I didn't know about "Locate Substance" for the longest time. But even after I knew about it, I had to spend hours searching for basalt because I simply could not figure out how to invoke it[^1].
[^1]: As an additional cruelty, it's possible for volcanic biome planets to be called "Basalt" planets even though it's impossible to gather any basalt there. Encountered 3-4 of those on the way. (Note: even if they don't contain basalt as a primary resource, it might(?) still be able to find basalt as a secondary resource in some minerals, but searching for that turned out to be a waste of time to search.)
Ok, I found why: It's a bug with Sentinel ships missions. Accepting such mission causes hiding this button. After abandoning these missions the the button appears.
This… worked. Deleted 4 Sentinel ship missions from the backlog and the button appeared. 😳
So as long as you're okay with deleting all your Sentinel ship missions, the button can be visible.
I didn't know about "Locate Substance" for the longest time. But even after I knew about it, I had to spend hours searching for basalt because I simply could not figure out how to invoke it[^1].
[^1]: As an additional cruelty, it's possible for volcanic biome planets to be called "Basalt" planets even though it's impossible to gather any basalt there. Encountered 3-4 of those on the way. (Note: even if they don't contain basalt as a primary resource, it might(?) still be able to find basalt as a secondary resource in some minerals, but searching for that turned out to be a waste of time to search.)
I eventually found this advice at https://www.gog.com/forum/no_mans_sky/locate_substance_button_missing :
This… worked. Deleted 4 Sentinel ship missions from the backlog and the button appeared. 😳
So as long as you're okay with deleting all your Sentinel ship missions, the button can be visible.