http://www.newsweek.com/asteroid-moon-mining-usgs-cosmic-gold-rush-1105570

There is big money floating around space—so much so we could be on the brink of a cosmic gold rush, with nations across the globe all hoping to cash in. Now, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has said it wants a piece of the action, with the agency saying it has been paying “close attention” to space resources for a number of years.

Laszlo Kestay, a research geologist at the USGS Astrogeology Science Center, told Space.com that as commercial ventures hoping to mine asteroids edge closer to reality, it is the the job of the USGS to get involved. "The USGS realized that our congressional mandate to assess natural resources extends to space," he told the website.