asldh@acad2.alaska.edu (06/11/91)
In article <sehari.676666308@du248-12.cc.iastate.edu>, sehari@iastate.edu (Sehari Babak) writes: > This article originally was posted in misc.invest. I thought it might be > interesting for this news group too. > > In <1991Jun11.055227.2611@nas.nasa.gov> crayfe@nas.nasa.gov (Cray Hardware Support) writes: > >>I recently came across this article in sci.elctronics and thought it >>might be of interest since the recent discussion of where the price >>of gold might be going. Anybody care to comment? > >>In article <7Fs532w164w@spocom.guild.org> >>luns@spocom.guild.org (Luns Tee) writes: >>>> > >>>Today's Washington Post reports that an asteroid has been found orbiting the >>>Sun at a distance of about 20 million miles from Earth (closest point). It >>>apparently contains 10000 tons of gold and 100000 tons of platinum, as well >>>as 10 billion tons of iron and 1 billion tons of nickel. Its estimated >>>worth was put at around 1 trillion dollars. > > This might be one of the first real applications of Space technology. I say > NASA should issue stocks to built a space craft to go and bring that thing Why NASA? Why not a private concern? Just a quick thought... > down. This could open up another very lucrative investment, a side from > satellites. The technology we gain could help us mine other~r > space too. Then, boldly going were no man has gone before makes business > sense to. > Unfortunately, the prices of gold and platinum are driven largely by the laws of supply and demand. Drag these quantities of them to Earth, and their prices will plunge. Not that I find this to be a disturbing prospect, necessarilly. As Heinlein notes in _The Door Into Summer_, gold (and, I beleive, platinum also), is very important in engineering, and cheap gold and platinum would open up a brave new world of electronic engineering. I would certainly invest in such a venture -- so long as the folks involved have a clear understanding that they are not likely to get *current* market value for the gold & platinum. On the other hand, is there anyone out there with easy access to the figures for world gold and platinum production levels today? Are these quantities large enough to distort the market, or am I blowing a false alarm? > I assume this could be possible if the price of gold goes much higher. let us > forget about mars and concentrate on this, for now. After all, who needs cheap > marsian dart. <Sigh> It's not the dirt we need, but the acreage... But that is unlikely to become a reality anytime soon... > > With highest regards, > Babak Sehari. -- @#%!@#%!@#%!@#%!@#%!@#%!@#%!@#%!@#%!@#%!@#%!@#%!@#%!@#%!@#%!@#%!@#%!@#%!@#%! # % @ % Lars D. Hedbor ! The enduring and uninfringed freedom of # ! USAF, Inc. @ humanity is among the very few things % @ Student at # worth devoting your entire life to. ! # UAA % @ % asldh@acad2a.anc.alaska.edu ! -Me, just this moment. # ! @ % @#%!@#%!@#%!@#%!@#%!@#%!@#%!@#%!@#%!@#%!@#%!@#%!@#%!@#%!@#%!@#%!@#%!@#%!@#%! SysOp of the Observatory, (907) 277-3508, 3/12/24/9600, 8N1, Opus 1.14 These opinions are not necessarily even mine!
sehari@iastate.edu (Sehari Babak) (06/12/91)
This article originally was posted in misc.invest. I thought it might be interesting for this news group too. In <1991Jun11.055227.2611@nas.nasa.gov> crayfe@nas.nasa.gov (Cray Hardware Support) writes: >I recently came across this article in sci.elctronics and thought it >might be of interest since the recent discussion of where the price >of gold might be going. Anybody care to comment? >In article <7Fs532w164w@spocom.guild.org> >luns@spocom.guild.org (Luns Tee) writes: >>> >>Today's Washington Post reports that an asteroid has been found orbiting the >>Sun at a distance of about 20 million miles from Earth (closest point). It >>apparently contains 10000 tons of gold and 100000 tons of platinum, as well >>as 10 billion tons of iron and 1 billion tons of nickel. Its estimated >>worth was put at around 1 trillion dollars. This might be one of the first real applications of Space technology. I say NASA should issue stocks to built a space craft to go and bring that thing down. This could open up another very lucrative investment, a side from satellites. The technology we gain could help us mine other things in the space too. Then, boldly going were no man has gone before makes business sense to. I assume this could be possible if the price of gold goes much higher. let us forget about mars and concentrate on this, for now. After all, who needs cheap marsian dart. With highest regards, Babak Sehari.
hal@gibbs.physics.purdue.edu (Hal Chambers) (06/12/91)
>>>Today's Washington Post reports that an asteroid has been found orbiting the Sun at a distance of about 20 million miles from Earth (closest point). It apparently contains 10000 tons of gold and 100000 tons of platinum, as well as 10 billion tons of iron and 1 billion tons of nickel. Its estimated >>>worth was put at around 1 trillion dollars. In article <sehari.676666308@du248-12.cc.iastate.edu> sehari@iastate.edu (Sehari Babak) writes: >This might be one of the first real applications of Space technology. I say NASA should issue stocks to built a space craft to go and bring that thing down. This could open up another very lucrative investment, a side from satellites. The technology we gain could help us mine other things in the space too. Then, boldly going were no man has gone before makes business >sense to. >I assume this could be possible if the price of gold goes much higher. let us forget about mars and concentrate on this, for now. After all, who needs cheap >marsian dart. =================== So this means the asteroid is no more than 0.001% platinum and 0.0001% gold. How does this compare with terrestrial ores? Besides, a body of 10^9 tons doesn't sound too feasable to "bring down" to Earth. Hal Chambers hal@maxwell.physics.purdue.edu ------------ "In the beginning the universe was created. This made a lot of people very angry and has been widely regarded as a bad move." - D. Adams
rb9a@kelvin.seas.Virginia.EDU (Raul Baragiola) (06/12/91)
In article <sehari.676666308@du248-12.cc.iastate.edu> sehari@iastate.edu (Sehari Babak) writes: >This article originally was posted in misc.invest. I thought it might be >interesting for this news group too. > >In <1991Jun11.055227.2611@nas.nasa.gov> crayfe@nas.nasa.gov (Cray Hardware Support) writes: > >>I recently came across this article in sci.elctronics and thought it >>might be of interest since the recent discussion of where the price >>of gold might be going. Anybody care to comment? > >>In article <7Fs532w164w@spocom.guild.org> >>luns@spocom.guild.org (Luns Tee) writes: >>>> > >>>Today's Washington Post reports that an asteroid has been found orbiting the >>>Sun at a distance of about 20 million miles from Earth (closest point). It >>>apparently contains 10000 tons of gold and 100000 tons of platinum, as well >>>as 10 billion tons of iron and 1 billion tons of nickel. Its estimated >>>worth was put at around 1 trillion dollars. > With all the discussion going on about NASA's budget, the timing of this news (?) is too perfect. Now, how can they tell the asteroid contained platinum and not lead, just to give an example? -- Raul A. Baragiola \Internet: raul@virginia.edu Dept. Nuclear Engnr. and Engnr. Physics \Phone: (804)-982-2907 University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22901 \ Fax: (804)-924-6270
shirriff@sprite.berkeley.edu (Ken Shirriff) (06/12/91)
In article <1991Jun11.122417.1@acad2.alaska.edu> asldh@acad2.alaska.edu writes: [Asteroid with 10000 tons of gold and 100000 tons of platinum] >is there anyone out there with easy access to the figures for world gold and platinum production levels today? 1987: world gold production: 52.5 million troy ounces, of which the US produced 10%. world platinum group production: 8.668 million troy ounces. (From US Statistical Abstracts) 52.5 million troy ounces = 1.6 million kilograms 10000 tons = 9 million kilograms So the asteroid contains 5.6 years world gold production, and 338 years platinum metals production (assuming I didn't blow the units conversions.) Of course the entire asteroid won't end up on the world market at once. (Someone said that the asteroid was small number ppm gold and thus wouldn't be worth mining. However, I would guess that the asteroid wouldn't be homogeneous, and thus the high concentration areas might be worth mining.) Ken Shirriff shirriff@sprite.Berkeley.EDU
fiddler@concertina.Eng.Sun.COM (Steve Hix) (06/12/91)
In article <1991Jun11.223608.2087@agate.berkeley.edu> shirriff@sprite.berkeley.edu (Ken Shirriff) writes: > >So the asteroid contains 5.6 years world gold production, and 338 years >platinum metals production (assuming I didn't blow the units conversions.) > >(Someone said that the asteroid was small number ppm gold and thus wouldn't >be worth mining. However, I would guess that the asteroid wouldn't be >homogeneous, and thus the high concentration areas might be worth mining.) One point is that the metals in the mass likely aren't going to be tied up in combination with other elements such as oxygen, sulfur, etc. They should be closer to raw metal than to normal ores. This isn't going to make much difference in the platinum-group metals and gold, since they don't combine much...but the iron and nickel should be easier to refine than they would normally be here dirtside. No need (nor desire!) to bring the whole thing down in one lump sum, as it were, btw. -- ------------ The only drawback with morning is that it comes at such an inconvenient time of day. ------------
u714092@eagle.larc.nasa.gov (prichard devon ) (06/12/91)
actually, we are secretly collecting those suckers and selling them on the commodities market. that's _why_ the price of precious metals has been dropping. coupla more years, and we'll all be living in Tahiti! ;) ;) -- |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| | Devon Prichard "The atrocious crime of being a young | | u714092@eagle.larc.nasa.gov, man... I shall neither attempt to | | prichard@ias.larc.nasa.gov palliate nor deny." | | William Pitt, House of Commons, 1741 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
shafer@skipper.dfrf.nasa.gov (Mary Shafer) (06/12/91)
Yo, people. Look at the Newsgroups line and edit it accordingly. This
has nothing to do with aeronautics.
--
Mary Shafer shafer@skipper.dfrf.nasa.gov ames!skipper.dfrf.nasa.gov!shafer
NASA Ames Dryden Flight Research Facility, Edwards, CA
Of course I don't speak for NASA
"Turn to kill, not to engage." CDR Willie Driscollhallvard@immhp3.marina.unit.no (Hallvard Paulsen) (06/12/91)
In article <sehari.676666308@du248-12.cc.iastate.edu>, sehari@iastate.edu (Sehari Babak) writes: |> This article originally was posted in misc.invest. I thought it might be |> interesting for this news group too. |> [stuff deleted] |> |> >>Today's Washington Post reports that an asteroid has been found orbiting the |> >>Sun at a distance of about 20 million miles from Earth (closest point). It |> >>apparently contains 10000 tons of gold and 100000 tons of platinum, as well |> >>as 10 billion tons of iron and 1 billion tons of nickel. Its estimated |> >>worth was put at around 1 trillion dollars. |> |> This might be one of the first real applications of Space technology. I say |> NASA should issue stocks to built a space craft to go and bring that thing |> down. This could open up another very lucrative investment, a side from |> satellites. The technology we gain could help us mine other things in the |> space too. Then, boldly going were no man has gone before makes business |> sense to. |> |> I assume this could be possible if the price of gold goes much higher. let us |> forget about mars and concentrate on this, for now. After all, who needs cheap |> marsian dart. |> This sounds like a task for Donald Duck & Co. :-) \\___// | | Hallvard Paulsen, MSc |_____| Research Engineer / Grad. Student || o || Division of Machinery || \\|| NORWEGIAN MARINE TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH INSTITUTE \\ TEL : +47 (07)595522 o FAX : +47 (07)595983 // EMAIL : hallvard@imm.unit.no O
strong@tc.fluke.COM (Norm Strong) (06/12/91)
In article <1991Jun11.202207.15680@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU> rb9a@kelvin.seas.Virginia.EDU (Raul Baragiola) writes: }In article <sehari.676666308@du248-12.cc.iastate.edu> sehari@iastate.edu (Sehari Babak) writes: }>This article originally was posted in misc.invest. I thought it might be }>interesting for this news group too. }> }>In <1991Jun11.055227.2611@nas.nasa.gov> crayfe@nas.nasa.gov (Cray Hardware Support) writes: }> }>>I recently came across this article in sci.elctronics and thought it }>>might be of interest since the recent discussion of where the price }>>of gold might be going. Anybody care to comment? }> }>>In article <7Fs532w164w@spocom.guild.org> }>>luns@spocom.guild.org (Luns Tee) writes: }>>>> }> }>>>Today's Washington Post reports that an asteroid has been found orbiting the }>>>Sun at a distance of about 20 million miles from Earth (closest point). It }>>>apparently contains 10000 tons of gold and 100000 tons of platinum, as well }>>>as 10 billion tons of iron and 1 billion tons of nickel. Its estimated }>>>worth was put at around 1 trillion dollars. }> } }With all the discussion going on about NASA's budget, the timing of this }news (?) is too perfect. Now, how can they tell the asteroid contained }platinum and not lead, just to give an example? Someone's been to the movies. There was a movie called Outland a few years back. The plot revolved around a titanium mining operation on the Jovian moon of Io. -- Norm Strong (strong@tc.fluke.com) 2528 31st S. Seattle WA 98144 USA
jones@ohstpy.mps.ohio-state.edu (06/12/91)
sehari@iastate.edu (Sehari Babak) writes: >crayfe@nas.nasa.gov (Cray Hardware Support) writes: >>I recently came across this article in sci.elctronics and thought it >>might be of interest since the recent discussion of where the price >>of gold might be going. Anybody care to comment? The price of gold will go way down if the market is flooded with it. Gold based economies will be disturbed. [deleted: discussion about the golden asteroid] > I assume this could be possible if the price of gold goes much higher. let us > forget about mars and concentrate on this, for now. After all, who needs cheap > marsian dart. Mars might have more to offer us than just cheap darts :-) -- bob jones; Disclaimer: "I just said what?"; jones@ohstpy.mps.ohio-state.edu
jdnicoll@watyew.uwaterloo.ca (James Davis Nicoll) (06/13/91)
In article <10265.28560852@ohstpy.mps.ohio-state.edu> jones@ohstpy.mps.ohio-state.edu writes: >sehari@iastate.edu (Sehari Babak) writes: >>crayfe@nas.nasa.gov (Cray Hardware Support) writes: >>>I recently came across this article in sci.elctronics and thought it >>>might be of interest since the recent discussion of where the price >>>of gold might be going. Anybody care to comment? > >The price of gold will go way down if the market is flooded with it. >Gold based economies will be disturbed. > >[deleted: discussion about the golden asteroid] > >> I assume this could be possible if the price of gold goes much higher. let us >> forget about mars and concentrate on this, for now. After all, who needs cheap >> marsian dart. > >Mars might have more to offer us than just cheap darts :-) The really sad thing is that the *cost* of getting the gold and platinum out of the Golden Asteroid might well be an order or two (or more) of magnitude higher than the value of the gold, especially if you dump 10,000 tons of gold on the market. Heh. Lets announce that there exists a plausible, cheap, available to get the GA , and buy gold cheap while the panic lasts. James Nicoll
kludge@grissom.larc.nasa.gov ( Scott Dorsey) (06/13/91)
}>>>Today's Washington Post reports that an asteroid has been found orbiting the >}>>>Sun at a distance of about 20 million miles from Earth (closest point). It >}>>>apparently contains 10000 tons of gold and 100000 tons of platinum, as well >}>>>as 10 billion tons of iron and 1 billion tons of nickel. Its estimated >}>>>worth was put at around 1 trillion dollars. This sounds pretty suspicious. The first problem is that gold is soft and has a low melting point. This would make it seem as if it wasn't an element to be particularly popular among asteroids, and a quick glance at a table of meteorite compositions makes me rather sure. Platnum perhaps. The second problem is that space travel is very expensive. I rather suspect that it would cost a lot of money to get there, perhaps more than the material is worth at the depressed prices that would result from the discovery. Also you'd probably want to refine it in orbit or in place, which isn't something that anyone has tried yet. I haven't seen the Post article or the spectral data. But I can tell you that there are a lot of things out in space far more valuable than gold. I refer to abstract things like knowledge, but also to concrete things like vacuum :-). --scott
myers@hpfcrlm.HP.COM (Bob Myers) (06/14/91)
>So this means the asteroid is no more than 0.001% platinum and 0.0001% gold. >How does this compare with terrestrial ores? Besides, a body of 10^9 tons >doesn't sound too feasable to "bring down" to Earth. No one would seriously propose to bring 10^9 tons down - not when there's more than enough energy, practically free for the taking, in space. A reasonably high orbit is the proper place for smelting this thing, then you just drop the refined metals down in conveniently-sized batches. Bob Myers | "There is a law of inertia. And I have found that of myers@fc.hp.com | all the inert substances, the most inert is the | human brain." - Edward Teller
002@pnet16.cts.com (J.W.Cupp Lcdr/Usn) (06/14/91)
kludge@grissom.larc.nasa.gov ( Scott Dorsey) writes: >}>>>Today's Washington Post reports that an asteroid has been found orbiting the >>}>>>Sun at a distance of about 20 million miles from Earth (closest point). It >>}>>>apparently contains 10000 tons of gold and 100000 tons of platinum, as well >>}>>>as 10 billion tons of iron and 1 billion tons of nickel. Its estimated You know, this is the old problem. Part of gold's value is its rarity. If somehow an inexhaustable supply could be located and exploited, then everyone's gold would become worth much less than it is now. (Its primary inherent value is from its electrical properties.) J. W. Cupp = + = + = + = + = + = + = + = + = + = + = + = + = + = + = + = + = + = + = + = Transmitting to you from the beautiful sunny shore of the Island of O'ahu, somewhere in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Aloha! UUCP: humu!nctams1!pnet16!002 Naval Telecommunications Center ARPA: humu!nctams!pnet16!002@nosc.mil Pearl Harbor, Hawaii INET: 002@pnet16.cts.com I am solely and personally responsible for the all of the content of the above post. It is all merely my opinion, and not to be construed as anything else.
bobt@pogo.WV.TEK.COM (Bob Tidrick) (06/15/91)
In article <1991Jun13.233605.12792@ncep1.uucp> 002@pnet16.cts.com (J.W.Cupp Lcdr/Usn) writes: >everyone's gold would become worth much less than it is now. (Its primary >inherent value is from its electrical properties.) > J. W. Cupp Not true. Its primary value is its resistance to corosion and its malability. This does relate to electrical properties but is missleading. -- Bob Tidrick GPID Engineering Tektronix Inc. Wilsonville OR.
randyk@sequent.com (06/20/91)
>Today's Washington Post reports that an asteroid has been found orbiting the >Sun at a distance of about 20 million miles from Earth (closest point). It >apparently contains 10000 tons of gold and 100000 tons of platinum, as well >>as 10 billion tons of iron and 1 billion tons of nickel. Its estimated >worth was put at around 1 trillion dollars. As I understand the issue, besides the engineering problems, there are several legal issues as well. Anything not manmade that is in space is unowned. If you spend millions getting a valuable meteor back to Earth orbit, anyone can mine it. If you mine it and throw the minerals back, anyone can intercept it. It isn't yours until you get it onto the Earth. My information on this issue is almost a decade old now, does anyone have anything newer?
has@ukc.ac.uk (H.A.Shaw) (06/27/91)
In article <1991Jun12.184554.4558@watdragon.waterloo.edu> jdnicoll@watyew.uwaterloo.ca (James Davis Nicoll) writes: > > Heh. Lets announce that there exists a plausible, cheap, >available to get the GA , and buy gold cheap while the panic lasts. > I'm sure I suggested some time ago that the gold (and other metals) producers in the world (South Africa, USSR, etc...) would pay NASA well NOT to bring a gold baring asteroid back to Earth and flood the market. Remember that blackmail is an old tradition in the world of the free market :-( > James Nicoll Email: has@ukc.ac.uk | Howard Allan Shaw. | The Unit for Space Science. Phone: +44 227 764000 Extn: 3785 | Room 165, Physics Laboratory, | The University, (nobody cares what I say anyway!) | Canterbury, England. CT2 7NR