Asteroid Mining?

[Famine]

Probably not. We're not short on water.

The rare minerals (rather elements) are, for reference, a necessity for our present existence. You'll use them every day - you used them to make that post.

 

[Dan_]

Yes, I did use the ores as a primary objective for asteroidal mining operations.

However, mining water and converting it into propellant and then storing it on a propellant depot on orbit sounded like a good byproduct of the primary objective to me.

I must admit I'm surprised that the 4 tonnes of annual Iridium production are laughable, compared to what you may find in a single asteroid, considering the amount of Platinum-group elements in asteroids and their scarcity here on Earth, the priority of water as a mining target is quite low indeed.

I learned a little bit more, thanks for the input.