Mining the moon as well as surrounding asteroids seems like the next logical evolution for the mining industry. While this sounds like science fiction at the moment, governments and companies around the world are already working on potential projects to bring this into reality.
Investors should watch out for how this sector develops, as there are potentially quadrillions of dollars worth of precious and industrial metals located on the moon as well as in surrounding asteroids orbiting the Earth.
While most would have guessed that remote-controlled robotics would do the actual mining itself, another potential option being evaluated is the use of metal-harvesting bacteria.
New research being conducted at the University of Colorado suggests that metals found in space asteroids could be successfully mined via bacteria. This niche area, called biomining, is already a reality on Earth, with around 5 percent of gold and 15 percent of the planet’s copper being extracted via this method, it’s currently uncertain how the bacteria in question, Shewanella oneidensis, will respond under reduced-gravity conditions.
How biomining works is that rough, mined materials are placed in vats with water alongside specialized bacteria that end up extracting the desired metals out of the surrounding rock as by a byproduct. “In space, there are virtually limitless amounts of some of the 44 endangered elements that could face supply limitations here in the future,” said researcher Luis Zea in response to the sheer potential of the space mining industry in the future.
She went on to cite as an example asteroid 16 Psyche, which currently is located somewhere between Mars and Jupiter. Current estimates predict that this asteroid has a whopping $700 quintillion worth of iron, nickel and precious metals that can be mined with the proper technology, with NASA planning to explore it sometime in 2022 to verify these figures.
Even if these estimates might seem ridiculously high to the average investor, there are plenty of highly lucrative, smaller asteroids floating just around Earth. Many of these comparatively smaller asteroids are worth hundreds of billions if not trillions of dollars in the amount of gold, platinum, and other metals they carry.
Space mining would also be excellent from an environmental standpoint, as planet-side industrial mining often produces significant waste as a by-product. This is especially true in the case of various rare earth metals, which is why countries like China have become the world leader in this area as their environmental standards are laxer.
Besides an abundance of rare and precious metals, space mining could also yield rare isotopes that otherwise aren’t found on Earth. The moon’s surface, in particular, has a large quantity of helium-3, an isotope with a market value of $5 billion that is a potential replacement to uranium.
Current estimates predict that with around one million tonnes of helium-3 sitting on the moons surface, that would be enough to meet the world’s energy needs for up to 500 years.
With companies moving in to develop new technologies in this area, investors should keep their eyes open in the following years for new developments in this market.