June 4, 2025
Deposits of platinum and other metals on the moon have been estimated at a trillion dollars. Lunar craters may contain platinum and other precious metals trapped there as a result of meteorite impacts, worth more than a trillion dollars. This means that mining resources on the moon may be more economically profitable than individual asteroid mining - although the legal status of such activities remains unclear.
An international team of scientists from the UK, Canada, and the USA has assessed the presence on the Moon of commercially significant amounts of platinum group metals (platinum, palladium, rhodium, ruthenium, iridium, and osmium) left over from asteroid collisions with the lunar surface. The results of the study are published in the journal Planetary and Space Science.
"Astronomy exists today mainly to satisfy our curiosity. It has very few practical applications, and research is funded primarily by taxes, which makes science dependent on politics. If we can monetize space resources - on the Moon or asteroids - private companies will start investing in the exploration of the Solar system," explained astronomer Jayanth Chennamangalam, one of the authors of the work.
The calculations took into account the proportion of lunar craters presumably formed by metallic asteroids, the number of such asteroids with a sufficient concentration of platinum group metals, as well as those that collided with the Moon at a sufficiently low speed to leave significant fragments. It turned out that of the approximately 1.3 million lunar craters with a diameter of more than a kilometer, about 6,500 were formed by asteroids carrying commercially significant amounts of platinum.
"This means that there may be many more craters on the Moon with ore-bearing asteroid remnants than there are asteroids available for mining," noted Chennamangalam.
According to his rough estimates, the cost of platinum and other metals suitable for mining in lunar craters can reach a trillion dollars.
Mining on the moon will be easier than on asteroids, since most asteroids are further away, and their negligible gravity creates technical difficulties. The moon's gravity is six times weaker than Earth's, but it still simplifies the task.
However, even if moon mining is technically easier, legally it may be more difficult. The Outer Space Treaty of 1967 remains the cornerstone of international space law, regulating all activities beyond Earth, including resource extraction. It stipulates that "outer space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies, is not subject to national appropriation," but it remains controversial whether asteroids belong to "celestial bodies" and whether mining by private companies can be equated to "national appropriation."
"Although [the agreement] is clearly applicable to such activities, it leaves key questions unanswered. In particular, there is a lack of clarity on the ownership of extracted resources, commercial licenses, fair distribution of benefits, environmental standards and rules for a long—term presence on the moon," commented Rebecca Connolly, a space law lawyer from the University of Sydney.
Some compare mining on asteroids with fishing in international waters, which is allowed despite the lack of sovereignty, but it is more difficult to apply this analogy to the Moon.
The United States tried to clarify the situation by proposing non-binding "Artemis Accords" - a set of principles for space exploration, including commercial extraction of mineral resources on the Moon. The accords were signed on October 13, 2020, by the directors of eight national space agencies: the United States, Australia, Great Britain, Italy, Canada, Luxembourg, the United Arab Emirates and Japan. Later, other countries joined the agreement. The accords remain open for signature indefinitely, as NASA expects other countries to join them. At the moment, 55 countries have signed it, but not China and Russia, which remains uncertain.
"As private mining in space becomes a reality, it is important to address the gaps in the Outer Space Treaty and establish clear and fair rules at the multilateral level," Connolly concluded.
Sources:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0032063325000960
https://naukatv.ru/news/zalezhi_platiny_i_drugikh_metallov_na_lune_otsenili_v_trillion_dollarov