Energy mining was a form of mining that utilized energy drills to disintegrate a target area with plasma bolts. The process produced residual energy that dissipated into a planet's atmosphere in the form of lightning unless properly shielded. Debris around the mining area was also subject to irradiation. Because of the fallout, energy mining was forbidden by Imperial law on any planet with a native population. The Empire was known to violate this law in secret, as they did on Mimban during the Galactic Civil War.