This issue has been raised by me and many others before, but maybe the new team won't ignore it as usual:
The miner ID adds another counterproductive level of complexity to the game that is not only totally useless, but also confusing and frustrating to new people. The mining bonus compared to "best ID" is so bad that it's not worth having one, plus other restrictions that come with it make it even more useless and frustrating.
It's best to just remove it and give the Freelancer ID a decent mining bonus, as long as mining lasers are used. It should even be usable on a non mining ship (as should mining faction IDs), and mining ships should simply be the ones to have their guns aligned in a way that hit the rocks simultaneously.
Additionally, all mining IDs (also Freelancer) should have different bonuses, but not so different that they should be unable to "compete" with other IDs at all. Something like Freelancer ID 0.7, medium mining faction 0.85, best mining faction 1.0. The current system, which aims at spreading players out among factions (which is also bad because there are more factions than players now), keeps players from getting to know others better and making friends because they constantly switch chars and become unrecognizable.
while i see what you mean there was at one point a "beginner" is which was part of the /restart Beginner command code which I would say is better to bring back. when I first started the Beginner ID meant I couldn't be pirated and it mean I could explore as a pure neutral to ALL of Sirius including Gallic and Nomads so I can explore to my hearts content before starting a main character
I actually agree with the removal. Since the freelancer i.d. has turned into a (basically) mercenary one, freelancer i.d.s can also be used for mining.