Mining resources from an asteroid will give you key resources for crafting items and is important for many missions. However, before you begin you will need a mining laser.
Buy Mining Laser: Go to Atlas Station and enter the Gen-Tech Solutions store. Click on the Civilian Mining Weapons section. There you will see 3 basic Mining Lasers, buy the Grade 1 laser for 250 credits.
Equip the Laser: When you make a purchase, it will place the Mining Laser directly into your Ship Store. Click on the small ‘Tool’ icon along the bottom of the screen to enter the Ship Loadout screen. Then click on the empty Mining Weapons slot. You will see the Mining Laser ready to be added to your ship loadout. Click on the Equip button.
Mine an Asteroid: Undock from Atlas Station and go to an Asteroid. Either click on the ‘Enter Asteroid Field’ along the bottom, or click on the ‘Enter Orbit’ option in the top corner of the map.
Your ship has a built in scanner for level 1 ores, but you will need to add a better Mining Scanner to see higher level ores.
Click on an asteroid. A blue circle will appear around the asteroid indicating that it is selected. Move next to the asteroid to begin mining it. Other lasers may have a longer range, but this laser requires that you are adjacent to it.
You have two small tabs on the left of your screen to select weapons. The one with the ‘ship’ icon is for weapons that attack other ships, and the ‘industrial’ icon is for your mining lasers. Click on the second tab, and you will see the laser you just equipt. Click on your mining laser, a red indicator around the asteroid will indicate that mining laser has selected this asteroid.
Click the Mining Laser a second time, and you will begin to mine the asteroid. The Grade 1 laser will mine 2-4 units of the asteroid in 6 seconds. The ore that you mione will be directly to your Cargo Bay. It requires two fuel to activate the laser. Different lasers will have different amounts that they mine and different times required to mine with it.
Beware of the pirates in the asteroid fields. Pay attention and do not leave your ship unattended. They may attack you, so you may want to consider mining with a friend that can defend you.
