Asteroid mining has been a big part of the push for private corporations to enter into space technology. This was talked about at length in the 2016 book- Bold: How to Go Big, Create Wealth and Impact the World, by Peter H. Diamandis, who has a degree in genetics, astrophysics and an MD. It's an extremely interesting read! Dr. Diamandis has accomplished incredible things:
Founder of Xprize Foundation, Singularity University and Planetary Resouces