What if it gets to the asteroid and finds that it’s solid gold?!?!?!!?..................
More likely nickel-iron. But either way, we need to plant our flag and prospect for more.
It's likely that our prospecting will be done from one of the Lagrange points, using a (finger quote) laser (finger quote).
From a different vantage point, maybe one or more sats cruising in Solar orbit, when the laser hits, the sats would read the emission spectra to assay the composition without waiting for a close-up visit which would take years and have to be done one at a time.
And, a possibly related sidebar:
Too bad that, given the cost of transportation, it would still not be economically viable to lug any of that gold back to Earth.
Regards,