Mass Effect 3 Alternative to Planet Scanning Explained

Thanks to the report of a user on the official BioWare forums, who got the information from a preview on the Xbox World magazine, we now know what kind of system is going to take the place of Mass Effect 2's planet mining, which garnered consistent criticism from people who enjoyed and hated the game alike. Looks like we're going to be rescuing survivors this time:
Instead, the whole scanning for minerals has been replaced with another system. Preston Watamaniuk said along the lines of replacing the mineral scanning with a search and rescue system; you can go around and explore these conflict zones - trying to find survivors and that's pretty much where we will be able to collect minerals and... things. I guess.

Thanks NeoGAF.