Rickman, Douglas L.

NASA Technical Reports Server

D Rickman 
Marshall Space Flight Center 
X Prize Workshop, NASA/Ames, Feb. 9 -10, 2012 
A Prospect Evaluation for Lunar PGEs 
https://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=20120004096 2019-08-30T19:48:21+00:00Z
Slide 2 
D Rickman 
March 27, 2012 6:07 PM 
SATURN V 
Height:     364 ft.  
Sue’s Car 
First Stage 4,881,000 38 6,000 
Trans Lunar Burn Third Stage 
Command 
Module 
Fourth Stage 
Orbital Burn 
Lunar Module 
115 
24,500 
17,500 
32,299 
265,000 
12,807 
Second Stage 1,037,000 15,300 114 
Weight  
(lbs.) 
54,064 Service Module 
Altitude 
 (miles) 
Velocity 
(mph) 
6,600,000 
239,000 
Diameter: 33 ft 
Informal Definitions 
Slide 3 
D Rickman 
3/27/2012 6:07 PM 
• Resource – When something occurs at a concentration above 
“background” or “normal.” 
• Ore – A resource that is economically productive to recover and 
market. 
• Evaluation – The process of determining the value of a resource.  
Note this is a continuous and non-linear process. 
• Reserve – An ore whose characteristics are sufficiently well known 
to do detailed planning for recovery with specific, detailed financial 
estimates.  
Steps in an Evaluation 
Slide 4 
D Rickman 
3/27/2012 6:07 PM 
CAVEAT: While terrestrial analogs must be used with caution they can 
also give a framework for thought and guidance.  The general 
process for evaluating the possibility of resource being an ore is well 
developed and is applicable to the problem at hand.  Geology, 
engineering, legal and financial considerations are integral part of an 
Evaluation, the purpose of which is to permit a fiscal decision. 
 
To begin  
 
Steps in an Evaluation: I 
Slide 5 
D Rickman 
3/27/2012 6:07 PM 
The Obvious Stuff 
 
1. What metals (almost always plural) 
2. Where is it 
3. Transportation costs 
A. To and from the site for men, materials, energy, and everything 
else 
B. Within the mining operation 
4. What is the geology, shape, size, grade, etc. of the deposit 
Steps in an Evaluation: II 
Slide 6 
D Rickman 
3/27/2012 6:07 PM 
The Other Stuff 
5. Legal constraints and considerations 
6. Engineering the Processing 
A. Mining 
B. Milling – each of the following is commonly a multi-step process 
i. Size reduction 
ii. Size separation 
iii. Beneficiation 
C. Recovery (thermal (smelting for example), electro-winning, 
refining, etc.) 
7. Market Analysis 
8. Valuation (what is it worth - $) 
9. Cost of funds 
10. Risk Analysis 
Starting Questions: I 
Slide 7 
D Rickman 
3/27/2012 6:07 PM 
1. How do the PGEs occur in the regolith?  Terrestrial examples 
suggest possibly 
A. Free, native PGE or as free PGE minerals 
B. In other metals  
C. In sulfide minerals 
D. In chromite 
2. Locked phases? 
NOTE: The above two items are frequently hideously complex and utterly 
essential parameters in the financial viability of a project. 
3. Is there more than one source? If so what are their relative 
magnitudes? 
4. Elements of Evaluation which the above three affect 
1. Ore body definition – the techniques used are totally dependent 
on this one fact. 
2. Extraction techniques 
1. Beneficiation 
2. Recovery 
Starting Questions: II 
Slide 8 
D Rickman 
3/27/2012 6:07 PM 
5. Why are the PGEs there?  What is the genesis of this resource?  
This is critical as it guides exploration within a deposit and for new 
deposits.  It can inform many of the other steps in the evaluation.  
Thoughts from ISRU at NASA: I 
Slide 9 
D Rickman 
3/27/2012 6:07 PM 
1. What is the down mass and the up mass at each point? 
2. Where does the energy come from for each surface process?  
1. Chemical 
2. Thermal (solar or nuclear)  
3. Photoelectric 
4. Thermal electric (wells) 
3. How much autonomy for each component and system?  Does 
“human-in-the-loop” help or cause problems, especially with Earth-
bound personnel and the time lag? 
4. How much mass has to be moved at each processing step: 
mining, milling, beneficiation, recovery? 
5. How integral do you want each of the systems that do the 
proceeding processes? 
Thoughts from ISRU at NASA: II 
Slide 10 
D Rickman 
3/27/2012 6:07 PM 
6. Sensitivity to feedstock that is outside of design criteria.  For 
example what happens if a competent rock gets into a hopper or 
the concentration of sulfur, phosphorous, or a halide is higher than 
expected?  Or lower than expected? 
7. Consumables? 
8. “Non-terrestrial” physics  i.e. things that happen, like static 
charging due to abrasion, that may not be a problem on Earth but 
could be a major factor on the Moon. 
9. Size reduction and size sorting are high mass operations.  They 
are also likely to have lots of abrasion.  Beneficiation may also 
follow this pattern.  Remember tails must be removed from the 
milling site or you bury yourself in your own wastes. 
10. Recovery processes typically are either very high temperatures 
(>1000°C) or involve aqueous processes.  Both are obvious 
challenges in a lunar environment. 


A Prospect Evaluation for Lunar PGEs

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