Dem there blueberries

[cookie_thief]

Virtually every pic that MR Opportunity has taken since it landed a year ago appears to be loaded with those "blueberries" which I understand to be nodes of Hematite. There must be trillions of them spread out all over the plains of Meridiani as far as the eye can see.<br /><br />Question #1: Would there be any benefit for a landing party, robotic or human, to "mine" these nodes and process them? I read that Hematite, in combination with other materials, is used to make iron and steel here on Earth. Would this be useful on Mars? <br /><br />Question #2: Are there other materials locally accessible to facillitate this endeavor? How hard is to get to them? <br /><br />Question #3: Sounds like it needs lots water, or would the atmosphere be cold enough for the process? <br /><br />Question #4: Are there any other uses for this stuff?<br /><br />I see some future robotic waldo vacuuming these blueberries into an internal hold, returning to the nuclear powered processing unit, unloading it's cargo and going out for more. Meanwhile the processor produces ingots or pre-fabbed pieces for use by humans. Is this truth or fantasy?<br /><br /><br />Admittedly, the Meridiani location is a pretty boring place to get started but I hate the thought of not doing SOMETHING with those things. <br />