I've done some number crunching and I think I have your answer for you. These numbers assume that (a) you use the mining method in the accepted answer you link, (b) that the ores are uniformly distributed, and (c) that you're running a version of Minecraft between 1.6.0 and 1.7.3 (the chart you link hasn't been updated for 1.8 yet).

Mining for an hour with ~30 iron picks should yield you:

• 7,201 cobblestone
• 77 coal
• 308 redstone
• 46 iron
• 8 gold
• 8 diamond
• 37 lapis lazuli

Similarly, using ~6 diamond picks should get:

• 9,166 cobblestone
• 98 coal
• 392 redstone
• 59 iron
• 10 gold
• 10 diamond
• 47 lapis lazuli

As you can see, the iron and diamond yields are far below what goes into the picks. In other worlds, through solid stone, you operate at a loss. Caves make an enormous difference when it comes to mining efficiency.

(All this, of course, assumes my math is correct. Feel free to double-check my work in the spreadsheet.)

Examining the Minecraft source reveals the exact algorithm for determining the color of potions. Here's the function that seems to do it:

public static int getPotionColor(Collection collection)
{
    int waterColor = 0x385dc6;
    if (collection == null || collection.isEmpty())
    {
        return waterColor;
    }
    float r = 0.0F;
    float g = 0.0F;
    float b = 0.0F;
    float numColors = 0.0F;
    for (Iterator iterator = collection.iterator(); iterator.hasNext();)
    {
        PotionEffect potioneffect = (PotionEffect)iterator.next();
        int potionColor = Potion.potionTypes[potioneffect.getPotionID()].getLiquidColor();
        int i = 0;
        while (i <= potioneffect.getAmplifier())
        {
            r += (float)(potionColor >> 16 & 0xff) / 255F;
            g += (float)(potionColor >> 8 & 0xff) / 255F;
            b += (float)(potionColor >> 0 & 0xff) / 255F;
            numColors++;
            i++;
        }
    }

    r = (hBit / numColors) * 255F;
    g = (mBit / numColors) * 255F;
    b = (lBit / numColors) * 255F;
    return (int)r << 16 | (int)g << 8 | (int)b;
}

This large, complex piece of code actually does something quite simple. It does basically just take all the different colors and average them together. Even so, it has a few extra quirks. First of all, this code checks to see if there are any potion effects to begin with. If not, it just uses the water color. I don't think that's ever used in the game, though.

It then creates a bunch of variables. Colors in Minecraft are stored in hexadecimal RGB format, so it creates a variable for red, green, and blue. It then loops through all the potions that are currently active. It then gets the amplifier, or potion level, and weights each color based on its level. Higher level potions have more influence on the resulting color.

Next is a bunch of bitwise math to average all the values, and in the end, all the values are divided by the total (to actually get an average) and spliced back into a single number, which is then returned as the particle color.