Asteroids vs Planetary Mines

AlexanderHowl · 11-18-2020, 10:53 AM

Analysis of metallic meteorites suggest levels of up to 250 ppm of precious metals (a typical rich vein in planetary mines has 5 ppm), so we are talking about undifferentiated objects that are equivalent to the richest veins in the richest mines on Earth. Even 'poor' M-type asteroids likely have 30 ppm of precious metals, making them more than competitive with planetary mines (by comparison, seawater is less than 1 ppb precious metals and mine tailings are usually less than 0.5 ppm). Now, S-type asteroids are likely not that worthwhile to mine because of a lack of differentiation, at least as a primary activity.

11-18-2020, 10:53 AM	#4
AlexanderHowl Join Date: Feb 2016	Re: Asteroids vs Planetary Mines Analysis of metallic meteorites suggest levels of up to 250 ppm of precious metals (a typical rich vein in planetary mines has 5 ppm), so we are talking about undifferentiated objects that are equivalent to the richest veins in the richest mines on Earth. Even 'poor' M-type asteroids likely have 30 ppm of precious metals, making them more than competitive with planetary mines (by comparison, seawater is less than 1 ppb precious metals and mine tailings are usually less than 0.5 ppm). Now, S-type asteroids are likely not that worthwhile to mine because of a lack of differentiation, at least as a primary activity. Last edited by AlexanderHowl; 11-18-2020 at 11:14 AM.