unfortunately it was not any of those titles. strange that i remember being told this was a classic title, yet i can't find word of it anywhere.
I know that you could upgrade your ship to carry more fuel tanks and cargo capacity. I think there were many other options but those i think were the most basic as it related directly to the mining that made up a major amount of the (early at least) gameplay.
There were stars on the hyperspace map, all arranged in star systems (alpha, beta etc.) and then each star system had planets which could be landed upon to gain minerals. Sometimes on the surface of these planets there would be roving beasts to avoid. Driving on the surface of the planets 'wrapped around' but only in one dimension, so as to form the shape of a cylinder instead of sphere.
Interacting with aliens usually involved the standard RPG fair with a selection of responses to given text, but it felt fairly dynamic and was usually fairly funny. Sometimes information could be won or bartered for, as well as battles instigated.
The home base was I believe a space station arouind the moon. I think the backstory involved aliens arriving on earth and 'locking down' the planet.