Elite Dangerous – Mining Guide – Lars Bodin (2024)

Mining is a fun and low-risk way to make money in Elite:Dangerous. There are two kinds of mining:

• Laser (Basic) Mining : This is the original way to do mining in Elite Dangerous and the easiest form of mining for beginners. You should use a ship with a large cargo hold – the larger, the better. For beginners a Cobra will do fine but later you might consider upgrading to a large transporter, a Python or even an Imperial Cutter for making big money on surface mining.
• Core (Advanced) Mining: This is a more advanced mining technique and require specialized equipment. For core mining I prefer using a medium size ship with good speed and agility, as you need to maneuver carefully between pieces of blown up asteroids. Cargo space is not as important as you will focus on collecting rare and expencive gems. Core Mining require experience, skills and luck, but a few hours of doing Core Mining for Void Opals or Low Temperature Diamonds can easily give you enough credits to buy an Anaconda!

Later in this tutorial you will find more details on how to get started in either surface or core mining.

• Part 1: Getting Started
• Part 2: Laser Mining / Basic Mining
• Part 3: Core Mining / Advanced Mining

Useful tools (see Part 1 for a description on how to use these tools):

• EDDB – Find nearest place to mine
• INARA – Find best place to sell
• Miner’s Tool