One of the problems with asteroid mining I have wondered about is:
If there were any heavy metals like gold, silver, platinum or rare earth types, then the gravitational pull of these dense materials would have attracted other astro bodies to their gravity well and clumped together into a larger body over the eons. If they are asteroids, then they have nothing but worthless dust and rock debris...............
—having been in the terrestrial mining business through the
“oil shock” and always having had to be aware of “energy” costs vis-a vis tires, explosives, fuel, etc’, , I can only suggest that one does not buy stock in “asteroid mining “ ventures—transportation costs will eat you up—
“If they are asteroids, then they have nothing but worthless dust and rock debris...............”
The meteoric pieces of asteroids that have been recovered on the Earth generally fall into three types. The type which is largely solid nickel-iron represents the pieces of the core of a planet, planetoid, planetissimal, or large asteroid that was shattered into pieces by a collision. The heavier iron and nickel had settled to the center of the body after the body became large enough to melt the material by the gravitational force exerting sufficient pressures to melt the material. The rocky types represent the surface layers of such a shattered body which consolidated after the heavier substances had settled out of the magma. The composite types often represent the mixed heavy meals and lighter rocky materials which have not been subjected to enough gravity and compression to melt the material and differentiate the lighter and heavier components of the material. These new instruments will make it easier to find the denser deposits of metals, the lighter density rare earths, and the water ice deposits that are economically more useful.