Lunar ice difficult to mine?
According to Professor John Lewis of Arizona University it would be immensely difficult:
"I regard this suggestion with deep scepticism because of the immense technical difficulty of mining steel-hard and highly abrasive permafrost under conditions of permanent darkness, at the bottom of steep and rugged craters, at temperatures so low that most metals in the mining equipment are as brittle as glass."
Okay, I'm not space scientist or engineer, but couldn't the equipment used to mine the ice have HEATERS AND LIGHTS to make the job easier? Doh!
"Further, the location of the hydrogen-bearing deposits (almost certainly dominated by water ice) at the poles is the most remote from sensible locations for a lunar base of any place on the Moon.
I think the location of nearby water ice, not to mention abundant solar power, makes the poles a VERY SENSIBLE LOCATION IN AND OF ITSELF.