Well something like platinum could be an important element (catalyses a lot of necessary processes). Its abundance will vary by a large amount across start syst

Well something like platinum could be an important element (catalyses a lot of necessary processes). Its abundance will vary by a large amount across start systems. The earth is relatively rich in the element, so it is likely that we would have a comparative advantage here, but there could also be places like asteroids that have much greater amounts of this metal than us but smaller supplies of essential elements like phosphorous.