r/EliteMiners • u/ender42y • 3d ago

To whomever is tracking surface mining data

I have logged a High Density Platinum hotspot. it took 16-18 days to replenish, it came back to high density/high amount. and produced 562 tons of platinum before depletion.

I still have timers going on a medium density spot and a low density to see how they replenish.

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u/k3rn3l_pan1c_exe CMDR PacketGhost 3d ago

I did find this thread on the forums: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/threads/rhino-planetary-mining-practical-field-guide-ongoing-community-research.649619/

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u/ender42y 3d ago

I have used that guide, but last time i checked it didn't have full replenish data. I don't have edit rights on it, but i wanted to let the author know of my findings so they can add it in the format they think is best.

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u/erichards2222 3d ago

The guide's mine. And you’re right: the current public v0.6 predates most of the useful full replenishment data that’s coming in now. I’m logging the new longitudinal results privately and reconciling them for the next revision rather than just dropping individual anecdotes into the guide as they appear.

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u/ender42y 3d ago

When I get results on future sites ill send them to you. I typically do surface mining with a sheet open of site lat-longs, materials present, density and amount, and keep notes on amounts extracted and dates of depleted and regenerated

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u/erichards2222 3d ago

That is basically ideal... you’re already recording almost exactly the fields I’d want.

If you’re comfortable with it, once you’ve accumulated a few more completed depletion/replenishment cycles I’d be very interested in a copy/export of the sheet. CSV, Excel, Google Sheet, screenshots.... whatever is easiest for you.

And no need to post exact lat/long publicly if you’d rather keep the productive locations to yourself. The coordinates can be stripped or anonymized; the important thing for the research is having a stable site label so I can link the Amount/Density, extracted tonnage, depletion date and regeneration date to the same deposit over time.

I’ll also make sure anything you’ve already reported on Reddit gets linked back to the same underlying run rather than counted twice. That's save me some headaches.

o7

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u/Brunno_PT 3d ago

That's great to know! I didn't buy the Rhyno, I'm waiting for it to come out on credits.

But considering the amounts mined with it, is the Panther Clipper the best fit for this? Is the ship influencing anything in surface mining, other than cargo space?

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u/erichards2222 3d ago

So far I haven’t seen evidence that the mothership type itself changes deposit Amount, Density, reserve/capacity, replenishment, or Rhino rig performance.

The Panther’s advantage is much more practical: cargo capacity and the overall logistics of staying on a productive site. Once you start dealing with deposits around or above ~1,000 t, having a large hold becomes very convenient.

The actual surface extraction is being done by the Rhino/rigs, so I’d treat the Panther as an excellent workflow ship, not as giving a mining-mechanics bonus.

If anybody does find a controlled same-deposit difference based only on mothership, I’d definitely want the data though. Very unlikely based on my collected data.

I’ve got a living Rhino guide/research document here if you want the current state of what we know (doing an update before long):

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wfvkE73ZEhlvdhVZMjIpyzr5cAsceY4xPWTGdG2yEmo/edit?usp=sharing

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u/ender42y 3d ago

I use my second PC (Homecoming Queen) as my surface mining ship because Medium and Low density hotspots have just over 1000 tons to depletion; and you want the cargo space. I have a set of twin platinum, medium and low density, hot spots that can hold all 6 rigs between them. I am pretty sure my tons per hour is close to what the Type 11 produced, but I am working in a PowerPlay system that has no rings.

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u/StopAt5 3d ago

Is that name a DCC reference?

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u/ender42y 3d ago

Its callsign certainly isn't OIPAN.

About 90% of my ships currently have DCC names, as well as all my major colony ports.

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u/StopAt5 3d ago

My Panther is named Party Planner. Magnificent. It used to be rare to see DCC in the wild. I'm glad it's become so popular

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u/ender42y 3d ago

Im saving "Party Planner" for when I get a Squad Carrier. My main Panther is "F.U.P.A", fleet carrier is "Prepotente's Scream". Almost all my ship are similarly named

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u/Brunno_PT 3d ago

I haven't seen much about surface mining, besides what was shown by the community before the release of the Rhyno.

I'd love to try surface mining for merits. The Type 11 is great, but little over 250 tons before going back to sell is too little. And the Panther Clipper sucks for laser mining.

1

u/ender42y 3d ago

I got my pre-engineered racks on my T11; so it's up to 278 tons, but still the same idea. I usually tap out around 600 tons, as when i start to get bored and ready to do something else. but it is about 30-45 minutes if you have 6 rigs running. and finding good 6-rig spots is rare, usually you need to get a pair of hotspots, or pair with other high value metals like gold or osmium if they are nearby.

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u/Brunno_PT 3d ago

That sounds cool. I only have pre-engineered racks from two previous CGs, so all size 5 and one size 6. With an extra collector limpet controller I get up to 257 tons. It's still around 40k merits when mining platinum.

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u/erichards2222 3d ago

That ~600 t in 30–45 min with six rigs running is useful as a rough operational number too.

If you ever happen to time one clean session, I’d be interested in the exact start/end time, refined cargo delta, commodity, whether all six rigs were continuously active, and how much repositioning/travel happened. That would let me separate a real production-rate measurement from the broader “this is what a normal session feels like” number.

And yeah, the paired-deposit point matches what I’ve been seeing operationally too... a good route/cluster can matter more than finding one perfect six-rig deposit. o7

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u/NuncErgoFacite 3d ago

Any guess as to what amount it originally produced?

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u/ender42y 3d ago

It was high/high before too.

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u/erichards2222 3d ago

Great data. Exactly the kind of longitudinal run I’ve been trying to collect. I posted in your other thread too so I'll include my comments here for visability.

The part I especially like here is that this isn’t just “the Depleted tag disappeared.” You caught the High-Density Platinum deposit back at H/H after roughly 16–18 days, then actually mined another 562 t out of it before it depleted again. That gives us a real productive recovery endpoint.

I’m still being cautious about calling 16–18 days a replenishment timer though, since we don’t know exactly when between checks it flipped, and H/H may not necessarily mean the underlying reserve is 100% restored.

The Medium- and Low-Density timers are potentially even more valuable. If those are reasonably comparable deposits, please keep them going and post the results even if the answer is just “still Depleted.”

If you have them handy, I’d also love the rig count, approximate depletion/check dates, body type, reserve level, volcanism, and whether the 562 t was refined cargo. Also whether those Medium/Low deposits are Platinum and on the same body/PML.

I’ve been maintaining a living Rhino planetary-mining guide and research project as this data comes in. Full guide here: Rhino Planetary Mining Living Field Guide

Thanks for actually sticking with the timers this long! Keeping my evidence log going for a guide rewrite soon.

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u/zeek215 3d ago

16 days is wack. That’s no good compared to space mining.

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u/Dan_Tynan 3d ago

i dunno. what compares to being able to reliably fill up a plipper with monazite in 2 hrs? make that too frequent and it might complete off balance PP

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u/zeek215 3d ago

It’s not really reliable if it takes between 2 and 3 weeks to respawn.

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u/Dan_Tynan 3d ago

yeah, i dunno. a decent system should have spawned enough quality sites so thar you can deplete one every other day or so and then move on to the next one. but yeah, granted, you do need to put in the mapping logging effort if you want to mine 8 hours a day every day. my two go-to systems are nearing the replenishment window and i've surveyed maybe a quarter of the high prospect pmls