Mining for iron ore is to be done by several agencies for providing the basic material for the creation of infrastructure on the moons and Mars. Now Mercury is the only planet which has abundant iron on the surface itself. Iron is a heavy element and so is available in the core of every planet. But in the case of Mercury, the top surface of the planet has been stripped due to the gravity of the sun and the core made of iron is exposed. Thus mining of iron on Mercury made economic sense as the cost will be low because of its availability on the surface itself.
As the removal of material is going to cause changes in the orbit of Mercury, this could have an impact on the entire solar system. Hence a Code for Practice was made to regulate and control the mining operations. This Code (No.: SS-1/Mercury/001: 2050 where SS-1 is our Solar System) provided guidelines for all the stakeholders on the mining operations on Mercury.
However, there was one unique feature of this Code. It had a provision for establishing an office for the code along with a Code Officer and related staff. This became necessary to ensure compliance and recordkeeping and also to determine the impact of ongoing mining operations on Mercury.
The Code was made and published just like any other code. There was a committee consisting of experts and the stakeholders which deliberated on various issues. Several sub-committees were also constituted as and when required to provide specialist inputs.