Since there’s still activity here, I just want to throw in my experience as the OP of the thread. I’ve mined a lot in a Procurer the last two weeks (0.7 system). I’ve been mostly semi-afk, but a couple times I’ve actually forgot EVE was running, and I’ve been sitting in the belt for hours.
Honestly, for anyone mining in high sec solo, don’t bother actively looking for ganks, it’s just not worth it. From my own experience, old friends and some killboard monitoring, gankers really don’t bother with procurers, especially not in a 0.7 system (which has appropriate asteroid sizes imo). They will need quite a lot to take you down if you just use mids and rigs for tanking, including a DCU. I may even be overkilling it.
Yes you can get suicided, just like any other time you’re flying in non-mining ships, but I could already buy 20 new procurers from what I mined. The way mining is designed in this game, I really think it wasn’t meant as a primary profession for solo players in high-sec, it’s very hard to justify it as entertainment. It’s great for semi-afk stuff like studying, and I’m not trying to disregard people mining in groups for maximum efficiency, or people mining in non-concord space. Hell, if you like mining just do it, it’s simply how I think mining is meant for.
Do mind this specifically meant for a Procurer, any other mining barge and exhumer I could see much, much greater risk of being ganked