If you use the Survey Information Terminal on the Shadow Broker Base, you can spend 1,000 Credits to mark the location of a world Rich in a specific Resource that you have not brought to Depleted status.
If you only mine Rich planets in the systems you visit, you can easily get the amount of Resources you need.
Scanning planets and moons and sending down Probes.
There are three ways in which you can acquire Resources in the game: We recommend having around 150,000 Palladium, Iridium and Platinum, and 35,000 Element Zero.
Your Resources will be imported into Mass Effect 3 as a War Asset, with its strength determined by how much you had of each.
Shepards who are Engineer class will have a 25% Discount on all Research Projects.
You may need some extra Element Zero for learning any Bonus Powers, Respec'ing Shepard, or Respec'ing any of your Squad Mates.
There are a couple of notes you should keep in mind: