Can space junk be mined for metals and minerals?

Right now the cost to do it would outweigh what they could get for it. And it can also be pretty dangerous I would guess, too. It would be a good idea to get it down. What kinds of materials are so exotic they would be worth it? I could imagine how some of our frenemies would feel if we snaked some of their old stuff to look at.

I think @woodcutter has that right. It will be quite a while before the increasing prices for scrap metals and the cost of going into orbit to retrieve them cross. But the threat that space junk poses to hundred million dollar satellites may tip the economic scales for reasons not related to scrap metal pricing.

It will be a gold mine when we learn to make stuff in space. Solar cells, Alum, Ti are tempting. It is expensive launching stuff up. Much better to scavenge for stuff already up.

This question reminds me of the joke about the three legged chickens that were racing around a farmer’s yard. The farmer was asked what the three legged breed of chicken tasted like and he said I’ve no idea I have never managed to catch one.

In the distant future I think they will find a way.

It’s barely practical to recycle some parts of earthbound electronics.
Separating the component compounds and elements is much more expensive than mining fresh materials for the time being.

If better methods for recycling are available, and the process could be accomplished in space, then I could see recycling some space junk for use on new machinery in space.

Its a good idea that we remember where these items in space are located.
One day in the far future when there is nothing more to mine, these items
will be a welcome source of materials to mine.
( assumming of course that in the future technology would have advanced
to enable easy access?)
(space elevator)?

I think @RocketGuy and @dabbler have the best take on this so far. The difficulty with getting that stuff down to Earth where the metals (and any other materials) can be reprocessed will be getting something UP there first to carry them down, because they will have to be carried to be of much good to us. If they’re allowed to fall to Earth naturally (which they will do eventually anyway) then most of them will burn up in the atmosphere and though oxides of the metals will certainly all fall to ground (or ocean), they’ll be so widely scattered as to be useless.

So if you want to use those metals on the ground, you need to build a craft large enough to harvest and carry them down to ground again inside the craft. And that is going to be a hugely expensive undertaking and launch / recovery operation.

Sure! I seriously doubt that, in this day and age, with regards to our current technology and the cost of flight/space flight, that it would be worth your wild! :D