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Musk further said, "This is totally not related to why we want to mine asteroids."

SpaceX isn't planning to mine asteroids, that's Planetary Resources. http://planetaryresources.com/

Someone needs to get their space craft there....

You're right. I should clarify that by "we" I mean "the people doing stuff".

But why not...it could be.

It could be a lot of things... there is no compelling motivation for SpaceX to get involved in asteroid mining (aside from providing rides).