Hargreaves’ £24m for space mining

FINANCIAL services tycoon Peter Hargreaves is setting his sights on space and the potential riches to be found by mining asteroids.

The 71-year-old has ploughed £24m into Goonhilly Earth Station. It tracks satellites from its site in Cornwall and, as demand for its services are expected to rocket, it is being upgraded to become the world’s first commercial deep-space communications base.

Hargreaves told The Sunday Times: ‘I was pretty sceptical to start with. It was only when I saw what was going on that I thought: this is the future. Mining the asteroid belt is definitely on the cards.’