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

From: Kevin Kichinka <marsrox_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Fri, 5 Apr 2013 21:25:29 -0600
Message-ID: <CANDn_7EYfK4si1v6FW5rs7++mzTTa51qQOjqTOz3SSoakvN28A_at_mail.gmail.com>

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
Received on Fri 05 Apr 2013 11:25:29 PM PDT