Comm-Link:Clean Shot - Shipping Update - 2942-12-19

Hey there, folks. You’re back with Craig Burton and Clean Shot. Now we’re gonna get to that old thing that keeps them planets spinning. I’m talking about the buckaroos, the rhinos, the spondulicks. This is Trade Or Dump, where we talk about Econ, Creds, and which cargos are trading high and which should be dumped out the hold. Today’s episode is brought to you by Kel-To ConStores:

When you’re on the move through the systems, there’s nothing better than a little taste of home. Stop by any Kel-To Convenience Stores today, home of the classic HydroFroz, for all of your shopping needs. Kel-To, it’s a long road out there, we make it a little shorter.

Alright. Let’s jump to it. First order of business, I don’t know if you’ve caught the buzz but prospectors discovered a massive Rhenium deposit on Osiris II. Now all of the planets in Osiris are declared developing planets but since life has only been discovered on Osiris V, it’s possible that the Senate might open up bidding for mining rights. The motion will supposedly be brought up once the Senate returns from their break, so keep an eye on those updates to see which Corp secures that cred-mine. One thing’s for sure, opening up Osiris for business will do wonders for a corner of the UEE that desperately needs an economic shot to the arm.

Next up, Asteroid Mining. That’s been a lot of talk of late about it. The tech’s become a lot more affordable for haulers and traders to earn some extra income. There is a downside to this, people. More often than not, the majority of the haul you’ll extract from the average asteroid is iron and nickel. Obviously, rare metals will pop up as well but as a baseline, you’ll get more of those than anything else. So as more people start mining, the more iron and nickel will appear on the market and the price will plummet. If you want my advice, and I hope so since you’re listening, I would dump iron and nickel. If you’re getting hired to run it as cargo, make sure you get all your money up front and don’t take a commission of the final transaction.

Speaking of which, join us for a special installment where we break down Asteroid Mining to see if it’s right for you and yours. We’ll look at which targeting systems give you the cleanest extraction cuts to avoid vaporizing the minerals and tackle the eternal debate: is it better to scoop or tractor the minerals into your ship for processing?

Special guests will include Wilton Tchuss, ex-shipper and recent entrepreneur, and Norman Colton of the RSI’s Astro Development team, and Dr. Fah Teller, who recently made waves by claiming that without official destruction protocols, asteroid mining could lead to planetary collisions. It’ll be a spirited talk so start sending those comm messages in so we can keep the discussion on the topics you want to hear.

Now I get a lot of messages over the weeks. Some of you got a little heated over our last episode about the Hauler Guilds and Networks, so I want to take a moment to cool things down. Y’all know that at the end of the day, I’m here for you. I’m trying to present all the information, good or bad, so you can decide for yourself what’s best. Now when I’m talking about whether it’s cost-effective to join a Shippers Network, I’m asking a question. In order to access the Networks list of contacts and available jobs, you got to pay anywhere between 15-20% of your pay. My criticism of this system is that Network is also charging that same rate to the person posting the cargo manifest. Don’t get me wrong, the Networks can be a lifesaver, providing a single-source location to find a job but that’s an awfully big chunk of cred to hack out of your take-home. Sure, the alternative is that you need to find and maintain your own contacts, but it was a question. My daddy was born a Guild-man so I got nothing but respect for my brothers and sisters on the long burn but when times are this tight and every credit you get is already spoken for, you gotta ask these questions. So there, got that off my chest and hopefully we can clear them baffles and still be friends.

Finally, my Trade Pick for this episode is Thorium. Due to the growing demand as a component for Mag-Thor construction materials as well as its applications in planet-side power generators, prices have been on a steady up-tick for the past few weeks. So keep an ear to those Comms for anybody with Thorium shipments to move.

That should do it, folks. Again, don’t forget to send on those questions for our special on Asteroid Mining.

Get to where you’re going. My name’s Craig Burton.

Keep sparkin’ people.

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