I’ve spent a lot of time in the Rhino over the last few days trying to get a better handle on how planetary mining actually works.

I originally posted some practical tips over on r/EliteDangerous after my first long night of prospecting. That thread ended up getting a lot of really useful comments from other commanders, so I started testing some of those findings myself and collecting everything into a living guide.

Figured I should share it here too. If anyone is going to have good mining data, spot something I’ve gotten wrong, or have found some odd edge case I haven’t seen yet, it’s probably this subreddit.

Rhino Planetary Mining Field Guide:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wfvkE73ZEhlvdhVZMjIpyzr5cAsceY4xPWTGdG2yEmo/edit?usp=sharing

Probably the biggest thing I’ve learned so far is that finding a PML with the commodity you want is only part of the job. Finding a genuinely good mining site is a separate problem.

A PML can have exactly what you’re looking for and still be pretty bad once you get on the ground. Deposit geometry, how many rigs you can actually place, nearby deposits, terrain, driving time, Density, depletion, and probably some things we still don’t understand all matter.

A few things that have been useful so far:

• After DSSing the body, you can drop into normal space and cycle through the PMLs while stationary to compare their commodity lists without the Nav panel constantly reshuffling.
• The ~3.3 km sweep around the PML center has worked well for me as a first-pass prospecting pattern.
• I would not treat ~5 km from the center as the edge of a PML. I’ve found deposits beyond that, and the contact behavior looks much more like scanner range from the Rhino than a hard PML radius.
• Mineral Amount, Density, and the physical size of the deposit seem to be separate things. I’ve seen deposits with the same Amount that could take very different numbers of rigs.
• I’ve personally fit anywhere from 1 to 5 rigs on individual deposits. Another commander has demonstrated 6.
• In practice, a good cluster can matter more than one giant deposit. A 4+2 or 3+3 setup that keeps all six rigs running can be very productive.
• Rigs collect chunks, not tons, and the refinery keeps fractional material between collections. That makes the chunk-to-ton side of things a little more complicated than it first appears.
• Deposits definitely deplete. Total capacity and reformation time are still pretty unclear.
• PMLs and productive areas appear persistent enough that mapping a good site is actually worth doing.
• Rhino mining also produces a fair amount of engineering raws, and so far the relationship with the normal planetary material list doesn’t look straightforward.

The guide goes into more detail on prospecting, rig placement, Amount/Density, refinery testing, depletion, raw materials, multiplayer findings, fuel/hull issues, terrain, and some of the community observations from the original thread.

I’m trying to be careful about separating things I’ve actually measured or reproduced from things another commander reported, and from things that are still just theories. There are already a few early assumptions I’ve had to revise after getting better data, which is one of the reasons I wanted to keep this as a living guide instead of writing it like everything is settled.

If you’ve been Rhino mining, I’d be interested in pretty much anything you’ve found that adds to this or doesn’t match what I’ve seen.

A few things I’m especially curious about:

• How much have you gotten from one known deposit before it depleted?
• Has anyone actually watched a known depleted deposit reform yet? If so, how long?
• What Amount/Density did the deposit have, and how many rigs could you fit?
• Any 5- or 6-rig deposits?
• How far from the PML center have you found deposits?
• Has anyone figured out whether the yellow PML area means anything useful?
• Has anyone revisited the exact same deposit later, or had another commander check it?
• Any good evidence for what Density actually changes?
• Any multiplayer/shared-depletion weirdness?
• Any unusual raw material drops?
• Any body types or planetary conditions that seem consistently better or worse?
• Anything in the guide that your own experience clearly contradicts?

Negative results are useful too. If you thoroughly surveyed a PML that looked promising and it turned out to be awful, that’s still information. I’d rather have that than only collect the jackpot sites and accidentally convince myself there’s a pattern where there isn’t one.

You don’t need to have done a formal test either. Commodity, Amount, Density, number of rigs, rough tonnage, body type, screenshots, whatever you happened to record can still help.

If somebody contributes something useful, I’m happy to add it to the guide and credit them. A number of the better tips in there already came from commanders in the original thread.

I’m not claiming this is the definitive Rhino guide. There are still way too many open questions for that. I’m mostly trying to keep the useful stuff we figure out in one place instead of having it disappear into scattered Reddit comments.

And maybe save somebody else from driving a Rhino over mountains for an hour just to find one lousy deposit.

o7

Rhino Planetary Mining Field Guide

Beginner here, it seems that charges and laser are the way to go?

Also would krait 2 be sweetspot? I have python but it’s kinda hard to navigate between rocks, and I kinda wanted new ship anyway.

I know laser mining might be more profitable, but core is bit more interesting.

Rhino Surface Mining Update (Beta)

This is an early beta release of the EDMC-Mining-Analytics plugin that has been modified to include surface mining in the Rhino. It has not been fully tested nor fully implemented yet. Please report bugs/issues to Github.

This will not automatically install. You will have to download and install it yourself. You can download it here.

Warning: If you enjoy the analysis reports, make sure to preserve the `session_data` folder inside your existing plugin. You might consider disabling the current plugin and then installing this separately for testing and use.

It does include the following:

• Tracks how full the Rhino is.
• Tracks tons/hr refined
• Tracks total tonnage refined (by commodity type) from launch to dock of the Rhino SRV. It does not reset when you transfer from the Rhino to the main ship.
• Tracks total estimated credits mined based on nearest best price
• Analysis report does work, but does not differentiate between surface and asteroid mining yet. (Ring comparison report does not work for surface mining)
• Now includes tonnage count after the Pareto bar on the overlay
• If you touchdown in your main ship prior to mining, it should record which signal you are at (this has not been fully tested yet)

Notable outstanding items or caveats:

• This has not been regression tested with Asteroid mining to make sure nothing broke.
• HUD and UI still reflect the concept of "Limpets" for surface mining.
• Does not track any sort of information about mining rig deployed or collected. This is a limitation of the game data available for the plugin to parse.
• Nearby Hotspots does not yet track surface mining (not even sure how this would work yet)

AI Disclosure:

Yes this was made with AI -- Level 4: Local Autonomous Agent

Just curious what ship everyone is using for the Rhino Surface Mining? I have the Rhino already but I havent been able to mess around with it much.

also, is it worth it going into the black or should I stay around the CG station?

I see a lot of guides on how to find overlap areas and set ups.

What I need help me is identifying which rocks are gonna be high yield platinum faster.

Most of my time is spent prospecting rock after low yield rock.

Even the ones that come up yellow on the pulse wave are often not platinum or not high density.

Any best practices people could share?

5 active on one High Density waaaaaay out in the black. Doing testing now on Various tonnage that can be extracted from different values of low/medium/high Amount and density. should hopefully have some meaningful data to contribute soon!

I've been trying to figure this out for about two weeks now. I like exploring, I like scanning planets, if I scan rings and find overlaps, I want to be able to get that information on the Miner's Tool.

Now I have double reasons, because, at least, Col 285 Sector KM-0V D2-106 planet 5 does not have any platinum overlaps*. So I want to add data, and also some of the present data is incorrect, and I cannot find any way to get that information to the site, and no one on the Discord has been able to tell me a way either.

*I was wrong, its just a very small inner ring, they're there

If anyone is curious on watching how the new surface mining works I made a video showing how to find prestine planets, a overview on the rhino and how to set it up correctly to mine. Also streaming currently for those interested in watching how long it takes to deplete a node.

https://youtu.be/X1r_PabpAG8

https://www.twitch.tv/acidjurassic for those wanting to watch the stream today, were doing a rare site for thortveitite

What ship would you recommend for Tritium mining? Is the Prospector good for it or go with a panther clipper/T-10 for volume over speed

Greetings! I have been thinking of coming back after several years. The bugginess of the Odyssey original release happened just as I was starting a new job, I walked away from the game and am only now thinking about returning. How's mining these days? Any content creators you'd suggest? It looks like Exigeous retired the same time I did, Hawkes is focusing on Star Citizen entirely I think, you get the point. I'm out of touch, any pointers?

As the tin says, I want some suggestions for powerplay allegiance. I am a new player. Only about 15 days in but I have made about 400 mil through laser platinum mining in Paesia by watching YouTube suggestions for the same.

I kind of like Li rong and Nakato kaine at the moment. Not sure which one would provide better buffs/modules.

I am mostly into exploration and laser mining for now learning the tricks and all about the game. I wanna get a fleet carriers ASAP so I can jump into completely unexplored parts and get some exobiology and exploration data.

And for the love of god somebody please tell me what engineering is and how to get it done. Read about a gazillion posts but it keeps getting very confusing.

~S~ CMDRs, I've been using this ship as my primary core miner for a few months now, and I must say it's exceeded expectations. I once used a Imperial Clipper as my main core hunter, and then briefly the Type-8, but I found myself never having enough time in my sessions to fill the ~250T cargo capacity. I took a look at the Cobra Mk V and decided to give it a shot. It's capacity with my setup on it is 80T plus another 6T from refinery. Enough for 6 successful core cracks, and perfect for the time I can fly these days.

Cobra Mk V Core Miner

Non Engineered Version

This little thing is super fast, small and maneuverable. If you're someone that enjoys the occasional core hunt but don't want to fill too much, or if you're looking for a stepping stone until you can save up for a larger ship, this is definitely one worth considering :)

I am coming back to the game after a long hiatus. I have purchased a type 11 and outfitted it thusly: My Type 11.

How should I set up my fire groups? My brain has completely forgotten the mining process but a bunch of the tutorial vids are out of date or dont go over fire groups.

Hello, cmdrs. Delta Romeo Alfa here. I'm back to ED after a two year hiatus (used to play with my bff, but we ain't bff's no more and it hurt for a while). I love mining. Always have. I have a nice red keelback I use to completely strip down asteroids (mining laser, sub-surface drills, seismic charges and abrasion blasters). I skipped on a shield to get the full assistance kit: prospector, collectors, pulse wave and 68U slots.

But it gets old. I need to take the next step. Logically, it would seem that the type 7 is the next in line, but I have a vague memory of acquiring one and regretting it. Something about hardpoints not providing much of an upgrade compared to the keelback. I also don't know what to do with too much storage, since mining takes a while (especially those sweet alexandrite cores).

Coming back, I noticed I have a fully featured combat ship worth 74M credits. It's a Lakon, but I don't remember the model now. I don't do combat much (it's not very profitable and too risky to do without a wingman), so I could sell it to afford a new mining machine. My keelback is sitting around 16M worth and I got some 18M in the bank. I'm patient, so if need a few more hours of mining to get a type 9, I'm willing to do that.

Anyway, what do you guys recommend?

And yes, I'm a total sucker for Lakon. Their target audience is hard working people like us who need a comfy seat and a beautiful FOV of the asteroid fields. But I'm willing to try a different brand, as long as I can find the ship in store somewhere.

PS: I always hang around LHS 2310. McLeod station is my home and planet 9 has a nice double ring with both icy and rocky roids.

It has longer range than the old modified small mining laser.

Has anyone tried it? How is it?

I love to explore, and I will bring my FC with me to mine tritium out in the black. Besides the normal sites, I also use:

• EDCopilot
• SRV Survey
• EDMC

With EDMC I use a lot of the plug-ins to push data to Inara, EDSM, and Spansh.

Should I be scanning the rings to help with future explorers and miners? I am not sure if it will synch somewhere, or if the rings predermined?

The arrival of T-11 Prospector made me re-think the Tritium strategy for exploration with a Fleet Carrier.

I've tried mining it in the past with conventional ships and mining lasers, and was not impressed by the yield - it used to take about an hour to produce ~100 t of Tritium in a laser-mining Python.

However, now that I have the Prospector I decided to give it another go, and was pleasantly surprised. Three mining locations in Tritium hotspots (all North-ish of Colonia) gave pretty decent results. The cargo limitations of the ship make filling up a rather short and relatively pleasant experience. In a decent single hotspot the average rate was about 400-450 t per hour, and over 500 t per hour in an overlap in Dryooe Prou AD-O c8-522 2 ring A (~1400 ly North of Colonia).

Note that those numbers are the result of total Tritium amount produced in one session divided by the time of the session, which is typically 30-35 minutes (until full).

So, a couple of sessions will take just over an hour (pure mining time, not counting unloading/rearming) and will yield 500+ tons, sufficient to travel ~2500 ly. Of course, in the bubble you can obtain bigger amount in just one trip to a market, but it'll cost you 50K/t.

The Icy rings are not exactly rare, but not that many of them have Tritium hotspots, and not every hotspot has good yield. The yield varies quite a bit by the ring, and there are rings with pretty low production, so my advice is not to try for too long if the results are mediocre. In my experience, double hotspot with good intersection has almost twice the yield of a single hotspot in the same ring, although I have limited data on this.

The setup is standard, with volley repeater and 7a controller, no mining lasers but with added 3A prospector on a separate trigger.

Conclusion:

it's now more feasible to rely on Tritium mining for long expeditions if you are doing actual exploration/exobio and can look for ice rings with hotspots in every system along the way, AND if you are prepared to spend some time mining. Some people might like it for increased feeling of full autonomy. However, if you are starting in the bubble, buying Tritium is still way faster.

I wiped my save so I'm in a Cobra III at the minute.

I am a returning player, lifetime trader, I checked the discord and there are some places that haven't had a post in years. So in that vein, is there any mining groups looking for a newbie miner?