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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Matt Black" data-source="post: 449197" data-attributes="member: 5477">Have to disagree with this. Mining of the asteroid belt could be extremely cost-efficient, especially if most of the operations are robotic (sustaining human life there would be the most expensive prospect). Once you have your initial setup in place - a processing plant on a larger asteroid, drones to tow in small, metal-rich asteroids, a small habitat for the techs - the subsequent costs would be small. Transport could be very cheap, because you're dropping materials down into a gravity well, rather than lifting them out. And without over-mining or environmental concerns, you could turn out huge yields. The profits for the corporation which managed this would be massive. Recycling, on the other hand, could never yield the same magnitude of profit for a single corporation. Let's face it, world governments, which have  attention spans of exactly four years, will never commit to these sort of projects, which might take a decade or more to show returns. I think it'll happen, but it'll be in the hands of private enterprise. Same goes for manned missions to Mars.</blockquote>