I wrote this as an answer to a question in another thread but got bored and decided to make it into its own thread:
A BEGINNER'S PRIMER TO DEEP-CORE MINING IN PLANETARY RINGS:
(The "wall-o-text" version. Experienced CMDRS please let me know if I left anything out, thanks.)
For deep-core mining, you need: Cargo racks (to hold refined ores and limpets), limpets!, a prospector limpet controller (optional but well worth it), collector limpet controller (or two), refinery, pulse-wave scanner, seismic charge launcher, abrasion blaster and detailed surface scanner. DON'T FORGET TO PURCHASE LIMPETS before leaving the station. FILL your cargo racks with limpets! They are inexpensive, you will use a few before you ever find any ores and I would rather throw limpets over the side to make room for more ores than have to leave to go and buy (or synthesize) more. If you are in a small ship, such as a DBX or Cobra, etc. you will probably not have room for all these toys and so will need to choose compromises. That is why I mine in a Corvette or a Cutter.
As others have noted, deep-core mining in a wing is (currently, as of 11/18/19 - USA format) bugged and your charges might/will explode on impact so, deep-core mining is best pursued alone (and for my money, in SOLO mode).
How to do it:
First, make sure there is no CARGO INVENTORY in your cargo racks before going mining! Usually, within a few seconds or minutes of entering a ring an NPC pirate will show up and scan your ship. If you have ANY cargo on board, YOU WILL BE ATTACKED! IF you have NO cargo inventory the pirate will whine a little after scanning your ship but will then go away and leave you alone. Pirates ignore materials and data inventories as well as limpets and freshly mined/refined ores but CARGO will get you killed so NO CARGO IN MINING AREAS! If a NPC pirate scans your ship and then starts shooting, YOU BROUGHT CARGO to the mining area, stupid!
On a related note, if you must LEAVE a mining area for ANY reason, go immediately and either donate or sell your ores. If you enter Supercruise (SC) for ANY reason with ores on board they immediately become CARGO and are subject to piracy. This includes entering SC simply to move to another mining area. DON'T DO IT!
Step Two: Find an appropriate ring. I do not have time to explain how to find an appropriate ring, explaining DC mining will take lots of words already and just a little bit of research will help. Use the Detailed Surface Scanner (DSS) to map the ring and pinpoint the location of an appropriate hot-spot. Drop from SC into the ring/hot-spot, deploy hardpoints (PWS) and start pinging with the PWS. Hold down the PWS trigger to get minimum pinging intervals from the PWS as you travel through the ring. "Mother-lodes" (ML) glow bright-yellow when pinged by the PWS, sometimes they have green or red edges as well and at certain, medium visual distances will have black lattice-lines indicating fissures, often an indicator of a core. ML of different materials will each have a different appearance so you will need to learn to visually identify the type of mother-lode(s) you are seeking in order to conserve prospector limpets.
Once you find a core ML, hit it with a prospector limpet (PL) to determine the type of material in the asteroid as well as the presence of a core. Sometimes you do not care what material is there but it is worth noting that a prospector limpet, besides showing you what material is present in the motherlode will also double the ore yield of any asteroid to which it is attached. If you are seeking a specific material, keep sending prospector limpets to likely looking candidates until you find a CORE(!!) containing the material you are hunting. They are often not close together and I spend a lot of time thrusting at 100% throttle through asteroid fields, sometimes boosting, looking for ML. It is also worth noting that ML with CORES often occur near the edges of a ring, with open space very nearby.
When you have found your target, approach (if the ML is near open space, approach from that direction), note the location of the fissures (the PL will mark them) and set your seismic charges. Note that the explosive yield of each charge must be calibrated as they are launched to achieve optimal explosive yield and maximize the ore yield of the ML. Keep an eye on the optimal yield indicator as you launch your charges. By holding down the trigger before launching, you can hear each charge "wind-up". Hold the trigger down longer, get a higher explosive yield. Hold the trigger down for less time for lower explosive yield. I usually place two "full-power" charges and one low-power charge. If I overpower a charge (exceed optimal yield), I can disable a single charge by selecting a single charge in Panel #1>Targets and clicking DISABLE, then placing another low-yield charge before the detonation timer runs out. If I am below optimal yield I can simply place another, low-power charge.
Once Optimal Yield has been achieved, BACK OFF! This is why I approach from the open space side if available, so my ship is not trapped/damaged by backing toward another asteroid. Once a safe distance is reached it is not necessary to wait the 30 seconds for the charges to detonate, you can simply select any single charge in Panel #1>Targets and click DETONATE to get a 5-second countdown.
After the explosion, close with the asteroid and release the hounds! (collector limpets or CL). Do not select a target and the limpets will collect everything they find. If hunting for specific materials you will need to go to Panel #1>Targets, select the materials you do not want to collect and click "ADD (material X) TO IGNORE LIST". The CL will then ignore those materials and not clog up your refinery with them. You will probably have to do this several times to make sure the CL are not collecting the various other materials that are always getting collected along with your target material(s). Keeping an eye on your refinery (Panel #3>Inventory>Refinery) will let you know what is being collected and refined. You do not want to clog up your refinery AND cargo inventory with extraneous materials.
There will also usually be surface deposits left sticking to the chunks of the asteroid you just blew up. Target these and blast them off using the Abrasion Blaster (AB) and your CL will collect those as well. Maximum effort, maximum reward.
Wait for your CL to finish collecting materials before moving on. Rinse and repeat, until your cargo racks are bursting with ores and your refinery is so full it cannot refine any more material. Remember to JETTISON (ABANDON) any extraneous material(s). You want your refinery to be FULL of your target material when you reach a station to sell your ores. If you are just a few limpets short (PL or CL) you can synthesize more if you have the necessary materials in your inventory. This is done in Panel #3>Inventory>Synthesis. Once you have stuffed your ship with ores it is time to sell them and make a few million credits.
I am not going to explain how to find the best price for your ores and again, just a little bit of research will help. Go immediately to your station or base of choice to sell or donate your ores. If interdicted on the way, DO NOT FIGHT, RUN!!! You have little chance of winning any fights against combat-fitted pirate ships in your mining-fitted ship stuffed with tons of ores so learn to evade/escape interdictions and RUN!!! Once you have reached your destination and sold the ores in your cargo inventory, the ores still in the refinery hopper(s) should refine automatically if there is enough unrefined ore to refine so don't forget to sell that, too. Don't forget to buy more limpets before heading back out to earn a few million more credits. o7
PS: Someone mentioned I did not mention how to identify VOpal motherlodes visually. I believe some things must learned from experience and the post was getting awfully long but, I will try to describe them:
VOpal motherlodes tend to be fairly large and "popcorn" shaped. There are also small popcorn-shaped motherlodes, those are not VOpal and can be ignored once you learn to identify them. If you see a small, popcorn-shaped motherlode, make sure it is actually small and not large but far away. At certain, medium visual ranges (as previously mentioned) they will display black lattice lines indicating the presence of a core. When you get good at spotting them they tend to stand out. You may notice (see the pic) they often occur near the edges of a ring (but not always) allowing the miner to back out into clear space after setting seismic charges.
A BEGINNER'S PRIMER TO DEEP-CORE MINING IN PLANETARY RINGS:
(The "wall-o-text" version. Experienced CMDRS please let me know if I left anything out, thanks.)
For deep-core mining, you need: Cargo racks (to hold refined ores and limpets), limpets!, a prospector limpet controller (optional but well worth it), collector limpet controller (or two), refinery, pulse-wave scanner, seismic charge launcher, abrasion blaster and detailed surface scanner. DON'T FORGET TO PURCHASE LIMPETS before leaving the station. FILL your cargo racks with limpets! They are inexpensive, you will use a few before you ever find any ores and I would rather throw limpets over the side to make room for more ores than have to leave to go and buy (or synthesize) more. If you are in a small ship, such as a DBX or Cobra, etc. you will probably not have room for all these toys and so will need to choose compromises. That is why I mine in a Corvette or a Cutter.
As others have noted, deep-core mining in a wing is (currently, as of 11/18/19 - USA format) bugged and your charges might/will explode on impact so, deep-core mining is best pursued alone (and for my money, in SOLO mode).
How to do it:
First, make sure there is no CARGO INVENTORY in your cargo racks before going mining! Usually, within a few seconds or minutes of entering a ring an NPC pirate will show up and scan your ship. If you have ANY cargo on board, YOU WILL BE ATTACKED! IF you have NO cargo inventory the pirate will whine a little after scanning your ship but will then go away and leave you alone. Pirates ignore materials and data inventories as well as limpets and freshly mined/refined ores but CARGO will get you killed so NO CARGO IN MINING AREAS! If a NPC pirate scans your ship and then starts shooting, YOU BROUGHT CARGO to the mining area, stupid!
On a related note, if you must LEAVE a mining area for ANY reason, go immediately and either donate or sell your ores. If you enter Supercruise (SC) for ANY reason with ores on board they immediately become CARGO and are subject to piracy. This includes entering SC simply to move to another mining area. DON'T DO IT!
Step Two: Find an appropriate ring. I do not have time to explain how to find an appropriate ring, explaining DC mining will take lots of words already and just a little bit of research will help. Use the Detailed Surface Scanner (DSS) to map the ring and pinpoint the location of an appropriate hot-spot. Drop from SC into the ring/hot-spot, deploy hardpoints (PWS) and start pinging with the PWS. Hold down the PWS trigger to get minimum pinging intervals from the PWS as you travel through the ring. "Mother-lodes" (ML) glow bright-yellow when pinged by the PWS, sometimes they have green or red edges as well and at certain, medium visual distances will have black lattice-lines indicating fissures, often an indicator of a core. ML of different materials will each have a different appearance so you will need to learn to visually identify the type of mother-lode(s) you are seeking in order to conserve prospector limpets.
Once you find a core ML, hit it with a prospector limpet (PL) to determine the type of material in the asteroid as well as the presence of a core. Sometimes you do not care what material is there but it is worth noting that a prospector limpet, besides showing you what material is present in the motherlode will also double the ore yield of any asteroid to which it is attached. If you are seeking a specific material, keep sending prospector limpets to likely looking candidates until you find a CORE(!!) containing the material you are hunting. They are often not close together and I spend a lot of time thrusting at 100% throttle through asteroid fields, sometimes boosting, looking for ML. It is also worth noting that ML with CORES often occur near the edges of a ring, with open space very nearby.
When you have found your target, approach (if the ML is near open space, approach from that direction), note the location of the fissures (the PL will mark them) and set your seismic charges. Note that the explosive yield of each charge must be calibrated as they are launched to achieve optimal explosive yield and maximize the ore yield of the ML. Keep an eye on the optimal yield indicator as you launch your charges. By holding down the trigger before launching, you can hear each charge "wind-up". Hold the trigger down longer, get a higher explosive yield. Hold the trigger down for less time for lower explosive yield. I usually place two "full-power" charges and one low-power charge. If I overpower a charge (exceed optimal yield), I can disable a single charge by selecting a single charge in Panel #1>Targets and clicking DISABLE, then placing another low-yield charge before the detonation timer runs out. If I am below optimal yield I can simply place another, low-power charge.
Once Optimal Yield has been achieved, BACK OFF! This is why I approach from the open space side if available, so my ship is not trapped/damaged by backing toward another asteroid. Once a safe distance is reached it is not necessary to wait the 30 seconds for the charges to detonate, you can simply select any single charge in Panel #1>Targets and click DETONATE to get a 5-second countdown.
After the explosion, close with the asteroid and release the hounds! (collector limpets or CL). Do not select a target and the limpets will collect everything they find. If hunting for specific materials you will need to go to Panel #1>Targets, select the materials you do not want to collect and click "ADD (material X) TO IGNORE LIST". The CL will then ignore those materials and not clog up your refinery with them. You will probably have to do this several times to make sure the CL are not collecting the various other materials that are always getting collected along with your target material(s). Keeping an eye on your refinery (Panel #3>Inventory>Refinery) will let you know what is being collected and refined. You do not want to clog up your refinery AND cargo inventory with extraneous materials.
There will also usually be surface deposits left sticking to the chunks of the asteroid you just blew up. Target these and blast them off using the Abrasion Blaster (AB) and your CL will collect those as well. Maximum effort, maximum reward.
Wait for your CL to finish collecting materials before moving on. Rinse and repeat, until your cargo racks are bursting with ores and your refinery is so full it cannot refine any more material. Remember to JETTISON (ABANDON) any extraneous material(s). You want your refinery to be FULL of your target material when you reach a station to sell your ores. If you are just a few limpets short (PL or CL) you can synthesize more if you have the necessary materials in your inventory. This is done in Panel #3>Inventory>Synthesis. Once you have stuffed your ship with ores it is time to sell them and make a few million credits.
I am not going to explain how to find the best price for your ores and again, just a little bit of research will help. Go immediately to your station or base of choice to sell or donate your ores. If interdicted on the way, DO NOT FIGHT, RUN!!! You have little chance of winning any fights against combat-fitted pirate ships in your mining-fitted ship stuffed with tons of ores so learn to evade/escape interdictions and RUN!!! Once you have reached your destination and sold the ores in your cargo inventory, the ores still in the refinery hopper(s) should refine automatically if there is enough unrefined ore to refine so don't forget to sell that, too. Don't forget to buy more limpets before heading back out to earn a few million more credits. o7
PS: Someone mentioned I did not mention how to identify VOpal motherlodes visually. I believe some things must learned from experience and the post was getting awfully long but, I will try to describe them:
VOpal motherlodes tend to be fairly large and "popcorn" shaped. There are also small popcorn-shaped motherlodes, those are not VOpal and can be ignored once you learn to identify them. If you see a small, popcorn-shaped motherlode, make sure it is actually small and not large but far away. At certain, medium visual ranges (as previously mentioned) they will display black lattice lines indicating the presence of a core. When you get good at spotting them they tend to stand out. You may notice (see the pic) they often occur near the edges of a ring (but not always) allowing the miner to back out into clear space after setting seismic charges.
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