Dimensional Mining
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Dimensional mining is the practice of travelling to distant dimensions in order to excavate materials. It is currently the most financially lucrative aspect of the dimensional physics sector. Usually, dimensional mining operations are performed with specialised privatised bridge generators designed for shuttling ore. Central players in the dimensional mining sector include Paradigm, Samson Steel, and Connor Industries. Alongside asteroid mining, dimensional mining operations have acted as a critical solution to the Resource Crisis plaguing humanity and allowed the race to establish interstellar travel.
Risks involved in dimensional mining operations include unbreathable atmospheric compositions, hostile local fauna, or dimensional incursions; because of the risks involved, dimensional mining is a highly regulated sector, with the same scrutiny given to operations by Raven as research expeditions. Bridges used for mining operations that tend to be kept open more frequently are much more rigorously analysed for risks by Reality Control than others.
Establishment
The following procedure is used for establishing mining infrastructure in a foreign dimension: First, a candidate dimension must be selected. This must be a plane devoid of sapient life in the Solar System, which includes those at depth D-50 or deeper. More distant planes exhibit a higher chance of featuring more exotic deposits due to the changing composition of planets, but may also be highly unstable or outright hostile to human life. Secondly, a preliminary expedition must be mounted with robotic probes, and then a secondary expedition utilising a manned team in order to declare the dimension stable and safe for entry, and to reduce the potential for a dimensional incursion. Then a staging base is established at the other end of the bridge. Finally, excavation equipment is brought through, and the mining operation begins.
Extreme care must be taken to verify the target dimension includes no local sapient life forms. At depths greater than D-50, it is possible to sporadically encounter any sapient or non-sapient life at any point, even though the chances of this are low. Such life forms would share no similarities to humans in any biological or cultural sense, and effectively be entirely alien.