The use of lunar resources is the key to a lasting and sustainable settlement of humankind on the Moon. Numerous missions are currently underway to go to Earth's only natural satellite and start mining its resources. The goal of these missions is primarily scientific-focused and would allow the exploitation of regolith toward the goal of extracting water, allowing the Moon to be considered as an outpost for more distant missions. However, the technology to extract and make use of these resources on the Moon is currently limited to simply collecting lunar regolith. Questions of ownership, property and resource rights ripple out from this simple starting point: What is the definition of collection? Collection is often considered to be a synonym of mining when it comes to space resources. In that sense, mining is defined as being the extraction of valuable material which has an economic interest for the miner. As for extraction, it refers to activities that consist of withdrawing a resource from its natural environment. But those definitions were meant for resources located on Earth. Can the same be applied to lunar resources? Current missions do not plan on drilling and extracting lunar regolith per se, rather they may simply scoop lunar dust as they land. In that case, can it really be considered as collecting? The definition of these terms is of fundamental importance as they might shape the way we use space resources in the future. This paper aims to propose a definition of collection, extraction and mining while being mindful of the international space law and its interpretation.

月球资源的使用是人类在月球上持久和可持续定居的关键。目前正在进行许多任务，以前往地球上唯一的天然卫星并开始开采其资源。这些任务的目标主要以科学为重点，并将允许利用风化层实现提取水的目标，从而使月球被视为更远距离任务的前哨。然而，目前在月球上提取和利用这些资源的技术仅限于简单地收集月球风化层。所有权、财产权和资源权的问题从这个简单的出发点层出不穷：收藏的定义是什么？在空间资源方面，收藏通常被认为是采矿的代名词。从这个意义上说，采矿被定义为开采对矿工具有经济利益的有价值材料。至于提取，它指的是从自然环境中提取资源的活动。但这些定义是针对位于地球上的资源而设计的。同样可以应用于月球资源吗？目前的任务并不打算钻探和提取月球风化层本身，而是可能只是在着陆时舀取月球尘埃。那样的话，真的可以算收藏吗？这些术语的定义至关重要，因为它们可能会影响我们未来使用空间资源的方式。本文旨在提出收集、提取和采矿的定义，同时注意国际空间法及其解释。