Nature Japan has vast quantities of rare earth metals, but…!

[Ukigumo]

• Japan has discovered vast, "semi-infinite" rare earth deposits off Minamitorishima, potentially reducing reliance on China's near-monopoly.
• Mining these deep-sea reserves is costly and technically challenging, with exploratory mining planned for 2026 and supply by 2028.
• Japan is diversifying its rare earth sources and reducing reliance on China, urging international cooperation to counter Chinese export controls.

Japan has boundless supply of rare earths that can blunt China’s dominance but are costly to mine

Deposits could be an answer to China's dominance if they can be made commercially viable for mining. Read more at straitstimes.com. Read more at straitstimes.com.

www.straitstimes.com

 

[thomas]

Mining will indeed be costly, but Japan has already started developing the required technology.

From another thread:

A research team conducted a survey from April to June to extract mineral resources scattered on the seabed at depths of between 5,200 and 5,700 metres off the island, part of the Ogasawara island chain. Based on the survey, which covered 10,000 square kilometres, researchers estimate there are about 230 million tons of manganese nodules. The concretions are estimated to contain about 610,000 tons of cobalt, equivalent to 75 years of Japan's domestic consumption, and about 740,000 tons of nickel, which would keep Japan supplied for 11 years at current rates of consumption. In the experimental operation expected to start in 2025, researchers plan to collect about 2,500 tons of manganese nodules a day with an eye on securing 3 million tons a year.

News Thread '200 million metric tons of rare metals found 2,000 kilometres southeast of Tokyo'

23 Jun 2024

On Friday, the Nippon Foundation and the University of Tokyo announced that they had found over 200 million metric tons of manganese nodules, rich in rare metals, on the seabed near Minamitorishima, a remote island under Tokyo's jurisdiction. These nodules, discovered at depths of about 5,000 metres within Japan's exclusive economic zone, are abundant in rare metals like cobalt and nickel, which are crucial for manufacturing lithium-ion batteries.

The survey, which spanned a 100-square-kilometer area, was led by Professor Yasuhiro Kato and revealed that the nodules contain enough nickel...

• thomas
• Replies: 2
• Forum: Japanese News & Hot Topics

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