There is a current revived interest and financial commitment to space activities in particular with the Moon by a number of international governments, space agencies, and the private sector. Together with a current interest in the exploration, utilization, and commercialisation of space resources (e.g. water, H, He, O, Fe, Al, Ti, etc.), which are hosted on Earths Moon, planets, asteroids, or in any other form. These have raised many important items to be addressed and questions to be answered before In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) activities should commence. One of the important items that need to be addressed prior to ISRU activities is the creation of standards for the estimation and public reporting of; space exploration results, space resource evaluations, and space reserves estimation. Using a consistent Resources and Reserves classification system (framework) as well a glossary of agreed definitions for consistent reporting. This work introduces the current development of the Lunar Ore Reserves Standards (LORS-101). These standards aim to provide the first guidelines to private companies, investors, space agencies and any other entities that would like to prospect, explore, extract, and use space resources (volatiles, and mineral) for the Moon, planets, and asteroids in a clear and responsible manner. These standards are aimed to work for scientific and commercial purposes. The LORS-101 classification system considers geological uncertainty, technical and technology maturity, together with socio-political and economic viability. The current Lunar resources of interest are in the form of minerals, ice, glasses, and within regolith. These types of resources relate to the Mineral, and Oil & Gas extraction industries. Therefore, LORS-101 considers as foundation the existing and very mature Earth standards for these two resource extraction industries, as well as the standards developed by the United Nations (UN). LORS-101 is a collaborative, inclusive and iterative effort which will involve a number of expert individuals, organisations, and research institutions for the iterative development of this important and transcendent document.
CITATION: Espejel Garcia, C D, 2019. Lunar Ore Reserves Standards 101 (LORS-101), a First Code for the Reporting of Lunar Exploration Results, Lunar Resources, and Lunar Reserves, in Proceedings Future Mining 2019, pp 176180 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).