[whiskers08xmt]

A lot of heavy rare earth metals can only be found in very limited concentrations in the earth's crust, with the largest concentrations all being from asteroid impacts. As a consequence, these metals are incredibly valuable. A single high-concentration asteroid, could provide more of these metals than has been mined in the history of the earth, in high concentrations, and may be able to make a host of applications economically viable, which previously weren't.

[sisu2019]

The rare earth scarcity scare is already receding: https://www.theverge.com/2018/4/17/17246444/rare-earth-metal...

Yeah, heavy REMs are still expensive but there is really no reason to believe that they'll stay that way. New sites will be found, new extraction techniques will be tried and new processes developed and then the problem will go away. Sure, it could happen in space but it's so much easier to do here on earth that it might never be worth it to go to space for it.

[Brakenshire]

The guy's misusing "rare earth", in that phrase rare refers to the concentration in the ore, not the abundance in the crust.

[metalliqaz]

but it would be, by far, the most expensive mining operation in the history of mining operations

[mr_overalls]

Yes, but if several thousand tons of iridium, platinum, or various rare-earth metals could be captured & towed to Earth orbit, the payoff could be astronomical.

[HarryHirsch]

Suddenly there would be so much of a supply that the sale won't be profitable any longer. That's probably the reason why no one is extracting rhodium from nuclear waste, where it is a common fission product.

[bluGill]

I've been told that the trucking industry needs every year more platinum than has been mined in all of history. Since there obviously isn't supply they instead use alternative means to achieve their emissions goals.

I'm not an emissions system engineer so I can't evaluate the truth of the statement. If it is true, and supply existed: it would create demand, potentially it could even drive up price as potential users quit using less desirable alternatives.

[mr_overalls]

That's why I suggested orbit, where the supply could be parceled out (or its true extent even kept secret) so as not to crash the market.

[HarryHirsch]

The demand is mostly in chemical industry and very inelastic. No one is going to put another plant on line because platinum group metals are cheap (but plants may be pulled off line because the economy is in the dumps, as happened in 2008 and 2017). Even small increases in supply will lead to great drops in price. You can only hope that a plentiful supply would encourage new uses.

[cwkoss]

Orbital piracy is going to be a great subject for action films.

[elsonrodriguez]

Counter example: De Beers.

[whiskers08xmt]

No doubt. It'd be incredibly expensive and risky, but with a huge potential pay-off.

[dnautics]

Rare earth metals are a bit of a misnomer, they're not that rare at all.