How to Mine Large Deposits in Starfield

Your intergalactic adventure can hold many opportunities and different playstyles to accommodate for all kinds of gamers. Whether you are someone who enjoys the FPS style of gameplay by playing aggressive on every pirate ship you run into, or if you enjoy the pickpocketing, illegal business of farming black market goods, or you prefer the sandbox, survival way of life with farms and mining. Regardless of how you want to play, Resources are important to increasing your survival odds and keeping your cash flowing. As the method to mining materials you find across the thousands of planets available in Starfield, you may find that the Cutter method is one that does not give you results fast. Therefore, this is Vincent’s guide on how to mine large deposits in Starfield.

How Do You Mine Large Mineral Deposits in Starfield?

A lot of Resources that you can find and farm in Starfield through the use of the Cutter are typically smaller in stature with little to be overwhelmed or nervous about when it comes to mining. However other minerals such as Iron or Caesium actually appear in much larger chunks or in-game term wise, as deposits, that cannot simply be mined by the Cutter. Although this is not suggested in Starfield however, you actually do not need to use the Cutter at all. When you find the specific mineral you are looking to farm, refer to its size via the Scanner viewfinder. It’s outline will tell you if it can or cannot be mined using the Cutter. If you are trying to mine a large deposit everything you need is within the Scanner’s grasp.

Simply go up to the resource you are trying to mine and bring out the Scanner (‘LB’ on Xbox or ‘F’ on PC). Next, scan the specific mineral and press the interact key to bring up the Resource Tabs that show various minerals, their element icon, and color to match the planet’s biome where you can find the Resource at. When you see this Resource Wheel pop up, exit the Scanner and press interact once again when you are right up against the large deposit and see the name of the Resource pop-up on your screen. Here you will see the button to ‘Harvest‘ which should be ‘E‘ on PC or ‘A‘ on Xbox.

Related: How to Mine Asteroids in Starfield – Iron Farm Guide.

Farming Large Deposits With the Extractor – Mining Guide

Although the above is a simplistic guide on how to farm large deposits, these are singular minerals found throughout planet surveying and excavation. For those wanting to farm these deposits, you will need to create an Outpost. The Outpost should be built close to the minerals you are looking to farm. To find these, use the Scanner and refer to the color and material symbol to find the specific Resource you are looking to mine. The color is important to find the exact spot to mine using the Extractor where the ground will highlight in the Resource’s color. You need to build an Extractor directly on top of the Resource in order to mine.

If you want to farm a ton of Resources, be sure to add extra Storage via the Storage Tab in Outpost Build Mode. Be sure to link the Extractor and Storage Containers together so that what you mine gets placed directly into storage. This can be done directly under the Extractor Menu.

That was our full guide on where to find and farm large deposits in Starfield. Thank you for reading this guide. For more on Starfield, be sure to see all GJ written guides at our outer-space coverage found here.