[Xlythe]

But having 1 entity control such a large amount of supplies means that entity can control the market rate (they simply hold on to it or sell it as needed). National banks, like the Bank of Canada, already do this with their country's currency.

[jlarocco]

First, there's already a ceiling on the price from the current supply. The price can only go down.

Second, if it works out for them and they're able to start mining these, other people will start doing it, too.

[lusr]

Out of curiosity, what happens if a second company (say, Anglo Platinum) goes out there and blows up the facilities of these guys? Maybe even murders their miners (if there are to be any humans out there). What would the legal protection be?

[jerf]

"Out of curiosity, what happens if a second company (say, Anglo Platinum) goes out there and blows up the facilities of these guys?"

War.

However, the good news is that even on Earth the benefits of cooperation tend to outweigh the benefits of aggression, in space for the foreseeable future it will be even more so. It is so, so easy to trash a space facility and so, so hard to defend against it that in essence all private companies in space will de facto be in a MAD situation should they decide to go that route. It will be a long time before anyone will have a position where they can afford to attack somebody and have a reasonable expectation of survival.

[gojomo]

…other people will start doing it too…

What if the pioneer's space manufacturing, using their cheap and plentiful resources, gives them an insurmountable lead? They win the race to claim and defend new prospects against latecomers.

(To the planetbound, this might just look like a suspiciously long string of failures by all subsequent foothold missions…)

[asdf333]

As a nation with an army, they could do something like this.

As a private company--especially if this mineral becomes very necessary and expensive--would be a very big target for some sort of 'congressional oversight' to 'protect national interests' and prevent a harmful monopoly.

[philwelch]

With the Google folks running things, yes, that's very possible. Someone who's more savvy and experienced in these kinds of things would find ways around that problem, like De Beers has.

[Jimmie]

Diamonds would be a good example too, right? Platinum would be even better in this situation, I think, because it has more practical uses than diamonds.

[colechristensen]

Diamonds aren't worth very much. Try reselling a diamond to find out how little they're really worth.

[jquery]

Computers aren't worth very much. Try reselling a computer to find out how little they're really worth.

Cars aren't worth very much. Try reselling a car to find out how little they're really worth.

Shoes aren't worth very much. Try reselling a shoe to find out how little they're really worth.

[jquery]

I love how HN is some bastion of free-market thinking, but when it comes to items of fashion (aka items that females tend to desire), suddenly supply and demand go out the window, and the pricing of diamonds (and other fashion items) is a vast conspiracy. Horseshit. De Beers monopoly died a long time ago. Diamonds are no more overpriced than any other item of fashion. If you want to buy diamonds at "wholesale" prices there is nothing stopping you.

[iwwr]

Diamonds are not an investment vehicle, but rather a consumer item. They carry high markups and have a limited resale market.

[jdale27]

Cars and shoes depreciate because they wear out. Computers depreciate for the same reason, and more so for the fact that the price/performance ratio of computing technology improves so rapidly. Neither of those apply to diamonds.

[talentdeficit]

diamonds aren't artificially scarce to control demand, they're artificially scarce due to low demand. bringing a gigantic chunk of platinum to earth isn't going to increase the utility of platinum, although if prices fall far enough it may increase the utilization

[noilly]

They would still be constrained to degrees by their marginal costs (the price floor) v what the market will bear. Who knows what the actual costs will be the day they have a giant rock in orbit, although I expect they will fall rapidly with advancing privatization. I am sure they will take very conservative actions, but imagine the potential liabilities–might be a lot more than the value of the rock.

[willvarfar]

Its only worth the $8 trillion because they haven't any.

Imagine they release 100 tons / year.

The world supply of platinum has just gone from 100 to 200 tons / year.

Or they release 200 tons, and the world supply goes up to 300 tons / year.

At some point really low they'll make platinum as common as dirt and worth about as much.

* exaggeration to make point. Point stands.

[salvadornav]

Price will surely go down, but as long as they have exclusive control on supply, and the ability to manage it smartly they could still make a ridiculously huge amount of money.

[willvarfar]

kind of unlikely revenue will be $8 trillion or whatever the valuation is, though, right?

[sliverstorm]

Wait, your argument is that because they could flood the market and tank platinum, platinum will tank?

[willvarfar]

Absolutely.

You cannot value the asteroid at weight * current_price_per_ton.

Because the earth is surviving on 100 tons of platinum / year, and the current_price_per_ton is based on demand to supply.

If you rocket back with a whole 100 tons in the first year, you dramatically affect supply. The price drops; platinum suddenly becomes more affordable for more things, demand may increase and so on.

But we can all see that if there were mile cube of platinum delivered to earth, it wouldn't actually be worth $1500/ounce any more.

[sliverstorm]

Sure the price would be influenced, but as expensive as dirt?

[willvarfar]

* exaggeration to make point. Point stands.

[beambot]

eg, De Beers for diamonds.

[nhebb]

They would be the De Beers of precious metals [1]. With that kind of wealth at stake, the monopoly wouldn't last long. You'd see competition from other private ventures, as well as from countries (Russia, China, ...).

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Beers#Diamond_monopoly