Deep-core mining

• Also known as mohole boring, after Project Mohole (ENT Novel: Beneath the Raptor's Wings)
• Deep-penetrating method by which a borehole is cut to the Mohorovičić discontinuity of a planet, in order to harvest minerals rarely found in planetary crusts, but more likely to be formed in the extreme conditions of planetary mantles (ENT Novel: Beneath the Raptor's Wings; TOS Novel: Errand of Vengeance: Killing Blow)
• Generally requires months of careful drilling, extraction to reach planetary mantle
  • Variant known as "rapid deep-core mining" can achieve this in mere days, but is much more dangerous (TOS Novel: Errand of Vengeance: Killing Blow)
    • Planet-side warp reactor almost a necessity to provide sufficient power to force through planetary crust that quickly (TOS Novel: Errand of Vengeance: Killing Blow)
    • Can risk planetary ecosystems due to the potential of triggering significant seismic or volcanic events (TOS Novel: Errand of Vengeance: Killing Blow)
    • Due to resource investment required, most often only cost-effective when extracting incredibly high-value resources such as dilithium crystals (TOS Novel: Errand of Vengeance: Killing Blow)
• Presented in Errand of Vengeance: Killing Blow as always dangerous, but mohole boring established as safe mining technique in Beneath the Raptor's Wings, and this was described as essentially the same process
  • Presumed that the danger is only with the speed and intensity involved, which fits plot as presented in Killing Blow