Tell me about rare earth metals. Is there a way to mine/process

>>8838188
>Is there a way to mine/process them without polluting the environment?
No.

>>8838188
yes

>>8838195
Really?

Can you explain how they are processed and what exactly in their processing causes pollution?

>>8838199
The processing doesn't matter. The mining process *will* create pollution and environmental damage. You can take steps to mitigate damage during the process and attempt to reclaim it afterwards; however, neither of those are entirely effective.

>>8838208
>extraplanetary mining
>without polluting the environment
checkmate

>>8838249
That's the best thing about asteroid mining, especially if we can also stick processing in space. Extraction of useful shit from the earth is always going to cause some kind of problem.

>>8838188
Maybe

everything we do on the earth causes some form of pollution.

you want pollution free rare earths? mine an asteroid of the moon.

>>8838257
Building rocketships to mine asteroids is a colossal waste of cash that only a billionaire could fantasize about.

>>8838299
More like a tetrillionaire or richer by a few orders of magnitude, but that doesn't mean that one of the best things about it is minimal to no damage to the environment where we live.

>>8838299
>Iridium in incredibly rare on earth.
>He3 is incredibly rare on earth.
>No such thing as free hydrogen on earth.
>one asteroid of platinum group metals could collapse prices on earth.
>modern electronics require rare earths, iridium, platinum group metals, and gold.

>>8838262
He obviously meant relatively speaking

>>8838330
if you can find a way to process the wastes for useful materials. then you can do it relatively pollution free.

the petroleum industry started just to refine kerosene out of oil, for lamps. then they dumped the rest down streams. Rockefeller of Standard Oil say the dumping as wasteful. because they could be selling that waste instead. So they found other useful hydrocarbons, like gasoline.

>>8838299
>Building rocketships to mine asteroids is a colossal waste of cash that only a billionaire could fantasize about.
Not if you build the rocketships out of materials you mined from asteroids.

>>8838299
Dragon capsules have a large enough return to earth payload to make platinum, iridium, or certain rare earth metal mining profitable.

Just have to move the rocks into ISS orbit.

>>8838249
>mine asteroids
>leave loads of shit around earth
>leave trash in space
you fucked up.