Step Two

You'll notice I jumped you in CLOSE to the things i want to talk about, that's because come at the station co-ord from the wrong angle and you hit an asteroid!  So still in the Sapphire system near to the center of the system we have what I like to call the Mining Paradise, or lazy miner home base.
Basically it's an asteroid field with a station right close by it allowing you to do very fast runs to a trade station.  Beware you might not be getting the best price for your goods here but it makes up for it in time spent mining.

it's especially useful if you are able to deploy a mining probe.  What I have done in the past is deploy a mining probe several times while I am mining the same asteroid, once I'm full I go back to the station to unload then collect my cannisters.  Obviously beware that other people may chose to pick up your connisters if you go the same route in MP.

The next step will take you to an excellent place to get started doing a little exploration.

Open your navigation console and enter the following co-ordinates
X:-5000
Y:450
Z:-5000
SX:1
SY:0
SZ:-1