In a Colorado chalet overlooking this resort town first settled by Old West prospectors, a wealthy entrepreneur is marketing what he hopes will be the first private spacecraft to claim ownership of an asteroid.

His pitch to investors? SpaceDev, the world's first commercial space exploration company, aims to collect and sell scientific data - and scout a so-called near-Earth asteroid for deposits of iron, gold, platinum and other minerals potentially worth trillions of dollars.

The company, which went public in October, expects to accomplish all this by mid-2000.

Some people think SpaceDev chairman Mr James Benson (52), who made his fortune in the supercomputer industry, should leave the business of developing deep space to the governments of the US, Russia, Japan and Europe.

But to Mr Benson, the only question is: On precisely which of the 416 asteroids known to periodically drift into the vicinity of Earth's orbit should he plant his corporate flag?

Mr Benson said he is responding to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's desire to revive the space program by encouraging private sector involvement.

"Essentially, we're going into an existing billion-dollar market for data gathered in deep space," he said. "And we're going to do it for less than $50 million by using vintage - and fully insured - commercial launch vehicles."

By way of comparison, NASA's Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous mission will cost taxpayers about $250 million. That mission is expected to reach its final destination, asteroid Eros, on January 10th, 1999.

Getting his hands on a rocket powerful enough to escape the Earth's gravitational pull is the easy part.

"These rockets range in price from $10 million to $50 million," Mr Benson said. "We plan to spend about $12 million for ours."

If successful, SpaceDev's maiden voyage in late 1999 might take up to a year to complete.