Thanks

That is a great idea, i wanted to add some quests lateron anyway and your idea fits best to fill it! It could even be a mining campain to have an alternate ending.
About crafting i had some ideas yet, but only for really basic stuff. But quests could really be used to implement an indirect crafing system.
Adding a workshop on several stations which are accessible like the terminal having quests to offer which represent a crafting recipe.
Additionally you could have a campaign at the terminals contacting people from companies that require certain amount of minerals. Going this way it would even be possible to implement those companies as factions where you gain reputation (relation) until you get higher level quests.
For example:
-First company sometimes grants you access to special (better) crafting recipes
-second one gifts you experimental mining lasers
-third one just pays off in money and experience (but significantly more)
Second example:
Better relation to a company->better devices
-one company could go for energy saving lasers
-second one has better extraction rates
-third one offers mining laser which could also be used in a military way
-...etc