Mining

i

Draft

This article is still being written and may be incomplete.

Status

Draft

Last reviewed

never

Reviewer

none

Game mode

Both

Version coverage

unspecified

Source quality

unassessed

Known uncertainty

none noted

Mining covers extracting minerals, metals, and other commodities from asteroids and planetary rings in Elite Dangerous, then refining and selling those resources. This hub is being developed as the starting point for mining methods, equipment, locations, commodities, and practical workflows.

Draft: This article is still a work in progress and may be incomplete. You can help improve it by adding or expanding its content.

Field Procedures

• How to Core Mine (Draft) — Identify core asteroids, place seismic charges, crack the asteroid safely, and collect exposed deposits.
• How to Find Somewhere to Sell Mined Commodities (Draft) — Choose a market for mined commodities using in-game market data and current third-party trade tools where appropriate.
• How to Find a Mining Hotspot (Draft) — Travel to a mapped ring hotspot, drop into the ring safely, and begin prospecting inside the target area.
• How to Ignore Unwanted Mining Commodities (Draft) — Use the contacts and refinery workflow to stop collector limpets from repeatedly bringing in fragments you do not want to keep.
• How to Laser Mine (Draft) — Extract surface fragments from asteroids with mining lasers, collect them with limpets, and refine useful commodities.
• How to Mine Surface Deposits (Draft) — Break surface deposits from asteroids with an abrasion blaster and collect the resulting materials or commodities.
• How to Resolve a Full Refinery (Draft) — Clear blocked refinery bins and cargo problems so mining can continue without losing valuable fragments unnecessarily.
• How to Scan Planetary Rings for Mining Hotspots (Draft) — Use a Detailed Surface Scanner to map a planetary ring and reveal mining hotspots that can guide commodity targeting.
• How to Start Mining (Draft) — Prepare a ship for a first mining run and complete the basic loop of finding, extracting, refining, and selling mined commodities.
• How to Sub-surface Mine (Draft) — Extract sub-surface deposits from asteroids with displacement missiles and collect the released chunks.
• How to Use Collector Limpets (Draft) — Deploy collector limpets efficiently and avoid common mistakes that destroy limpets or slow collection.
• How to Use a Prospector Limpet (Draft) — Launch and read prospector limpets to identify asteroid contents before committing time and collector limpets.
• How to Use a Refinery (Draft) — Turn collected fragments into cargo by managing refinery bins and transferring completed tonnes into the cargo hold.

Core reference areas

• Mining methods: Laser Mining, Core Mining, Sub-surface Mining, and Surface Deposit Mining.
• Equipment: Mining Laser, Abrasion Blaster, Seismic Charge Launcher, Sub-surface Displacement Missile, Pulse Wave Analyser, Prospector Limpet Controller, Collector Limpet Controller, and Refinery.
• Locations: Planetary Rings, Mining Hotspot, and Resource Extraction Sites.
• Commodities: mined metals, minerals, and other resources that can be refined and sold through commodity markets.

Related Field Manual Entries

Trade Ships and Equipment Tools and Resources Field Procedures