Japanese researchers have mapped vast reserves of rare earth elements in deep-sea mud, enough to feed global demand on a “semi-infinite basis,” a fresh study said.
The deposit, found within Japan’s exclusive economic waters, contains more than 16 million tonnes of the elements needed to build high-tech products from mobile phones to electric vehicles, according to the study, released on Tuesday in the journal Scientific Reports.
The team, comprising several universities, businesses and government institutions, surveyed the western Pacific Ocean near Minamitorishima Island, Japan.
In a sample area of the mineral-rich region, the team’s survey estimated that there were 1.2 million tonnes of “rare earth oxide” deposited there, said the study, conducted jointly by Yutaro Takaya of Waseda University and Yasuhiro Kato of the University of Tokyo, among others.
The finding extrapolates that a 2,500km2 region off the southern Japanese island should contain 16 million tonnes of the valuable elements and “has the potential to supply these metals on a semi-infinite basis to the world,” the study said.
The area reserves offer “great potential as ore deposits for some of the most critically important elements in modern society,” it said.
The report said there were hundreds of years of reserves of most of the rare earths in the area surveyed.
The team has also developed an efficient method to separate valuable elements from others in the mud.
The world relies heavily on China for rare earths, with Beijing producing most of the elements currently available on the market.
However, Beijing has severely restricted exports of these products at times of diplomatic tension.
In 2010, for example, Japanese manufacturers faced serious supply shortages as Beijing limited the valuable exports.
That came after Japan arrested the captain of a Chinese trawler that was involved in a run-in with Japanese coastguards near the disputed Senkaku Islands — also known as Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台), which are also claimed by Taiwan and China.
The Japanese study stressed the importance of the efforts to develop efficient and economic methods to collect the deep-sea mud.
“The enormous resource amount and the effectiveness of the mineral processing are strong indicators that this new [rare-earth rich mud] resource could be exploited in the near future,” the study said.
MONEY MATTERS: Xi was to highlight projects such as a new high-speed railway between Belgrade and Budapest, as Serbia is entirely open to Chinese trade and investment Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic yesterday said that “Taiwan is China” as he made a speech welcoming Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to Belgrade, state broadcaster Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) said. “We have a clear and simple position regarding Chinese territorial integrity,” he told a crowd outside the government offices while Xi applauded him. “Yes, Taiwan is China.” Xi landed in Belgrade on Tuesday night on the second leg of his European tour, and was greeted by Vucic and most government ministers. Xi had just completed a two-day trip to France, where he held talks with French President Emmanuel Macron as the
With the midday sun blazing, an experimental orange and white F-16 fighter jet launched with a familiar roar that is a hallmark of US airpower, but the aerial combat that followed was unlike any other: This F-16 was controlled by artificial intelligence (AI), not a human pilot, and riding in the front seat was US Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall. AI marks one of the biggest advances in military aviation since the introduction of stealth in the early 1990s, and the US Air Force has aggressively leaned in. Even though the technology is not fully developed, the service is planning
INTERNATIONAL PROBE: Australian and US authorities were helping coordinate the investigation of the case, which follows the 2015 murder of Australian surfers in Mexico Three bodies were found in Mexico’s Baja California state, the FBI said on Friday, days after two Australians and an American went missing during a surfing trip in an area hit by cartel violence. Authorities used a pulley system to hoist what appeared to be lifeless bodies covered in mud from a shaft on a cliff high above the Pacific. “We confirm there were three individuals found deceased in Santo Tomas, Baja California,” a statement from the FBI’s office in San Diego, California, said without providing the identities of the victims. Australian brothers Jake and Callum Robinson and their American friend Jack Carter
CUSTOMS DUTIES: France’s cognac industry was closely watching the talks, fearing that an anti-dumping investigation opened by China is retaliation for trade tensions French President Emmanuel Macron yesterday hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) at one of his beloved childhood haunts in the Pyrenees, seeking to press a message to Beijing not to support Russia’s war against Ukraine and to accept fairer trade. The first day of Xi’s state visit to France, his first to Europe since 2019, saw respectful, but sometimes robust exchanges between the two men during a succession of talks on Monday. Macron, joined initially by EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, urged Xi not to allow the export of any technology that could be used by Russia in its invasion