Re: Nickel Iron Bonanza
- From: Uncle Al <UncleAl0@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 02 Sep 2005 08:02:30 -0700
mytg8 wrote:
>
> 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. ;-)
[snip]
1) Doesn't that sum to rather a wide, high mountain?
2) Won't it begin to rust when wetted (rain)?
3) Rusting is exothermic.
4) Nickel is a potent allergic sensitizer.
> 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?
If you did process it, what would you do with it? You probably want
it in ~inch pieces rather than dust for a basic oxygen furnace.
> 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?
Cost implosion. Supply vastly exceeding demand forever. Even given
free steel, what would you do with all of it? Even China could not
absorb it building cities.
> 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.
Steel is dense to ship and energy-intensive to create. Plastic is is
task-oriented.
--
Uncle Al
http://www.mazepath.com/uncleal/
(Toxic URL! Unsafe for children and most mammals)
http://www.mazepath.com/uncleal/qz.pdf
.
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- Nickel Iron Bonanza
- From: mytg8
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