The increasing price of precious metals has prompted mineral prospectors to consider unusual places. Jon Evans looks into the future of mining © Stocktrek Images/AlamyMining is already a reasonably extreme activity, moving and processing large quantities of material in often unpleasant and hazardous conditions. But imagine how much more extreme it would be to mine at the bottom of the ocean or on asteroids in the depths of space. That is exactly what a few pioneering companies are planning to do.The impetus for these extreme forms of mining is the recent dramatic rises in the price of many metals, driven...