The Auto Sell button in the deposit box of a closed gate should still default to getting players as much crowns as possible, but there should be some way to configure it differently.
If a player makes use of this feature the button should somehow indicate that it's function has been altered and can be reset.
During configuration, the player can define what minerals he wants to deposit into the selected strata when he presses the Auto Sell button. The relation between minerals and strata is many-to-many, so a mineral can be Auto Sold into different strata and a stratum can receive multiple minerals. If the player has a mineral that can go into different strata, the Auto Sell routine should choose the one that gains the player the most crowns from within the defined strata.
I made this suggestion, because it is a bit complicated to sell stuff manually, while the influence this has on construction is really low. So this suggestion, should make it a bit more easy to sell your minerals in the way you like it. It will be kinda like voting for the levels you like best. I hate it to click 20 times on Moonstone, selling it for low and not having any impact on the result anyways. So why not have it more comfortable; that's what computers are for.
Making it easier for you to get more crowns means you can buy energy on the market quicker. Meaning it takes money out of OOO's pockets. You will probably have to come up with a better justification for them to take on this request.
What I have been doing lately is not selling unless I can sell for 4cr per. Sure that means holding onto the minerals for longer but it makes collecting them just a tiny bit more worth it.