As our society\'s need for economic mining and metallic ores increases, will we
ID: 116739 • Letter: A
Question
As our society's need for economic mining and metallic ores increases, will we need to explore the option for mining interplanetary and on asteroids? Or should we only focus on mineral resources present on Earth; those known as well as those yet to be explored and discovered? Compare and contrast asteroid mining versus Earth mining. As our society's need for economic mining and metallic ores increases, will we need to explore the option for mining interplanetary and on asteroids? Or should we only focus on mineral resources present on Earth; those known as well as those yet to be explored and discovered? Compare and contrast asteroid mining versus Earth mining.Explanation / Answer
MINING involves various methods of extracting valuable minerals and other geological materials from the deeper layers of earth. In other words, rocks which do contain a lot of minerals in them are called ORES and when these ores are extracted from the ground then it is termed as MINING.
Basically there are two types of mining:
1. OPEN-PIT MINING do involves drilling and blasting methods for excavation and this open pit mining procedure is safe for workers and also easy to operate manually.
2. UNDERGROUND MINING involves excavation of soft rocks such as coal, trona and salt. This particular procedure is highly expensive and high risk is involved alongside with many environmental, social concerns.
ASTEROID MINING refers to the exploitation of raw materials from asteroids and other minor, which includes near earth objects. This mining program was started since 2015 with a whopping budget of cost above 50 million. The main intention behind this asteroid mining is to extract rare metals like PLATINUM. In my point if view except RARE METALS EXPLOITATION, there is no need for spending huge investments on asteroid mining.
In my opinion i do prefer both earth mining and asteroid mining for two different reasons. The first reason to support earth mining is because it is very cheap compared to asteroid mining and also have so many positive impacts compared to asteroid mining. By practicing earth mining we can provide raw materials like gold, silver and coal which are very much essential for modern industry as well as to our economy. This type of mining procedures can provide employment to local people on large scale, who can be employed for low wages. Thus by which business do flourish in those particular area. Where as in case of asteroid mining only technical and highly trained persons are needed which involves high salary pay, which becomes additional burden. But in case of environmental impact issues my vote is for asteroid mining because earth mining can greatly pollute air, water and contaminate soil. Earth mining also damages our ecosystems. So in this point of view asteroid mining clear advantage, which doesn't pollute environment like earth mining does.
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