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The Chinchillas and the Gold Mine (2020)

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Re: The Chinchillas and the Gold Mine (2020)

#11

Post by mc32 »

blamazon wrote: post #9
giantg2 wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"We could collect those minerals from asteroids." Massively inefficient and requires huge amounts of energy beyond traditional mining. Yeah, about half of gold is used in jewelry. About a third is electronics.

Sure, asteroid mining would be expensive due to the challenges you pointed out. It would likely not be profitable any time soon. But not impossible. I bring this up because I just can't help but feel that open pit mining isn't technically necessary to advance as a civilization - it's just a practical choice that maximizes returns for proverbial shareholders. I feel we can do better as the apex species of our solar sy…

Ah, rockets. Imagine all the exotic toxic materials necessary to launch as the solution to a lesser problem.

Re: The Chinchillas and the Gold Mine (2020)

#12

Post by blamazon »

mc32 wrote: post #11
blamazon wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, asteroid mining would be expensive due to the challenges you pointed out. It would likely not be profitable any time soon. But not impossible. I bring this up because I just can't help but feel that open pit mining isn't technically necessary to advance as a civilization - it's just a practical choice that maximizes returns for proverbial shareholders. I feel we can do better as the apex species of our solar sy…

Ah, rockets. Imagine all the exotic toxic materials necessary to launch as the solution to a lesser problem.

Is there really that much exotic toxic stuff necessary in a rocket? Starship is made of steel and the fuel is already abundant. (Liquid oxygen and methane) Sure the engines are made of fancy alloys and such but those are reusable. I guess I don't know what the thermal tiles are made of or where that comes from.

There's also kinetic launching - address the bootstrap problem by concentrating an amount of fancy metals and such in one giant motor that can be reused many times.

Re: The Chinchillas and the Gold Mine (2020)

#13

Post by [deleted] »

blamazon wrote: post #5
mc32 wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Earth is in constant but mostly slow change with some abrupt changes which change the landscape and seascape at enormous scale -earthquakes, eruptions, plate tectonics, etc. Bugs and mammals burrow and alter the earth digging up lots of soil. Change is constant. The difference here is that it's mechanized -although there are hand mined mines in some areas of the world too. When we look to migrate form fossil fuel…

We could collect those minerals from asteroids. We could also mine deep underground without disturbing the surface. But, open pit mining certainly is dramatically more cost effective than either of those options. My problem with open pit gold mines in particular is that, while gold does have industrial uses, the primary function is to be a shiny thing worth money and I find this activity to be arbitrary and not clear…

[deleted]

Re: The Chinchillas and the Gold Mine (2020)

#14

Post by kdbeall_ »

blamazon wrote: post #12
mc32 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah, rockets. Imagine all the exotic toxic materials necessary to launch as the solution to a lesser problem.

Is there really that much exotic toxic stuff necessary in a rocket? Starship is made of steel and the fuel is already abundant. (Liquid oxygen and methane) Sure the engines are made of fancy alloys and such but those are reusable. I guess I don't know what the thermal tiles are made of or where that comes from. There's also kinetic launching - address the bootstrap problem by concentrating an amount of fancy metals a…

Also, gold content of asteroids is incredibly low. You'd be lucky to find a metallic asteroid with even 1 ppm of gold. Mines here on Earth often have grades above 4 ppm. The highest grade mines have above 20 ppm of gold. Second, let's say you find a M-type asteroid, how in the hell are you going to melt the nickel-iron and reprocess it for the valuable stuff like gold and platinum?

Overall, asteroid mining is pretty idiotic. It will not be economical within our lifetimes and certainly will not play a role in producing the resources necessary for combating climate change.

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