Like fossil fuels, the planet's metal reserves have been depleted to an alarming rate. According to statistics, the supply of Antimony lead and indium, which are metals used in renewable energy solutions, will run out before 2040. Likewise, gold zinc, copper and silver would be depleted by 2060.
Despite the obvious scarcity, the consumption of these metals remain at an all time high. Fortunately, a tiny country in Europe has since proposed a peculiar plan in order to supplement Earth's depleted resources.
Just this week, Financial Times reported that the government of Luxembourg, a tiny country with the world's highest GDP at 100,00 per capita, is about to launch a program that aims to mine asteroids or near-earth objects for minerals.
"We know how to get to asteroids, how to drill into them and how to get samples back to Earth," explained Jean-Jacques Dordain, former director of the European Space Mission and current adviser on the asteroid project.
The initiative is not the first proposal aimed to using celestial objects as a source of minerals. In 2012, entrepreneurs including Erin Anderson, Peter Diamandis, James Cameron, Larry Page and Eric Schmidt founded a company called "Planetary Resources" which aims to harvest a near-earth object by creating a fuel depot in space by 2020.
More recently, Deep Space Industries founded by David Gump has announced their intention to find suitable asteroid for mining by 2015 and proceed with collecting samples this year.
Despite the excitement surrounding the possibility of mining asteroids, there are several criticisms directed at the initiative. Some scientists claim that the endeavor is not financially viable.
According to their estimation, a capital of $100 billion is needed to proceed with the project. Furthermore, legal guidelines surrounding the endeavor is hazy at best. According to one facet of the space law that involves the moon, the celestial body cannot be owned by any State. Such law can be extended towards other near earth objects like the satellite.