Yeah, I'm already aware of this thread which kinda fell apart after a few pages. (mining)
I searched for missions and found nothing...
I'm not sure about the fraction size for the ores, but VIPs take up more than 1 space, and you can have fractional ammo sizes, so it might be possible. If not that, then I really think mining should be made viable along with missions regardless of how many times it has been discussed before (in the missions argument, this is a first, actually.)
There should be more sources of income besides trade.