Damn near every nation in the world is gearing up for the space resource race. The mere prospect of gathering space minerals from the moon has governments’ and private space companies’ eyes turned into dollar signs.

They are moving heaven and quite literally Earth to prepare for it. South Korea is transforming three abandoned coal mines into lunar exploration and mining testing grounds.

In late March, the Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources (KIGAM) took to the tunnels of the Hamtae mine in Taebaek, Gangwon Province, to test out prototype lunar rovers. The rovers are equipped with autonomous navigation that can maneuver around tricky terrain, collect samples, and do remote sensing as it prepares for its possible deployment to the moon.

South Korea Is Using Abandoned Coal Mines to Practice Moon Exploration

South Korea is betting big on the future of space mining. They want to extract resources from the lunar surface, and for that, they need to make sure their rovers will perform when duty calls. The head of the Space Resource Exploration and Utilization Center, Kim Kyeong-ja, said South Korea does not want to rely on other nations to supply their lunar-mining gear.

“To compete in the global resource race, Korea must develop space resource technologies independently,” he told South Korean news outlet Pulse.

In August 2022, South Korea launched its first lunar orbiter, named Danuri, a portmanteau of two Korean words, “dal” meaning moon, and “nurida” meaning enjoy. The nation is penciling in a robotic lunar landing by 2032.

Officials chose Taebaek to test out their lunar rovers for a couple of reasons. The first, more symbolic reason is that Taebaek is Korea’s highest city, sitting at an elevation of 900 meters, making it the closest South Korean city to space.

But it’s also got a lot of abandoned mines that are dark, cold, and dusty, making them perfect for the lunar South Pole area where they would likely be deployed. When South Korea rose to prominence within its own Industrial Revolution in the 1960s, the call dug up in Taebaek fueled the city’s expansion.

Now, it’ll be used as a training ground to eventually mine off-world energy resources. It’s all just moon capitalism, with everyone arming up to find new, exciting, and futuristic ways of exploiting each other.