I think it's going to depend on whether it's a mining laser that happens to have exceptionally good range and combat damage, or whether it's a beam laser which just happens to produce mining fragments when it hits a rock.
Eyeballing the wiki page for the module seems to support the former: its base module is a mining laser, which no engineer currently modifies. Link to wiki:
http://elite-dangerous.wikia.com/wiki/Mining_Lance
Of course, this is speculation on my part, as I don't have access to the Lance to check. I'm curious too - Torval Commander input welcome!