In the early history of the Alpha Star Council, it was considered best practice to isolate Alpha mining operations from civilian colony worlds, with several major powers proposing legislation barring such operations from worlds with major civilian centers. Corporate lobbyists argued that such regulations would prove too onerous and stunt economic growth, and presented a “common sense” argument that any world stable enough for colony was stable enough for mining. Over several decades, corporations were gradually successful at eroding public support for such reforms.

The disastrous Hoag mining accident eventually galvanized demand for greater protections for colonies. As a result, it became illegal for sentient beings to occupy any world containing raw Alpha Ore.

In the modern galactic economy, it is now typical for Structs to conduct mining and refinement operations on worlds with known Alpha deposits, with many Structs factions commissioned to harvest newly discovered worlds within the borders of other Council species. Once all of the Alpha on a given world has been refined or otherwise removed, the planet is considered safe for habitation—making the Alpha harvesting process an essential step in any terraforming and colonization efforts.