This is the idea of mining the Moon for local resources — water ice and helium-3 — known as lunar in-situ resource utilization.
These resources are framed as the money-making reason nations want a base at the Moon's south pole.
Water ice (for example in Shackleton crater) and helium-3 are treated as the economic prize driving competition between the U.S.-led Artemis group and the China-Russia-led ILRS group over the lunar south pole.
It reframes the modern space race as a resource grab, though the engine leaves open exactly who ends up on top.