Asteroids vs Planetary Mines

[Daigoro]

Originally Posted by Anaraxes

The World Gold Council defines "high grade" ore as 8+ g/t (ppm), while "low grade" ore is 1-4 g/t.

How is the "t" defined here? Is that per ton of extract?

If so, what happens when we get TL10 hi-res ore maps which show the mining drones where to go more precisely and hence cut down on the amount of waste material extracted?

Originally Posted by khorboth

Something often forgotten in these anslyses is the human factor.

Likewise, the political factor has been ignored so far.

If we have an Expanse-like setting, we have the OPA in control of the asteroids, and they may be unwilling to sell minerals to Earth or Mars. The Inners would then have to resort to planetary mining.

And then... (spoilers for season 4):

Spoiler:  

... there are the Belters who want to settle on planets through the Ring. They no longer want to live in space and want to settle terrestrial worlds, so they mine whatever minerals they find available on-planet.