I know this can get annoying but...........

Unfortunately they are indestructable.

Here's what you do.

Open up the starmap and zoom in on the bottom left corner of the minefield.

There you will see one of the diamond shape images with a notch missing out of it.

Set a way point to just outside of that notch and fly there.

Once there you will find a corridor to the gate that is free of mines.

Forgot to mention this, the gate is typically locked.

Use the save game editor to remove the lock from your player file. You should be able to find it in the downloads.

Want an Eagle real fast? Go into sigma-13 and look for Old Imperial Navy Fighters. Most of them have "special" code weapons that are worth quite a lot of credits.

Easy way to get to the Alaska Gate:
From the LNS Missouri: go to the center of the third tradelane toward the Texas Gate and turn left. Target the gate and hit "Go to".

In MP mode: To unlock the Alaska Gate:
Open up initialworld.ini and remove (or comment out) the two lines referencing
NY to Alaska and Alaska to NY.

FLEx is going to be need for this one:

However, docking with the prison is going to give you nothing to see but darkness. (no base inside). So, you'll need to do some editing of the Universe.ini file. Namely Universe/Systems/Li05.
The way I did it, was simply MOVE the prison somewhere way out of the area and installed a new base in the original location.

enjoy the adventure and the npc's. They can be quite entertaining.
To make your adventures a little less hazardous, get a few bribes from
the Junkers in the NY system. (ALG, Junkers and possibly Liberty Rogues)
That should make you netural with just about everyone, especially those factions who would simply shoot you on sight.

Sigma-13 has the largest cash of wrecks loaded with valuable code weapons.
Simply repair and sell them with a worth of around 35k per code weapon.
Also, snoop around the nebulae in Omicron's Alpha and Gamma (near the "unknown" jump holes). A lot of wrecks there too, but really nasty and
ill-tempered ghosts tend to haunt those areas.
Pirate NPC's will scan you for commodoties, but not weapons. So, if they hit you up for your cargo, it's better to just give it up to them. (****)

If you're daring enough, Go to Malta and take on some missions from the Outcasts against the Bounty Hunters.

For that matter, snoop around every nebula and debris field you come across.
You'll have enough credits for an Eagle before you know it.
There are a lot of lootable ships. From weapons to commodities.

****That gives me an idea.
Since pirate npc's and certain authorities scan you for commodoties or contraband, I always wondered why they never scanned for weapons.
Imagine having all the code weapons and some Navy, Police or pirate hits you up for all your weapons. (That's a considerable loss of capital).
I'd imagine you'ld be ready to fight or flee to keep what you have.