GLOBaL MINING NEWS
ThE NOrThErN MINEr / March 7-13, 2016
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Beyond water Aspiring asteroid miner Planetary resources isn’t shy about talking up the potential for platinum group metals in space. “A single platinum-rich, 500-metre wide asteroid contains 174 times the yearly world output of platinum, and 1.5 times the known world reserves of platinum group metals,” the company said. “We’ve been mining asteroids on Earth for centuries.” The challenge and cost of producing metals in space and hauling them back to Earth is too steep for many traditional mining firms to pay much attention, according to Joe Hinzer, president of mining consultancy Watts, Griffis and McOuat. “For the foreseeable future we’re going to do our traditional metal extraction here,” he said. But in a world where national space agencies are facing a fiscal squeeze, while the private sector is increasingly active in space, it is possible to offset costs with valuable metals. “Some of the metals don’t need a lot of volume to have a lot of value,” said mining entrepreneur Rob McEwen. “And if you’re coming back empty already, you can probably fill’er up. “The moon has been viewed in some ways as a catcher’s mitt for all sorts of special debris and bodies that have landed on it. And some of them are mineralized,” said McEwen, who is an investor in California-based Moon express, which is trying to win the US$30-million Google Lunar X Prize by landing the first privately-funded spacecraft on the moon in 2017.
Deltion Innovations’ coring drill inside the lunar test chamber at the NASA Glenn Research Center in Ohio. dELTiON iNNOVATiONs
Terrestrial and space mining share similar project risks and time horizons, and miners understand supply-logistics chains as well anyone, he said. “There is a huge knowledge base in mining that has yet to be applied in space exploration,” Boucher said, adding that his NaSa contacts are interested in getting a miner’s perSMSJ_Sept 2012_Pro_TH_PC spective to inform space solutions.
supportive framework that created the great economies of history, and will encourage the sustained development of space,” said co-founder and co-chairman Eric anderson. however, the bill’s conflict with the Outer Space Treaty is plain to see. “My initial reaction was that it’s a breach of international law,” said cassandra Steer, executive director of the centre for research in air and Space Law at McGill University. Equipment for rights andMobile regulations “The problem is that you can’t give Beyond the technical challenges, property rights away that you don’t Safety and Productivity a large question remains: Who, already have.” e has ocated to ato exploitsq ftInternational Lant if anyone, the right law also prevents resources in space? nations from using national laws The 1967 Outer Space Treaty, with to circumvent international obli103 signatories, including the U.S. gations. “What they’ve done is just and canada, prohibits commercial wrongful,” Steer said. activity in space. The treaty’s first Speer suspects that U.S. legislators article explicitly states that every- are fully aware of the international thing in space is the “province of law. “This might be a creative way of all mankind,” and “shall be free forcing … states to come together for exploration and use by all states and negotiate an international reSMSJ_Sept without discrimination of any kind, gime that would allow for mining to SMSJ_Sept 2012_Pro_TH_PC 2012_Pro_TH_PC on a basis of equality.” The second take place, but would have protecMobile Equipment for article adds that outer space “is not tions around it.” Safety and Productivity subject to national appropriation by The momentum towards comclaim of sovereignty, means Re-Located to a 50,000 by sq.ft . PLant!of mercializing space continued in Febuse or occupation, or by any other ruary when Luxembourg’s Deputy means.” Prime Minister Étienne Schneider Nonetheless, the treaty didn’t stop announced the country is working U.S. President Barack Obama from to become a European hub for space signing the U.S. commercial Space resource industries and is developLaunch competitiveness act into ing a “legal framework that ensures law in November 2015. The bill states that private operators working in that any american who recovers any space can be confident about their resource in space is entitled to use, rights to the resources they extract.” hold, sell or transport that resource “The current international legislaas they see fit, “in accordance with applicable law, including the international obligations of the U.S.” Authorized Fledgling asteroid miner PlanToyota Landcruiser etary resources applauded the move. Dealer “This legislation establishes the same
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tion was adopted in the sixties, when space mining was mere science fiction,” Schneider said. “Today, these rules prohibit an appropriation of space and celestial bodies, but they do not exclude the appropriation of materials which can be found there.” rules to manage space resources could be modelled on our governance of resources in the high seas, Speer said, where the International Seabed authority regulates activity beyond national jurisdictions. canada’s reputation may make it an ideal candidate to help lead any governing body that will oversee space commerce. “canadians are seen as the good guys in space,” said Speer, an australian who worked in amsterdam before taking her current post in Montreal. Moreover, canada is an exemplar when it comes to regulating resource development and creating a market that works, according to Joe hinzer, president of mining consultancy Watts, Griffis and McOuat. “Perhaps the canadian model might be a good basis for designing a system [for space] in the future,” hinzer said. The early rules for prospecting and mining in North america were
Dale Boucher, CEO of Sudbury-based Deltion innovations, thinks there may be gold in the same parts of the moon where water is suspected: the permanently shadowed areas in craters on the lunar poles. In 2013 Boucher co-authored an article published in the journal of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics that looks at data collected during NASA’s 2009 LCROSS mission. The results reveal “several spectral emission lines in the UV that are consistent with the presence of platinum, as well as silver and gold,” the article said. The authors estimate gold concentrations in the “electrostatic placer deposits” are greater than one part per thousand. To put this in perspective, the report notes that a survey of 71 Canadian gold miners indicated their reserves contain less than one part gold per million. Interestingly, the lunar gold sits at or near surface and in a form that doesn’t require the crushing of hard rocks. “Such rich gold deposits — if they exist — are entirely unprecedented on Earth.” “Moreover, the gold market — unlike the market for PGMs — is large enough to withstand infusions of hundreds of tonnes of new gold per year without significantly affecting the price of gold,” the authors argued. “Gold has served to open up several historical frontiers, including California and the Klondike. Given the tantalizing LCROSS results, it is possible that gold could serve as the catalyst that will open up the lunar frontier.” tnM
set by the prospectors and miners themselves, hinzer noted, and the space-faring nations may need to get together and form a regulatory body in the same way. he said a regime to govern space mining should be modelled on the North american system of staking claims and resource regulation. In such a scenario, canadian expertise would be vital. from sudbury to the moon? Deltion’s drill has proven its capabilities and offers a good chance to get canadian technology to the moon for the resource Prospector Mission. But without support from the canadian Space agency, the drill may never take flight. NaSa will only fund non-U.S. technology if it is unavailable domestically, and it has been pumping money into U.S. firm honeybee robotics, which is catching up to Deltion’s drilling capabilities. “I estimate we’re still about a year ahead of them,” Boucher said. In an emailed response to The Northern Miner, the cSa said that “at the moment, space mining is not a priority for the cSa, but we follow progress on initiatives in this field.” The agency “is not currently
planning or involved in a space mining mission ... cSa’s current priorities in space exploration are the International Space Station program, astronomy and planetary science missions.” Boucher says it’s not too late for canada to join the resource Prospector Mission, if Navdeep Bains, canada’s Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, would direct the cSa to focus on space mining. “[Bains] must be convinced that space mining is important for canada, for canadian industry and for canadian innovation.” Boucher would also like to see the government extend flow-through financing for the space mining sector. “That will kick off the whole domino deck.” In February, australia, another mining nation, began reviewing its space legislation and regulations. The government is looking to reform the legislation with an eye towards “supporting emerging commercial opportunities” in space. canada must move quickly on space mining “to prevent other countries from taking our place,” Boucher warns. “If we wait too long, we will be pushed off the stage.” tnM
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