Newcomer / Intro Mining: Where to begin?

[dunpealhunter]

I want to try out all aspects of ED, so also mining. Can anyone direct me into a guide, or tell me here in this topic what i specifically would need, where to go solar system wise, what to expect and what kind of profits i could be getting?

Any help would be much appreciated.

 

[krysohmyz]

Well, only a small amount of people would be willing to share their gold mines' locations.
But generally, you probably want to mine high-profit metals. Gold is acceptable, but your future lies in Palladium and platinum. They are worth about 12 and 15k Credits per ton respectively on the right markets.
All you need to do (considering that you have your ship equipped for mining, which means a mining laser, refinery with at least three bins and enough cargo hold.) is to find a metallic asteroid belt or planetary ring with pristine reserves (shown in the system map)
Most of the systems around heavily inhabited areas are depleted or almost so. But let's say that 100-150LYs away from them, things start to be interesting. So you will have to do a bit of exploring along the way which can also pay off.

Good luck!

 

[Jtmzac]

Pristine metallic belts are pretty rare so I'd settle for major if you can't find one after a while.
I wouldn't bother with asteroid belts as they don't have enough asteroids to be time effective. Just looks for planetary rings but don't use the extraction zones. Just fly into the belt under the safe disengage speed and you'll drop into it safely.

I recommend a cobra with a class 2 mining laser, 4 bay refinery and max cargo but don't remove the shield. You will hit asteroids.

Do a test shot to see whats in the asteroid and only mine gold, palladium and platinum of 10% or higher. I also mine the 30%+ silver but that's just my preference.

Once you find one of the correct asteroids try and find the least rotating point then mine all the fragments in one go while aiming at the same spot on the asteroid. This will cause all the fragments to line up in a nice arc for easier scooping.

Just a hint there's a really good system not too far from the starting systems and it begins with oph.