Thanks to all who replied!
JimV: It's never too late to join a discussion. Thanks for the list of sources.
Mining Lasers: There was a very brief blurb in the Sept issue of Wired (www.wired.com/science/planetearth/magazine/17-09/st_drills) that mentioned the use of lasers in mining. Basically, an old industrial laser is being repurposed by Argonne National Laboratory. It's only rated at 1.6 kW. There's some more info at ANL's website: www.ne.anl.gov/facilities/lal/laser_drilling.html . There's also a list of PDF's and video links near the bottom of the page.
Forgive me if I'm stating the obvious, but power requirements should be determined by the target rock's melting point and heat capacity. That ANL laser was designed for shale and sandstone, which aren't as demanding as other rocks.
It seems that mining lasers are the way to go for not only Zero or Low grav environments but also for those societies with sufficient TL. With the prevalence of fusion power in Trav, there's an abundance of energy available to power lasers and they eliminate the downtime required for conventional mechanized driller maintenance (replacing drill bits, etc).
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DED