Silicon Valley start-up looking to mine the moon

[Marcus Bryant]

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2011/04/moonex-rare-earth-rockets-space-travel.html

[RandomGuy]

I think of this, when people start hoarding gold and other precious metals.

With gold at record prices this stuff starts creeping into the realm of "way more plausible than many would give credit for". The ultimate supply of gold, when one extends ones vision to the solar system itself, is quite large relative to limiting oneself to our planet.

Because of the mechanics of planetary formation, the asteroids in our solar system are much much higher in terms of concentrations of metals than the earth's crust.

Honestly, I am not too sure about the moon's surface make-up in terms of how accessible metals might be. It is not altogether siesmically active, with a "cool" core, but the violence of its theorized formation might allow for a greater uniformity of mixture than earth's light-element crust. Hmmmm. Yet another interesting tidbit to look into.

[TDMVPDPOY]

it already costs alot to launch something into space

now add in the the machinery needed to be fitted and blow into space, more money

question is the lead time from pulling shit out of the moon and delivering it back to earth and processing it b4 putting it onto the market...

[Wild Cobra]

I have this SWAG that it will be real difficult to find precious minerals without the ability to dig past all the dust. Even then...

The fact the moon has no atmosphere makes this so much different than here. Meteors hit without burning up. Debris scatters for miles when they strike. This has been going on for countless millenniums.

Any rocks holding the desired ore in any particular area isn't an automatic indication of more in that area.

[RandomGuy]

I have this SWAG that it will be real difficult to find precious minerals without the ability to dig past all the dust. Even then...

The fact the moon has no atmosphere makes this so much different than here. Meteors hit without burning up. Debris scatters for miles when they strike. This has been going on for countless millenniums.

Any rocks holding the desired ore in any particular area isn't an automatic indication of more in that area.

Sorry, my post implied I thought that they would be getting asteroidal material. Easier to get asteroids for that. :)

They will likely be doing some surface mining.

More than likely they will simply slam a few more probes into the surface to see what gets kicked up.

[CosmicCowboy]

"Rare Earth" minerals aren't necessarily all that rare, there are a lot of places on earth that could be mined when the right price point is reached. I'm pretty sure that price point will be lower than the cost of mining on the moon...

[DarrinS]

It's not about gold, it's about Helium-3.

[RandomGuy]

It's not about gold, it's about Helium-3.

That is the thinking.

But gold at $1400 an ounce, and other platinum group metals going for some pretty hefty premiums probably won't hurt either.

I am by far not an expert on lunar regolith though.
(found a quick link tho', click here for a short primer) (http://www.moonminer.com/Lunar_regolith.html)

Getting things to the moon does allow a base of support with a much shallower gravity well that will allow us to extend our reach to the rest of the solar system, if nothing else, along with the access to the mass and energy that exists there. It is estimated that the asteroid belt contains enough iron alone to coat the surface of the earth with a layer of iron several hundred meters thick.

It will be the asteroids that will give us the most usable metals of all kinds.

Space is beginning to attract a lot of motivated, bright individuals. That bodes well for humans in general, IMO.

[RandomGuy]

"Rare Earth" minerals aren't necessarily all that rare, there are a lot of places on earth that could be mined when the right price point is reached. I'm pretty sure that price point will be lower than the cost of mining on the moon...

Probably. Depends on what they find though.

Moon bases in and of themselves probably don't mean much, but then railroads in the US didn't mean much in and of themselves in the 1800's either. What those rails and infrastructure enabled, however was a synergetic development of a vast amount of untapped resources.

If one had asked the average European about what they thought of the US in 1850, you would haven gotten little more than a derisive snicker.

[Viva Las Espuelas]

"Rare Earth" minerals aren't necessarily all that rare, there are a lot of places on earth that could be mined when the right price point is reached. I'm pretty sure that price point will be lower than the cost of mining on the moon...

Um, I don't know. Heard about this about a month ago.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/29/business/global/29rare.html

[Wild Cobra]

It's not about gold, it's about Helium-3.
Isn't the practical use for Helion still speculation?