I've been just looking at this: http://lemming.localnetsys.com/wiki/doku.php?id=mining#list_of_mining_beams and while I was reading the description of apicene ore an idea struck me. :P
Wouldn't it be nice if some rare ore could appear in roid after heating it to some insane temperature, so that one could get some kind of reward for mining the same roid all the time (and spending lots of time)? New ore should probably be limited in quantity and with relatively low probability of getting it.

What do you think about that?

Hmm, at first I thought this was a crafting topic, but y'know, that's a really good idea!

like extracting precious metals and stuff like that?

I think this idea sorta comes along from diamond formation. Carbonic ore, simple stuff, you know? But at a maintained high temperature and high pressure, precious minerals form. If other ores are formed such (Heliocene's tidal forces?), then I don't doubt that in such advanced societies, this can be done.

Yeah, I like this concept too. For example, the ore HOT-STUFF (tm) can only be mined from asteroids that happen to be heated to over 100 degrees. Also, in order for it to be found, there should be traces of Apicene, Lanthic and Ferric in the asteroid.

Like other ores, mining progresses as the asteroid continues to get hotter, making a sweet spot of about 100-150 degrees for mining this ore.

Great idea.

To extend it: some very special ores could be produced by keeping a roid in special conditions for a given period of time and use of special mining beams. Exact recipes could be obtained through missions (as datapads, blueprints) and then, taken to the appropriate station along with the ore (like, Station of Exiled Engineers O_o) could be transformed into a special weapon, gizmo, etc.. For a price, of course.
It's a very general idea and I'm sure that the devs, should they ever decide to implement something like that, would make it more detailed and interesting.

Anyway: bump. :P