> Increased material availability would lead to economic growth and increasing demand. Not for iron and nickel. Iron is the most abundant element on earth and

> Increased material availability would lead to economic growth and increasing demand. Not for iron and nickel. Iron is the most abundant element on earth and the 4th most abundant in the crust. It's practically everywhere. Almost all of the cost comes from processing and transporting it. Even if there ever were a shortage, it'd almost certainly be more economical to mine it from the mantle or crust than fly to the asteroid belt and bring it back. Iron is really far down the list of elements we need to worry about running out of. The article's kind of silly, TBH.