http://www.space.com/31177-space-mining-commercial-spaceflight-congress.html
Space mining just got a big boost.
The U.S. Congress’ passage of a bill that allows American companies to own and sell materials they extract from the moon, asteroids or other celestial bodies should help spur the development of off-Earth mining, representatives of the nascent industry say.
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The bill addresses a number of spaceflight issues. For example, it extends the United States’ commitment to the International Space Station through at least 2024, and it gives private companies until 2023 to meet human-spaceflight safety standards, pushing back the original deadline by seven years.
But the space-mining aspect of CSLCA has generated the most headlines. The bill’s Title IV reads, in part:
“A United States citizen engaged in commercial recovery of an asteroid resource or a space resource under this chapter shall be entitled to any asteroid resource or space resource obtained, including to possess, own, transport, use, and sell the asteroid resource or space resource obtained in accordance with applicable law, including the international obligations of the United States.”
The bill does not allow ownership of an asteroid, or a swath of the moon, or any other section of extraterrestrial real estate — just the resources extracted from such a body. Space mining will thus be analogous to fishing in international waters, Lewicki said.