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

From: Jeff Grossman <jngrossman_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sun, 07 Apr 2013 10:57:13 -0400
Message-ID: <51618949.5060001_at_gmail.com>

So I only calculated the price of the precious metals. The base metals
are, in fact, worth much more than the precious metals in an H
chondrite, especially the Ni. Assuming only the iron in the metal phase
is recoverable, an H chondrite would seem to be worth around $50/ton in
Fe, $20/ton Co and nearly $300/ton in Ni. If you include this,
meteorites are worth a lot more than dehydrated humans.

But of course, in a recovered asteroid, the real value is probably in
the water. A 14,000 ton carbonaceous asteroid could have 1000 tons of
water in it. Here we are worried not about what we could sell it for on
Earth, but what it would cost to get that much water into space or
recover it from the Moon.

Jeff

On 4/7/2013 1:14 AM, Alan Rubin wrote:
> According to coolquiz.com, the commercial value of the substances in
> the average human body is $4.50. The average adult man has a mass of
> about 80 kg; the average adult woman, about 60 kg. So, the average
> adult person is about 70 kg. This indicates that the average adult is
> worth about $64/MT, nearly two-thirds the commercial value of a
> chondrite according to Jeff's calculation. I'm sure that there are
> philosophical implications to this, but I'm tired and can't figure
> them out.
> Alan
>
>
> Alan Rubin
> Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics
> University of California
> 3845 Slichter Hall
> 603 Charles Young Dr. E
> Los Angeles, CA 90095-1567
> phone: 310-825-3202
> e-mail: aerubin at ucla.edu
> website: http://cosmochemists.igpp.ucla.edu/Rubin.html
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jeff Grossman" <jngrossman at gmail.com>
> To: <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
> Sent: Saturday, April 06, 2013 6:24 PM
> Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Sign Up Now for your Mineral Rights
> (Mining Asteroids for Platinum)
>
>
>> I just did my own calculation... at pure metal prices, I find most
>> chondrites are worth around $100/metric ton, with Pt dominating the
>> calculation. Of the major groups of carbonaceous, ordinary, and
>> enstatite chondrites, H chondrites are worth the most... I get
>> $162/ton ($80 of which is Pt, $25 Pd, $24 Ir, $12 Au, $10 Os, $8 Rh,
>> $3 Ru). I would put our 15-m radius C-type asteroid at around $1.5M
>> worth of precious metals. Can somebody else reproduce $15B, which is
>> 10000 x what I got? I used the following prices in $/kg:
>>
>> $2,733 RU
>> $38,585 RH
>> $23,441 PD
>> $868 AG
>> $3,500 RE
>> $12,219 OS
>> $32,154 IR
>> $49,486 PT
>> $50,836 AU
>>
>> H chondrites have the following concentrations in kg/ton (which is
>> the same as mg/g)
>> RU 0.00111
>> RH 0.000207
>> PD 0.0011
>> AG 0.0000841
>> RE 0.00008
>> OS 0.00082
>> IR 0.00074
>> PT 0.0016
>> AU 0.00023
>>
>> And our 15-m radius C asteroid with density=1 g/cc weighs 14000
>> metric tons.
>>
>> So Pt in this asteroid is 49486 $/kg * 0.0016 Kg/ton * 14000 tons =
>> $1,100,000
>>
>> Did I mess something up? I'm tired, so maybe I did something wrong.
>> If you use an iron meteorite, you can multiply by 5.
>>
>> Jeff
>>
>> On 4/6/2013 5:47 PM, Michael Mulgrew wrote:
>>> Not to worry, executives from De Beers are forming a corporation to
>>> take care of just that.
>>>
>>> Michael in so. Cal.
>>>
>>> On Sat, Apr 6, 2013 at 6:47 AM, Michael Farmer
>>> <mike at meteoriteguy.com> wrote:
>>>> The problem is that supply and demand must equalize. I would think
>>>> that the arrival of more platinum that has ever been mined would
>>>> instantly depress the price on the open market.
>>>> Michael Farmer
>>>>
>>>> Sent from my iPhone
>>>>
>>>> On Apr 6, 2013, at 12:56 AM, bill kies <parkforestmet at hotmail.com>
>>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> All in due time. It will be mind numbing to the nth degree when
>>>>> profits are made. The potential for fees and regulation are as
>>>>> limitless as the greed based hallucinations that currently strip
>>>>> us of our ability, our will, to produce on an entrepreneurial
>>>>> level no matter how basic.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> ----------------------------------------
>>>>>> From: mikestang at gmail.com
>>>>>> Date: Fri, 5 Apr 2013 21:23:19 -0700
>>>>>> To: marsrox at gmail.com
>>>>>> CC: meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
>>>>>> Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Sign Up Now for your Mineral Rights
>>>>>> (Mining Asteroids for Platinum)
>>>>>>
>>>>>> 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 Sun 07 Apr 2013 10:57:13 AM PDT