The Mars Society proposes an efficient and cost effective plan to land a team of four humans on Mars, as a first step to the gradual colonization of the Red Planet. Oxygen, water and fuel are created on Mars by converting the thin Martian atmosphere using the Sabatier process. And beyond Mars lies the Ceres Asteroid Belt. A ring of space debris as large as planets orbiting the sun. This debris is rich in an abundance of minerals that can be shot into Mars orbit and mined on the surface or in zero-gravity.
Space is where the human race is going to get it's minerals from in the next millenium.