Food for thought. One of the closest Near Earth Objects is an asteroid called 433 Eros. In the year 2012, it is expected to pass relatively close to Earth, about 70 times further away than is the Moon.
So why should we care? When we sent a probe to 433 Eros, we discovered that it has more gold, silver, zinc, aluminum and other metals than have ever been, or could ever be, mined from the upper levels of Earth’s crust.
Granted, this is on an object about 34km by 11km. However, it is a rotating object. If we sent a robot there, to knock off big chunks of the asteroid with explosives, we could use its own rotations to hurl those chunks a much closer, but safe distance from Earth.
Then we could catch those chunks, and mine them for their metal.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/433_Eros
Check out the neat animation made from photographs taken by the probe.
You’re starting to sound a little Lex Luther” there!
Sounds like I should be shorting gold.