The head basically "tractors" in the ore with those tentacles down there slightly pushing it towards his head.
Ofcourse mining is done differently in actual play (via guns) but collector has those "hands" as well.
Basically the head intakes the ore chunks then, and they pass trough filtration that purges the ore from the rest of the rock that's redundant then and gets thrown back in space trough the middle of the ship, while compressed cargo heads towards the back storage tanks.
It contributes to pollution - but that's Leeds' problem.
For the alien organism / Fuel mining, I would say it just travels trough the pockets filled with organisms / Fuel and tractors in the things, while ejecting those parts that aren't necessary.
It's a more advanced system, and I believe that Kishiro can master it.
![[Image: omgsig.png]](http://img63.imageshack.us/img63/3852/omgsig.png)