     this._adapter.log(`Miner has staked ${minerStake.amount} CLNY, allowing up to ${numEntries} entries per cycle`);
 
+    if (minerStake.amount.eq(0)) {
+      this._adapter.log(`Stake for mining by depositing ${minStake} in tokenLocking then calling stakeForMining on the network`);
+    }
+
     let resumedSuccessfully = false;
     // If we have a JRH saved, and it goes from the current (on chain) state to
     // a state that we know, then let's assume it's correct
@@ -268,9 +272,14 @@ class ReputationMinerClient {
 
       // Get latest state from database if available, otherwise sync to current state on-chain
       await this._miner.createDB();
+      this._adapter.log(`Attempting to load latest on-chain state ${latestConfirmedReputationHash}`);
       await this._miner.loadState(latestConfirmedReputationHash);
       if (this._miner.nReputations.eq(0)) {
         this._adapter.log("Latest state not found - need to sync");
+        if (startingHash !== undefined) {
+          this._adapter.log(`Loading starting hash ${startingHash}`);
+          await this._miner.loadState(startingHash);
+        }
         await this._miner.sync(startingBlock, true);
       }
 
@@ -460,7 +469,7 @@ class ReputationMinerClient {
           const {entryIndex} = this.best12Submissions[this.submissionIndex];
           const canSubmit = await this._miner.submissionPossible(entryIndex);
           if (canSubmit) {
-            this._adapter.log("⏰ Looks like it's time to submit an entry to the current cycle");
+            this._adapter.log(`⏰ ${new Date().toLocaleTimeString()}: Looks like it's time to submit an entry to the current cycle`);
             this.submissionIndex += 1;
             await this.updateGasEstimate('average');
             await this.submitEntry(entryIndex);
@@ -730,7 +739,7 @@ class ReputationMinerClient {
 
   async submitEntry(entryIndex) {
     const rootHash = await this._miner.getRootHash();
-    this._adapter.log(`#️⃣ Miner ${this._miner.minerAddress} submitting new reputation hash ${rootHash} at entry index ${entryIndex.toNumber()}`);
+    this._adapter.log(`#️⃣ Submitting new reputation hash ${rootHash} at entry index ${entryIndex.toNumber()}`);
 
     // Submit hash
     let submitRootHashTx = await this._miner.submitRootHash(entryIndex);
@@ -745,8 +754,9 @@ class ReputationMinerClient {
   }
 
   async confirmEntry() {
-    this._adapter.log("⏰ Looks like it's time to confirm the new hash");
+    this._adapter.log(`⏰ ${new Date().toLocaleTimeString()}: Looks like it's time to confirm the new hash`);
     // Confirm hash if possible
+
     const [round] = await this._miner.getMySubmissionRoundAndIndex();
     if (round && round.gte(0)) {
       await this.updateGasEstimate('average');
diff --git a/packages/reputation-miner/bin/index.js b/packages/reputation-miner/bin/index.js
index 19a29e27e2..9635bf94cb 100644
--- a/packages/reputation-miner/bin/index.js
+++ b/packages/reputation-miner/bin/index.js
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ const { argv } = require("yargs")
   .option('privateKey', {string:true})
   .option('colonyNetworkAddress', {string:true})
   .option('minerAddress', {string:true})
+  .option('startingHash', {string:true})
   .option('providerAddress', {type: "array", default: []});
 const ethers = require("ethers");
 const backoff = require("exponential-backoff").backOff;
@@ -33,6 +34,7 @@ const {
   oraclePort,
   processingDelay,
   adapterLabel,
+  startingHash,
 } = argv;
 
 class RetryProvider extends ethers.providers.StaticJsonRpcProvider {
@@ -53,7 +55,7 @@ class RetryProvider extends ethers.providers.StaticJsonRpcProvider {
     return backoff(() => super.getNetwork(), {retry: RetryProvider.attemptCheck});
   }
 
-  // This should return a Promise (and may throw erros)
+  // This should return a Promise (and may throw errors)
   // method is the method name (e.g. getBalance) and params is an
   // object with normalized values passed in, depending on the method
   perform(method, params) {
@@ -61,8 +63,8 @@ class RetryProvider extends ethers.providers.StaticJsonRpcProvider {
   }
 }
 
-if ((!minerAddress && !privateKey) || !colonyNetworkAddress || !syncFrom) {
-  console.log("❗️ You have to specify all of ( --minerAddress or --privateKey ) and --colonyNetworkAddress and --syncFrom on the command line!");
+if ((!minerAddress && !privateKey) || !colonyNetworkAddress) {
+  console.log("❗️ You have to specify all of ( --minerAddress or --privateKey ) and --colonyNetworkAddress on the command line!");
   process.exit();
 }
 
@@ -126,4 +128,5 @@ const client = new ReputationMinerClient({
   oraclePort,
   processingDelay
 });
-client.initialise(colonyNetworkAddress, syncFrom);
+
+client.initialise(colonyNetworkAddress, syncFrom, startingHash);