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.
The $80 Billion Diamond Market Crash Leaves De Beers Reeling
Have we even confirmed there are asteroids made of gold yet?
We have.
Surely there exists a better source. Not clicking on Fox News.
Here is an archived snapshot I found of the Fox article
At the bottom it says the story originally ran in The Sun, here is a snapshot of that page as well.
I followed the other user's snarky DDG link and the first hit is this article from Smithsonian Magazine that appears to be about the same story.
Finally, here is a far less sweaty page from NASA about the actual object, though the composition of metals isn't discussed in detail.
After skimming all this I kinda feel like it's a stretch to say that asteroid is "made of gold".
I think "enough gold to completely destroy the gold industry (as a precious metal)" is close enough to "made of gold" for me.
fair!
Love you
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=nasa+gold+asteroid&t=fpas&ia=web
Do you not understand the offense you just did by linking to fucking fox news? Seriously?
Pearls in pig slop, I know. They reference another article, give the asteroid name, give a list of expected metals to be found, and wrap it in a lovely Fox News bow of some pundit giving his idea of what that all means for the rest of us. As journalism goes, it's top tier for Fox.
Surprised fox didnt comment how this is against the natural order and bringing back gold from space will unleash a hoard of demons on the earth.
Asteroid might remain too expensive if it's even possible, with rocket fuel, mining equipment in space,etc
Good source of iridium, which is rare on earth