[meteorite-list] Sign Up Now for your Mineral Rights (Mining Asteroids for Platinum)

From: Michael Mulgrew <mikestang_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Fri, 5 Apr 2013 21:23:19 -0700
Message-ID: <CAMseTy3nd-GQP5crGxnc2ms3a5KFrvWeZRdEVgL5kAunBWCK+A_at_mail.gmail.com>

Just wait until you see the BLM permitting process to establish a
mining claim on an asteroid...

Michael is so. Cal.

On Fri, Apr 5, 2013 at 8:25 PM, Kevin Kichinka <marsrox at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Team Meteorite:
>
> When Ron Baalke forwarded today a news article about mining asteroids
> for platinum, I at once thought of science-fiction movies I have seen
> from behind a box of artificially-buttered popcorn.
>
> You know, those flicks where slaves from Earth work 84 year-days far
> beneath the surface of some bare rock-moon in space partnered with
> creatures normally viewed among the protozoa. Of course there is no
> possible escape from this living death, but movies need happy endings
> so our heroes always make it home to their Honey. Mining asteroids
> seems a bit far-fetched to me.
>
> But ask a question or make a comment on the m-list and someone opens
> the door to knowledge for you. Just walk through.
>
> Thanks to Randy Korotev, I know that "OC's may contain Pt at ore-grade
> concentrates of 1ppm."
>
> But really, how concentrated is that I wondered, ever the sceptic. Two
> seconds research informed me that Platinum is an extremely rare metal,
> occurring at a concentration of only 0.005 ppm in the Earth's crust.
>
> Looking deeper into the topic (research is like mining, just keep
> digging and you'll always find your bone) ...
>
> "Platinum exists in higher abundances on the Moon and in meteorites.
> Correspondingly, platinum is found in slightly higher abundances at
> sites of bolide impact on the Earth that are associated with resulting
> post-impact volcanism, and can be mined economically; the Sudbury
> Basin is one such example."
>
> And...
>
> "From 1889 to 1960, the meter was defined as the length of a
> platinum-iridium (90:10) alloy bar, known as the International
> Prototype Meter bar. The previous bar was made of platinum in 1799.
> The International Prototype Kilogram remains defined by a cylinder of
> the same platinum-iridium alloy made in 1879."
>
> Those two paragraphs were uncovered from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platinum
>
> Sterling Webb's ever astute comments and links gave me leads and info
> so that with a little follow-up I've also learned -
>
> - the total mass of all asteroids equals about 4% of our Moon's mass.
> (I had always thought the sum was equal to a 'broken' or 'aborted'
> planet the size of Mars or larger).
>
> - C-type asteroids are carbonaceous and the most common. Consisting of
> clay and silicate rocks they exist furthest from the Sun in the outer
> Belt and are the least altered by heat. They may consist of up to 22%
> water.
>
> - S-type 'silaceous' asteroids are primarily stony materials and
> nickle-iron and are found in the inner belt.
>
> - M-type asteroids are mostly nickle-iron and range in the middle region.
>
> One linked article allows that "because C-type asteroids are expected
> to have water they will be targeted first, the hydrogen and oxygen
> split to create fuel". (H-m-m-m-m-m, but 'closer' asteroids is
> 'better' asteroids).
>
> Most importantly, is mining platinum on asteroids and delivering it to
> Earth like so many storks bringing babies from outer space cost
> effective?
>
> It was estimated that a single 30m asteroid might yield $25-50 billion
> worth of Pt, more or less 40,000 to 80,000kg at 'today's prices'.
>
> The world's total Pt output was 192,000kg in 2010.
>
> >From the 'Economist' article link (BTW - my favorite magazine,
> Sterling) we learn, "...the real doubt over this sort of enterprise is
> not the supply, but the demand. Platinum, iridium and the rest are
> expensive precisely because they are rare. Make them common, by
> digging them out of the heart of a shattered planet, and they will
> become cheap. The most important members of the team, then, may not be
> the entrepreneurs and venture capitalists who put up the drive and the
> money, nor the engineers who build the hardware that makes it all
> possible, but the economists who try to work out the effect on the
> price of platinum when a mountain of the stuff arrives from outer
> space."
>
> ..... leaving me calculating the 'present value' of all this precious
> metal in 'Bitcoins' :>)
>
> Happy week-end.
>
>
> Kevin Kichinka
> Rio del Oro, Santa Ana, Costa Rica
> www.theartofcollectingmeteorites.com
> 'The Global Meteorite Price Report - 2013'
> Marsrox at gmail.com
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Received on Sat 06 Apr 2013 12:23:19 AM PDT