We plan to mine asteroids some day because asteroids have very very little gravity and also a well rock like terrain, scientist thought in order to get ore you must be on surface, and they came up with this complex mess of wires and facility's to envelope a asteroid but I have a idea and a far more efficient and simple one.
I can have a laser 4 lasers placed at the end of a rotor type of thing, and it will spin creating a laser with a empty center to Pearce through the asteroid now that the rock is separated a tractor beam can be on this machine and pull the rock inside the ship, through a opening inside the center of spinning lasers. from there the rock will enter the center of a rotating cylinder providing artificial gravity on the cylinder walls and suspending the rock on the center of this cylinder ect ect you get the idea..
Okay I know that a tractor beam is purely theoretical but surly IS possible. what ever your method winch, magnetism. you get the basic idea.
I got this idea while playing a mmo called eve online, I was mining and caught my self studying the turret