i've been mining in elite dangerous, but now my refinery is full, and the 2 slots in the hopper are full as well. one of them is indite (28%), and the other is uranite (refined). I've now got no idea what to do, because venting them loses the items, and I don't want that to happen, but because the uranite is refined, shouldn't it go into my cargo slots (I've still got 6 free).
Please help, thanks in advance.
Best Answer
When you mine an asteroid, the chunk that flies off into space is called a "fragment". Every fragment you gather will be added to a refinery's "hopper" bins, and when enough fragments are picked up, the hopper refines the fragments into one unit of the resource (which then goes into your cargo hold).
It sounds like you have a hopper bin that is at 100%, but isn't refining the resource and adding it to your cargo hold. If you're sure you have empty cargo space, and the refinery has power, you may be experiencing a bug (many have existed surrounding the refinery but a lot have been fixed). You can try powering the refinery module down and back up again, maybe restarting the game, but you may have to just jettison it.
As to what you should do with these resources in your hopper: Nothing. Keep that 44% Platinum hopper around so that a fragment or two on your next mining run nets you a quick unit of Platinum. The hopper bins don't count toward cargo space, can't be sold, etc.
However, a handy tip regarding hoppers: If you're out mining and your cargo hold fills up, you can still gather framents to fill your hoppers to 100%. Then, when you sell your cargo at a station, the refinery automatically refines that hopper as soon as you have cargo space, and bam! One more unit of cargo.