Hollow Sister PGM Rubble Pile

Hollow Sister, catalogued as 2179-HS, is a 3.2-kilometre rubble pile orbiting at 2.31 AU. Its name comes from its bulk density, barely 1.6 tonnes per cubic metre, which tells geophysicists the body is more void than rock. Inside those voids, though, sit boulders of metal-rich chondrite unusually high in platinum-group elements.

Pickaxe Survey Drones flew a 200-metre line-spaced aeromagnetic grid over the body in 2186, flagging forty-one strongly magnetic blocks. Anchoring rigger Tavita Fale's team then pinned two prospectors to the surface with Tether Anchor Kits so they could shoot each boulder with a Spectra Assay Lance. Hand-held LIBS readings averaged 38 g/t platinum, 19 g/t palladium and 4.1 g/t rhodium across 312 shots, later confirmed by laboratory fire assay.

Estimated tonnage of mineralised blocks is a modest 1.1 million tonnes, but the grades are exceptional and nothing has to be drilled: the ore can be bagged and lifted. The claim is unstaked and goes under the gavel as lot 7. Bidders should budget for a Basilisk Salvage Tug, because the body's slow tumble must be damped before any sustained work.