How to mine in the Plains of Eidolon (Outdated)

Quick guide on how to mine on the Plains. I made this guide because it wasn't immediately apparent to me how to actually mine; I just thought I had to fire the mining laser onto the rocks until I got something.

Update: This guide has long been out of date and is no longer relevant.

How to read the mining UI

So long story short, mining on the Plains isn't that hard. Once you have acquired a mining laser and have it equipped in your gear slots, you are ready to head out to the plains to mine.

Mining is pretty easy once you realize how it works.


If you see the number on the right side of the UI at the middle of the screen, you'll see a number with a distance in meters next to it. That's how far you are from the closest mining node. The closer you are, the faster/louder you will hear a beeping/clicking sound.

How to mine

Once you have found a mining node, it's really easy to actually mine the node.


Just fire your laser on the node and move the laser until the bar on the top fills completely yellow. Once it has filled, you will be rewarded with your ore or gems. It's that simple!

I think if you follow the pictured white outline around the deposit, it MIGHT increase the yield of ore/gems you get but I am not certain. I need to do further testing.

Note that the color of a mining node may vary but they will always stand out from the surrounding rock as seen in the screenshot.

Further testing I have determined that a red deposit will yield metals/ores (Ferros and such) while blue/cyan will yield gems.

[MediocrePigeon]

HoW dArE yOu MaKe A bEtTeR mInInG gUiDe ThAn mE!

[gaminglover]

@Zaydin it turns out following the outline does grant you more ore. but you have to match it as close as possible to get the most ore. also when you increase your standing and get the better laser cutters they wont be as wobbly and make easier cuts along that outline. You can know how much ore youre getting out of a node by the clicking sound and the rock icons at the top center of your screen when zoomed in.

[ZaydinTTV]

@gaminglover it looks like following the outline does do SOMETHING. I just don't know what it does.

[ZaydinTTV]

I've noticed the outline on occasion but I haven't really noticed any difference. Will have to check it out for myself though.

[gaminglover]

im currently testing something about this mining and wondering if you had any similar results, you may notice a white outline around the ore when you zoom in? what if you cut along that outline with your laser? will it possibly produce more ore? when i try it at least 2 of the 5 rock symbols at the top of the scanner fills up almost every time