Nickel Iron Bonanza

Greetings-

I am a Science Fiction writer and have a couple of chapters (of a work
in progress) based on the following premise. As is obvious, I know
little or nothing about any phase of the metals market. The
protagonist, through various means (this is science fiction, remember;
I have a lot of leeway--er--miraculous happenings going on) :-).

Anyway, the situation is this- the protag has at his disposal roughly
100 trillion (million millions; ie, Teratons) of M-class asteroid
nickel-iron. It's crushed, of very high purity (or so the scientific
speculation of such asteroids claims), and is stored? in a readily
accessible area, say, assume near railroads, uh... near Pittsburgh, or
some steel center here in the US. This has been carried out by what we
SF guys call Handwavium, with a capital aitch. One heck of a lot of
high-grade nickel iron(12-15 trillion cubic meters), more or less ready
for processing; ready for the mill. The protag owns it all, and is
willing to sell it cheap. Say, just off the top of my head, a buck a
ton. ;-)

If you are still reading :-), would you please give your opinion on
what would now happen under the above...er...assumptions--

Could this massive amount of metal be processed by, say an upgrade of
existing facilities in the USA?

More importantly, would the market implode because of the huge
infusement of raw product? Or is an idea of a market saturation crash
really too simplistic?

My own naive assessment is that the industry could upgrade, and
accordingly turn the situation into a sort of revolution that mirrors
the US steel market in the mid twentieth century, e.g., steel products
replacing much of what is now made of plastic? A wild idea, to be
sure.

Thanks for your time.

crs

.

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