The Arisia Mining Colony was an orbital colony over the planet Arisia III, put in place to mine the planet's valuable deposits of Quantium 40 and operated by the Cole Mining company. The Colony itself consisted of two primary structures: the Orbital Refinery Platform and Inhabitant's Platform, both parked in parallel orbits, a safe distance from one another. The Inhabitant's Platform supports approximately one hundred and fifty workers and features some meagre but adequate facilities such as a bar, rec room and commissary along with the necessary docking facilities and office space for company business to take place.
The mining process involves the use of mobile robotic mining machines on the planet's surface that are controlled from the colony and deliver the Q-40 to giant, squat, beetle like mobile refineries that sort the valuable ores from the rock, which is later picked up by crew shuttles and taken to the Orbital Refinery Platform. Aside from routine inspections and repairs this is the only reason for workers to go planetside.
Like many small Earth Alliance colonies, Arisia was heavily exploited by the Earth corporations as Cole Mining was one of the few independent companies still operating and Earth taxes claimed 30% of the colonists' income.[1][2]
In July 2259, the Arisia Mining Colony was destroyed by Shadow forces. Marcus Cole was the only survivor, having crashed on the surface of Arisia III during the attack.[3]
By the end of 2261, work had begun of rebuilding the orbital mining facilities over Arisia III.[4]