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Originally Posted by Zachary
I wonder - since there's no atmosphere on the moon I assume these elements are in their pure form and wouldn't need much (any?) refining - so maybe in the distant future it would be worthwhile carting the stuff back from the moon instead of extracting it from their ores on earth...
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They're not. Lunar metals are in the form of various ores, similar to low-grade ores on earth, which will require significant processing to make into useable metals. It can be done with materials available on the moon, but it's not just a matter of scooping the stuff up and melting it down.
If you really want to look at off-world metal mining, the asteroids are a much better bet. There are some nickle-iron asteroids which are nearly pure metal ore, and unlike the moon they have useful amounts of rare metals like platinum and iridium.