OSIRIS-REx will collect samples from an asteroid and return them to Earth, in what it could be a pivotal step for firms currently planning to tap into the space mining business.
Erdenes Tavan Tolgoi (ETT), the state-owned company that holds the license to the deposit, has already begun evaluating bids and calculating the potential economic benefits of restarting it.
Move comes thirteen months after an EPA crew mistake caused millions of gallons of bright orange wastewater to taint rivers in Colorado, New Mexico and Utah.
