Open University of Cyprus Researchers Map Moon-to-Asteroid Path for Future Critical Minerals

Highlights

• Open University of Cyprus researchers reviewed 638 publications to build an integrated framework linking critical-mineral demand with lunar in-situ resource utilization and asteroid mining.
• Asteroid rare earth valuations are exploration hypotheses, not reserve bases—most elements in meteorites are far less concentrated than viable Earth-based ores.
• The first major customer for space mining may be space itself, with water, iron, and aluminum used in orbit rather than returned to Earth.
• Building an independent rare-earth supply chain on Earth—covering separation, refining, and magnet manufacturing—may prove harder than escaping Earth's gravity.
• Trillion-dollar asteroid valuations ignore market-moving effects, recovery costs, and lack JORC or NI 43-101 reserve classification standards.