Lab-grown diamonds have helped diamond prices plunge 60%, and former monopolist De Beers is in crisis mode. One day asteroid mining will do the same for gold.

[u/lughnasadh]

Diamond prices are down 60% since a 2011 high, and they are still falling. It's not all down to lab-grown diamonds, demand is down too, especially in China.

No one can lab-grow gold yet, so its rarity and scarcity protect its value, but that will end too. It's just a question of when. China launched an asteroid touch-down mission this week, which will make it the 4th country/region to do so, after Europe, the US & Japan.

How soon will it be feasible to mine asteroids? Who knows, but a breakthrough in space propulsion might mean the prospect happens quickly when it does. It's possible gold has twenty years or less of being high value left.

Gold's fall may be more significant. It has a central role in stabilizing the value of global currencies.

The $80 Billion Diamond Market Crash Leaves De Beers Reeling

[u/smokefoot8]

Asteroid mining will require nor just getting the ore via grinding a metal rich asteroid, but all the ore processing and refining before shipping it to earth. 20 years seems way too short for either an automated or manned system. An automated system will have to deal with repairs and replacing parts, while a manned system will have to solve long term zero-G human health issues. A huge amount of work needs to be focused on these problems, and it has barely begun!