Just occurred to me that I didn't address the OP's concerns.
Mining tips:
1) Different spots can hold different amounts of ore (eg 5 large 1 small, 12 large, 16 large etc)
2) Different spots have different chances to give coloured ore. Say 1 dull copper spot gives 10 coloured ore out of 16 digs, mark that location down in UO Cartographer (or mark a rune). When the type of coloured ore changes to say Valorite (remember it's random now), you will get 10 valorite out of 12 digs. Jackpot!
The same holds true with spots that are stingy with giving up coloured ore, if it gives only 1 or 2 coloured ore out of 16 digs, it's a bad spot. Even if it changes to a good ore type, you will only get 1 or 2 out of it.
3) Have a UO macro to "use last object, target last".
4) I love fire beetles
5) Using UOA to mine relative area allows you to mine areas you sometimes can't reach, such as the black areas in a mine, or parts of the mountains that gives the "you can't see that" no matter where you stand.
I have macros to mine 2 tiles away in certain direction. NE/NW/SE/SW. 4 macros. Assigned to macro numbers 7/8/15/16 respectively (UOA arranges macros in 2 rows, 1-8 and 9-16, so it's easier for me to picture that 4 buttons as if they represent the NE/NW/SE/SW positions).
6) Record a macro to smelt large ore pieces so that you can hit the macro easily when you are nearing your max carrying weight. Works best when you have a fire beetle. Means you don't have to move from your spot until you have strip-mined the 4 resource grids around you. Fast, efficient mining.
7) I mentioned 4 resource grids. Resources in UO are split into 8x8 tile grids. If you stand on the intersection of 4 of these grids, you can mine 4 sets of resource grids without moving. Then move 16 tiles straight north (or which ever direction you want) to reach the next intersection and repeat. This is like the 4x4 fishing folks use.
8) If you use prospector's tools, you are required to mine the tile once before being able to use the tool. To prevent waste (hey, that 1 ore you mine up could be from a valorite spot), mount your beetle and mine the tile once. You won't get any ore, and the tile won't lose any. Now you can dismount and use the prospector's tool and start mining.
9) Prospector's tools has 50 charges, and each use (which is 1 charge only) lasts until you completely mine out that tile. No fear of ore elementals spawning either. 50 charges lasts pretty long. Use them as much as possible.
10) Garg pickaxe uses 1 charge each time you swing. Don't squander them. The reason they last much shorter than the prospector's tool is because they can spawn ore elementals. So save them for the rare ores. Personally, I reserve them exclusively for spawning valorite elementals. That's 25 val ore, woot!
