Mining the Moon for Gold (2024)

FAQs

Is there anything on the moon worth mining? ›

Helium-3 is one moon resource that is rare on earth but much more abundant on the lunar surface and could potentially be cheaper to mine from the moon. Helium-3 is a very attractive fuel for future nuclear fusion reactors. China, Russia and India have all expressed interest in sourcing lunar Helium-3 for use on earth.

Mining on the Moon looks set to be a practical reality within the next 10 years thanks to Space 2.0, which reached a major milestone just a few weeks ago when NASA's unmanned Orion capsule flew the furthest any crew-capable spacecraft has ever been from Earth.

Even if you mined gold on the moon the costs to extract it would be greater than the cost of gold on earth. Yes you have some gold from the moon now on earth, but you just lost a lot of money to do it. It is like spending 1 million to get 10 thousand dollars of gold.

There are vast quantities of water ice on the Moon that represent the potential for extraction and use in rocket fuel. But there are no practical reasons to mine this water. Building a Moon base will require extensive resources and infrastructure.

All in all there would appear to be a sporting chance of a fair concentration of diamond, especially round crater lips and, as craters simply abound, this would mean there could be a fairly widespread distribution.

'The law is way behind the time': Mining asteroids and the moon remains a huge legal gray area. Can we mine the moon and asteroids? NASA wants to make it happen, but it's still a huge legal gray area, experts say.

However, even though there are many precious metals and minerals on the moon, the most valuable resource is Helium-3 since it is rare on earth, but is very common on the moon. The price of Helium-3 could be even as much as $2000 per Liter, or $59.15 per ounce respectively.

China Plans Three Moon-Mining Missions After Finding a Potential New Source of Energy. The Chinese discovery of a phosphate mineral in columnar crystal has the nation clamoring for more of the Moon. A 2020 mission brought back minerals to China, leading to the discovery of a phosphate mineral now named Changesite-(Y).

Mining the moon for rare earth elements to bring back to Earth, for example, would be too costly, and the elements aren't in concentrations that are economically attractive, he said.

A 2009 NASA mission—in which a rocket slammed into the moon and a second spacecraft studied the blast—revealed that the lunar surface contains an array of compounds, including gold, silver, and mercury, according to PBS.

Why is the moon so gold? ›

During the daytime, the moon appears white because the sun is so much brighter than the moon; it cancels it out. As the sun sets, the moon is yellow because overnight, without the sun, the moon is the brightest thing in the sky.

"There are massive logistical issues around humans going to the moon, such as ensuring adequate supply of water, food, radiation proof shelter, medical support and setting up sustainable life systems," he says.

Access to resources: The moon is believed to contain a wealth of resources, including water, helium-3, and rare earth metals. These resources could be used to support human exploration of the moon and Mars, and they could also be used to create new technologies on Earth.

The United States and China explore lunar presence of critical minerals. As China, the U.S. and other countries work to expand mining and production of rare earth elements, the race to mine in space is growing more competitive.

Lunar resources will be important for common lithophile elements such as aluminum, titanium, and calcium. And the Moon may also have ores of rare, incompatible, lithophile elements such as beryllium, lithium, zirconium, niobium, tantalum, and so forth.

There is a lot of Titanium on the Moon that could be mined, see Moon Packed with Precious Titanium . But there's another substance on the Moon that is much more valuable: Helium-3 . It's not a metal, just a gas, but if we could mine it then it could cover most of our energy consumption .

Loparite. An exceptional ore commercially mined from moons, Loparite is highly valuable as it yields good quantities of Promethium, a vital element of many advanced materials. Loparite ores will also yield Platinum, Scandium and Hydrocarbons.