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Mining is very self-explanatory: you mine asteroids filled with minerals, collect the minerals, refine them, and sell them to stations for profit. You can mine asteroids at Resource Extraction Site (RES), located near planets with planetary rings, and at asteroid belts.
See also: Miner, Equipment, Star Systems
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How to start
You need several things to start mining in Elite: Dangerous: A refinery and a mining laser. Once you obtain these, simply fly to an RES or asteroid belt and find some asteroids that you want to mine. Then, use the mining laser until chunks of rock fly off of the asteroid and pick it up with your cargo scoop. Then, near the cargo tab of the right menu of the ship, go to the Refinery module and refine it. Once you obtain 100% of the mineral collected, it will turn into 1 ton of that mineral. You can then sell it to stations who will buy it. Here are the recommended minerals that you should always pick up, starting off with the most important mineral and ending with the least important:
- Platinum
- Palladium
- Gold
- Silver
The recommended ship for miners is the Cobra Mk III because it has a large amount of cargo and is overall just a great ship. Here are also some good systems to mine in:
- Polahukuna
- Sawahinn
- 20 Opiuchi
- Delkar
- Ras Elased Borealis
Equipment
- Refinery module: Essential to refine mineral chunks so that you can obtain 1 ton of said mineral.
- Mining Laser: Essential to mine mineral chunks from asteroids located at RES and asteroid belts.
- Upgraded Cargo Rack: This allows you to hold more minerals so that you can stay at RES and asteroid belts longer, resulting in more minerals that you can sell.
- Auto Field-Maintenence Unit: It's good to have one of these handy in case pirates come along to try and steal your cargo. If something breaks, such as your cargo hold, this can immediately be used to save it.
