Not sure if it's just me, but when I'm mining I usually just hit enter several times once the green mining bar reaches full to reselect the rock I'm standing in fornt of and then start mining again.
Unfortunately if there are any creatures around me at the point where I start bashing enter then they get listed first in the menu that pops up and I have to move right as many times as there are creatures so that I can select the rock and mine again.
I would be most useful (IMHO) if the order of things was reveresed so that rocks were listed first as it would make things flow much better when mining.
Anyway, excellent game, having lots of fun !
Cheers