So yesterday I finally scraped together enough credits to purchase an Asp, I figured an improvement to my trusty Cobra.
Trading, some bounty hunting and enough modules left to throw some mining equipment in there too without having to turn tail and run every time an npc comes calling. First trip out, I have 6-7 tons of various metals. So far so good. A mistake on my part (ok I crashed into a big rock) and lost it all. 2 hours down the tube. Second time out, much better I make about 10k from a few pieces - but the overall experience wasn't great.
Sold the Asp and went back to the Cobra. Question though, will I get hauler/bh missions that pay as much as these mining missions seem to at the moment because it seems I'm missing out on hefty earnings by avoiding mining?