Japanese Scientists Discover Massive Rare Earth Deposits Beneath the Pacific Ocean
These rare earth deposits contain essential minerals used in the manufacturing of various high-tech electronic products.
The discovery was published in the British journal Nature Geoscience on July 4th.
Currently, China produces 97% of the world’s rare earth reserves, which are critical raw materials for the production of high-tech devices.
Japan’s Rare Earth Research Vessel. (Photo credit: JOGMEC).
Analysts suggest that this discovery could challenge China’s current dominance in the rare earth market. The British journal Nature Geoscience reported that a team of scientists led by geology professor Yasuhiro Kato from the University of Tokyo has identified rare earth elements beneath the seabed at 78 different locations.
“This deposit contains a massive amount of rare earths; just one square kilometer could supply one-fifth of global consumption annually,” Professor Kato stated.
The deposits are located at depths between 3,500 to 6,000 meters beneath the ocean surface. A third of this area has very high concentrations of rare earths, situated in international waters east and west of the Hawaiian Islands and east of Tahiti in the French Polynesia.
Professor Kato estimates that the deposit contains 80 to 100 billion tons. The U.S. Geological Survey has previously estimated that the global reserves of rare earths are only about 110 million tons, concentrated in China, Russia, former Soviet states, and the United States.
Rare earth elements are extensively used in the production of components for mobile phones, solar panels, high-performance electric motors, hybrid vehicles, small hydroelectric generators, and even equipment used in space.
What Are Rare Earth Elements? Rare earth elements (REE) are a group of scarce elements found in low concentrations in the Earth’s crust and are difficult to separate into individual elements. Among the group of rare earth elements, some have concentrations in the Earth’s crust that are higher than those of silver and lead. The rare earth group comprises 17 elements divided into two categories: The heavy group includes 10 elements: Dysprosium (Dy), Erbium (Er), Europium (Eu), Gadolinium (Gd), Holmium (Ho), Lutetium (Lu), Terbium (Tb), Thulium (Tm), Ytterbium (Yb), and Yttrium (Y). There are more than 10 minerals containing rare earth elements in the Earth’s crust, with the significant sources being Bastnaesite (Ce, La, Y…), CO3(f,OH)3, and Monazite (Ce, La, Nd, Th, Y…) (PO4, SiO4)3. |
