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Pequeño Minero

Pequeño Minero is an ultra-compact, low-PCU, large-grid vanilla space mining ship design without mods or DLC, and contains no rotors or pistons making it a perfect survival-ready solution for relatively large-scale, early game mining projects. The compact profile of Pequeño Minero allows it to pass through the 10-meter high opening provided by vanilla airtight hangar doors. With the exception of the survival kit that requires a small amount of silver, all remaining components can be built using a basic assembler from ores refined in a basic refinery. Tunneling with Pequeño Minero produces an obround opening approximately 16m × 12m.

Pequeño Minero extracts ores quickly with its 2 drills, automatically ejecting waste stone, and transports ore in 7 small cargo containers, the connector, and two drills. Power is supplied by 1 large battery. With the exception of using 2 forward thrusters, only one hydrogen thruster is used in the other 5 directions; hydrogen gas is supplied by 1 small hydrogen tank and 1 O2/H2 generator. To maintain its compact profile, neither an antenna nor a beacon is included with this mining ship, but a survival kit is included for life support.

Pequeño Minero can operate on low-gravity moons, but at a reduced payload limit, i.e., approximately 300 tons. Planetary operation is possible, but not recommended due to severe payload limitations (e.g., approximately 20 tons is the practical payload limit on the Earthlike planet) because of the single "up" thruster.

NO MODS, NO DLC, NO ROTORS/PISTONS; SURVIVAL READY AND PROJECTOR BUILDABLE!

 - Blocks: 62
 - PCUs: 1,733
 - L × W × H: 20m × 7½m × 7¾m
 - Empty Mass: 79½ tons
 - Maximum Ore Mass in Space: 444 tons (using "realistic" 1-1-1 settings)

{1} Drills
{2} Spotlights ON/OFF
{3} Hydrogen Tank Stockpile ON/OFF
{4} Battery AUTO/RECHARGE
{5} Ore Detector ON/OFF
{6} Magnetic Plates SWITCH LOCK
{7} Camera Down VIEW
{8} Docking Connector SWITCH LOCK
{9} Hydrogen Thrusters ON/OFF

{1} Magnetic Plates Autolock ON/OFF
{2} Interior Lights ON/OFF
{3} ---
{4} ---
{5} ---
{6} ---
{7} ---
{8} ---
{9} ---

(See the last two pictures for the projector's configuration.)
1. Place 1 armor block, minimum, on a powered grid to provide sufficient clearance for building the miner.
2. Build a large-grid projector on top of the armor block; for consistency, rename the projector to be "PM - Projector".
3. Load the blueprint into the projector; click on the setting to retain the blueprint after construction is complete.
4. Build the blueprint.
5. When completed, grind away the armor block(s), leaving the projector in place for future repairs.

 - 2,372 Steel Plates
 - 373 Metal Grids
 - 760 Interior Plates
 - 1,498 Construction Components
 - 104 Motors
 - 132 Large Steel Tubes
 - 542 Small Steel Tubes
 - 289 Computers
 - 15 Displays
 - 96 Girders
 - 275 Bulletproof Glasses
 - 80 Power Cells
 - 20 Detector Components
 - 3 Medical Components

 - 79,118 Iron
 - 3,055 Nickel
 - 1,119 Cobalt
 - 4,338 Silicon
 - 60 Silver

As many know who use my various mining ships, I haven't published a large-grid miner since just after the last ice age ended. When I first started playing Space Engineers long ago, however, large-grid miners were all I designed and use. My opinion was that small-grid designs simply couldn't carry enough ore to be effective. Nevertheless, as my design skills improved I saw that small-grid designs had their many uses, foremost being the low numbers of parts necessary to produce a viable ship. A recently popular low-cost, large-grid design got me to thinking about whether I could produce a similar low-cost design with increased effectiveness. Pequeño Minero, after many, many iterations became a wonderful blend of capabilities in a relatively compact size and of a pure vanilla components without DLC. I hope you find it as useful for your mining needs as it has been for mine. Recommendations for improvements are encouraged and welcomed. Thanks for you interest.