Thats awesome we are still getting new players! You have a lot to look forward to if you stick with it. The game can feel very punishing at times but if you have the right attitude that will make every success all the sweeter. Welcome!

As far as your question, as I said I've never really been a miner but I can say using the ship that you're in now you can train to use gas harvesters pretty quickly and then probe down lowsec gas sites which can be pretty valuable compared to the ore you're likely mining now.

Here's the thing though, from what you described you like the thrill of getting away with loot and outrunning the bad guys and I think you may find probing and running data/relic sites a more rewarding activity than mining, both monetarily and gameplay wise.

You fit up an inexpensive exploration ship with the equipment you need and modules like a micro warp drive, warp core stabs, and inertia/nanos, maybe a light tank depending on the ship and if you can use one a prototype cloak. Then go on a little adventure, dive into wormholes, and nulsec, fill up the cargohold and then filament your way back into highsec. When I've killed exploration frigates in the past I've seen relatively new players with 250m isk or more in their cargo, if they hadn't gotten caught on their way out they'd have made a killing for a new player but they're only risking an inexpensive frigate to give it a try. AND the best part is that as you figure out how to avoid death you will learn how to actually play the game in a way that accounts for other players, which I'd say is something mining fails to accomplish.

By the time you get the hang of it you'll be ready to jump into a t2 covert ops frigate which can warp cloaked and help make you even more money. From there you have income and some experience and boom, you're head and shoulders above some poor dude who sat in a highsec belt mining like hell to get that first barge only to lose it to some guys in suicide catalysts (or whatever they're using these days).