This is interesting. In my time designing lunar excavation equipment, much of our problems arose from the intended location: permanently shadowed regions of cra

This is interesting. In my time designing lunar excavation equipment, much of our problems arose from the intended location: permanently shadowed regions of craters. We were intending to mine for water for propulsion, consumption, etc purposes. Basically, it's really hard to mine in those conditions. And when I say "conditions," I mean down to 50K. Lots of familiar materials just won't work at those temps. Mining, instead, for high-value minerals would presumably not require such extremely low temperatures. It would, however, still have to endure many of the other issues we faced: never-eroded (read: abrasive) regolith, the vacuum of space, reduced reactionary mass, etc. I wish them luck!