How to Laser Mine

i

Draft

This article is still being written and may be incomplete.

Uncertain: Exact asteroid yields and best commodity targets still need direct Live-game verification.

Status

Draft

Last reviewed

2026-08-23

Reviewer

Sythan

Game mode

Both

Version coverage

unspecified

Source quality

Procedure draft based on current mining workflow and EDFM mining data modules

Known uncertainty

Exact asteroid yields and best commodity targets still need direct Live-game verification.

EDFM // Mining / Field Procedures

Extract surface fragments from asteroids with mining lasers, collect them with limpets, and refine useful commodities.

Use this procedure when the ship is fitted for laser mining and the goal is to fill cargo with refined commodities from ordinary asteroid fragments.

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

Required equipment

• Mining Laser
• Refinery
• Prospector Limpet Controller
• Collector Limpet Controller
• Limpets and cargo space

Procedure

Procedure

1. Enter the target ring or hotspot and reduce speed before approaching the asteroid field.
2. Fire a prospector limpet at a candidate asteroid.
3. Read the prospector result and skip asteroids that do not contain useful material for the run.
4. Put pips and positioning where the mining lasers can run without constant overheating or drift.
5. Fire mining lasers until fragments break free.
6. Launch collector limpets without targeting a single fragment unless you deliberately want one-use collection.
7. Continue mining while collectors bring fragments to the refinery.
8. Stop or move on when the asteroid is depleted, the refinery is blocked, or cargo planning changes.

Completion check

The asteroid is finished when useful fragments stop appearing or the prospector/mining display indicates depletion. The run is finished when the planned cargo amount is refined and ready to sell.

Common problems

• Collectors die quickly: avoid scraping the asteroid surface and avoid launching collectors while a single fragment is targeted unless that is intentional.
• Fragments are ignored or vanish: check refinery capacity, cargo capacity, and the ignore list for unwanted commodities.
• The ship overheats: reduce sustained laser fire, adjust power management, or improve distance and positioning.

Related Reference Pages

Mining Laser Mining Mining Laser Refinery Prospector Limpet Controller Collector Limpet Controller

Related Field Procedures

• 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 Laser Mine (Draft) — Extract surface fragments from asteroids with mining lasers, collect them with limpets, and refine useful commodities.
• 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 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.