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Mining Guild

"So you're part of the Mining Guild, then?"
"No, not actually. Our operation is small enough not to be noticed, which is advantageous for everybody since our customers are anxious to avoid attracting attention to themselves."

―Princess Leia Organa and Lando Calrissian, concerning Cloud City^[src]

The Mining Guild was one of the many galactic corporate entities operating during the time of the Galactic Republic. It survived the fall of the commerce guilds during the Clone Wars and continued into the Galactic Civil War.

1 History
2 Notable members
3 Appearances
4 Sources
5 Notes and references

HistoryEdit

"I'm not interested in the petty squabbles of your Mining Guild. Lord Vader wants results!"

―Namman Cha^[src]

The Mining Guild was originally founded in the early days of space exploration, predating even the formation of the Republic. It was thought that the Guild was established in the Core Worlds, and though a specific homeworld did not come to light Koros Major was one of their strongholds, because of its abundance of Carbonite, so valuable in the early space travel.^[1] Eventually the Guild was based on Coruscant during the rule of the Galactic Republic. The Mininguild grew into one of the many quasi-political corporate entities represented in the Republic, alongside the Trade Federation and the Techno Union. They often were engaged in confrontations with rival company Excargan Mining Authority that were settled through the courts.^[2]

The Guild dominated operations on billions of young, metal-rich worlds scattered throughout the galaxy's spiral arms and mined resources there extensively.^[3] It was on one of these anonymous planets that Zam Wesell gained her Koro-2 Exodrive airspeeder, subsequently using it far from the wastelands of these worlds, where there was a lack of complex lifeforms that could be hurt by the more noxious gases produced by the miners' vehicles.^[3] As of 27 BBY, the Guild had holdings on Barlok, where they were represented by Guildmaster Gilfrome.^[4]

The Mining Guild was fortunate enough to survive the Clone Wars, and expanded with the formation of the Galactic Empire. Emperor Palpatine ensured the officials of the Mining Guild allied themselves with his Empire, to solidify his sources of raw materials for the Imperial war machine while still keeping the Guild itself independent. The Imperial regime seemed to have adverse effects on the Mining Guild, since, during the Civil War, it did not appear to enforce its policies quite as well as it should—small operations such as Lando Calrissian's Cloud City on Bespin remained unnoticed by the Guild.^[5]

Thanks to its independence from the Empire, the Mining Guild remained in operation when the New Republic supplanted Palpatine's regime, and operated as a trade union regulating the supply of ore to both sides of the Galactic Civil War. The Guild rose to a new level of power under the Republic, and began to command high prices for the ores its members delivered, in some cases negotiating local truces between Imperial and Republic forces. During this time, many of its members engaged in smuggling and other black market activities for the benefit of both themselves individually and the Guild.