Ceres Deepcore Mining Collective

The Ceres Deepcore Mining Collective is the largest worker-owned extraction cooperative in the Asteroid Belt, operating Leviathan Ore Haulers, Valkyrie Survey Corvettes and Basilisk Salvage Tugs from its base under the ice of Ceres. It is Lumen's most important partner in the Belt.

The Collective sponsors 10 seats every year on the Ore Hauler Type Rating, roughly the size of one full cohort, and its members vote each spring on which candidates to fund. It also sponsors four places on the Survey Corvette Rating and three on Salvage Tug Operations.

Much of the flying on our ore hauler course takes place aboard Collective haulers on scheduled runs between Ceres smelters and Mars orbit, and our Ceres outstation sits next to the Collective's own training rooms. Sponsored graduates join as junior deck officers and can become member-owners after two years of service.

Collective survey crews also take part in the Vesta field week, where Valkyrie trainees survey real candidate rocks for the cooperative's prospectors.

Applicants for Collective sponsorship do not need to be Belt-born, but they do need to be willing to live there: sponsored hauler crews rotate between Ceres and Vesta on tours of four months. The Collective pays a living stipend during the 20-week course on top of tuition, and it guarantees a deck officer contract to every sponsored pilot who passes the convoy check ride at the first or second attempt.