Rare Earths Reach

[Mulboyne]

BBC: Japan finds rare earths in Pacific seabed
Japanese researchers say they have discovered vast deposits of rare earth minerals, used in many hi-tech appliances, in the seabed. The geologists estimate that there are about a 100bn tons of the rare elements in the mud of the Pacific Ocean floor. At present, China produces 97% of the world's rare earth metals. Analysts say the Pacific discovery could challenge China's dominance, if recovering the minerals from the seabed proves commercially viable.The British journal Nature Geoscience reported that a team of scientists led by Yasuhiro Kato, an associate professor of earth science at the University of Tokyo, found the minerals in sea mud at 78 locations. "The deposits have a heavy concentration of rare earths. Just one square kilometre (0.4 square mile) of deposits will be able to provide one-fifth of the current global annual consumption," said Yasuhiro Kato, an associate professor of earth science at the University of Tokyo. The minerals were found at depths of 3,500 to 6,000 metres (11,500-20,000 ft) below the ocean surface...more...

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

The minerals were found at depths of 3,500 to 6,000 metres (11,500-20,000 ft) below the ocean surface...

Wonderful news, except at those depths, how are they going to get them?

[2triky]

Wonderful news, except at those depths, how are they going to get them?

Ultraman.

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

Ultraman.

He can't go...who's gonna clean up Fukushima if he's messing around at the bottom of the ocean?

[Kuang_Grade]

Wonderful news, except at those depths, how are they going to get them?

Taking nothing away from Ultraman, but this clearly a job for Gamera.

But it he's busy, with some modifications, this might do the job

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USNS_Glomar_Explorer_%28T-AG-193%29

....If it could almost pick up half of a Soviet Sub at 4900 meters 35 years ago, it might be able to something a bit deeper nowadays.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Azorian

[Coligny]

Wonderful news, except at those depths, how are they going to get them?

Don't know... any other country would use guided robots...
But since TIJ they certainly won't give up their greeter job for one actually usefull were you have to get all wet... after all, all the dangerous or shitty jobs are to be given to foreigners be they carbon or aluminum based...

[Coligny]

Taking nothing away from Ultraman, but this clearly a job for Gamera.

But it he's busy, with some modifications, this might do the job

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USNS_Glomar_Explorer_%28T-AG-193%29

....If it could almost pick up half of a Soviet Sub at 4900 meters 35 years ago, it might be able to something a bit deeper nowadays.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Azorian

Did you know that this bullshit actually was included in French biologist text books for highschool on the topic of renewable energy sources:

My head went's'a kaboom when I discovered this...

I wanted to print it and go back punching my teacher...

But not as much as I wanted to punch my geography teacher (*) for her glorification of the tertiary sector "service based" economy where we were all supposed to thrive in. Sounded a lot like hot air promises and I got shouted at (she wuz batshit insane) when I said that an economy producing nothing tangible my not be the smartest choice in the long run...

(*) because unlike for my bio teacher who really just couldn't know, in this case just using half a brain would tell you something was clearly wrong. But it was the euphoria of the start of low cost container transport aka... recipe for trade balance disaster...

[Yokohammer]

:rofl:
He can't go...who's gonna clean up Fukushima if he's messing around at the bottom of the ocean?

An efficiency expert would have Ultraman diving to retrieve rare earths with one hand while holding a bucket in the other hand that he would use to carry sea water to dump on the reactors at Fukushima. Rinse and repeat.

Unfortunately, no efficiency experts have ever been detected in Japan's bureaucracy or government.

[damn name]

"Japanese researchers say they have discovered vast deposits of rare earth minerals..."

So they weren't so rare after all?

[Coligny]

"Japanese researchers say they have discovered vast deposits of rare earth minerals..."

So they weren't so rare after all?

I think the name will stick anyway, to good marketing-wyse...

[Samurai_Jerk]

Wonderful news, except at those depths, how are they going to get them?

I'm sure AO would be more than happy to volunteer his cock for deep drilling of rare arse.

[Greji]

I'm sure AO would be more than happy to volunteer his cock for deep drilling of rare arse.

The deposits must be rather shallow. Right on the surface, or AO will probably have to get some attachments (I don't know personally, but that's what all the Misawa hookers said.....

[dimwit]

Wonderful news, except at those depths, how are they going to get them?

If it is in unconsolidated sediment it shouldn't be that difficult. A more fun question is who owns it?

[FG Lurker]

So they weren't so rare after all?

Rare Earths aren't rare in the sense that there isn't much of them. They're rare in that they aren't concentrated in convenient deposits like iron, nickel, and copper. This makes them much harder to mine and extract -- you need a massive amount of ore to get a small amount of what you want.

[matsuki]

A more fun question is who owns it?

Fun indeed! The article says international waters...wonder if China will try to do anything to protect their market domination. Could be the start of WWIII if what they've been saying about their navy comes to fruition.

[canman]

Chokonene, I was thinking the same thing. I bet you any money China will step in and claim some right of ownership, regardless of where they are. Anything to keep their dominance over their current near monopoly.

[FG Lurker]

China has a monopoly on rare earths not because they have more of them than anywhere else but because they don't worry too much about the environmental impact of extraction, which is generally pretty severe. Keeps the costs down.

There has also been speculation that China dumped rare earths (sold them below cost) to take over the market and give them leverage once other companies stopped producing them. Now that prices have started to climb production in other locations is starting up again. I think companies (and hopefully countries) have learned that a single source from China isn't really very wise.

[Mike Oxlong]

EU, U.S., Japan launch rare earth WTO case against China

[Coligny]

There has also been speculation that China dumped rare earths (sold them below cost) to take over the market and give them leverage once other companies stopped producing them.

Them Chinese commies, pulling a microsoft !?

no way !?

[dimwit]

The WTO issue has nothing to do with cornering the market per se, it has to do with subsidizing Chinese companies by selling them rare earths at lower costs than foreign companies are required to pay.

[yanpa]

Sino-Japanese seafloor bustup in the offing?

China and Japan face off over Pacific Ocean rare earth rights
Asian foes both submit applications to trawl seabed

Japan and China’s maritime stand-off is set to extend to the Pacific Ocean after both submitted applications to sweep vast swathes of the seabed for copper, cobalt and the rare earths so beloved of hi-tech manufacturers.

UN body the International Seabed Authority (ISA) announced that it has received two new applications for licenses to explore “cobalt-rich ferromanganese crusts” in the West Pacific Ocean.

The two applicants, both of which are prepared to sign up to a JV agreement with ISA, are the China Ocean Mineral Resources Research and Development Association (COMRA) and Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation (JOGMEC).

The ISA added the following:

Both applicants have elected to offer an equity interest in a joint venture arrangement pursuant to regulation 19 of the Regulations.

In accordance with the Regulations, the members of the Legal and Technical Commission will be notified of the above applications and consideration of these applications will be placed on the agenda of the Commission at its next meeting in 2013.

The Chinese body filed its application a few days before Japan, on 27 July, although there is no indication of whether one or both will be granted mining rights.

...more...

[yanpa]

Japan's rare earth discovery bad news for China's monopoly plans

Pacific sea sludge find could keep prices low

Japan is celebrating the find of an “astronomically” high level of rare earth deposits at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, a discovery which will further undermine China’s failing attempts to control the global supply of the substances.

The deposits, a vital component in the production of a range of high technology equipment from smartphones to catalytic converters, were found around 5.8km under the ocean surface near Minami Torishima island south-east of Tokyo.

“We detected an astronomically high level of rare earth minerals in the mud we sampled,” Tokyo University boffin Yasuhiro Kato told Reuters.

“When researchers brought back the data to me, I thought they must have made a mistake, the levels were so high. The fact is this discovery could help supply Japan with 60 per cent of its annual needs merely with the contents of a single vessel.”

The find follows a much larger discovery by Japanese marine researchers in the Pacific two years ago and if the rare earths can be extracted cheaply enough, it could crucially give Tokyo the tactical upper hand over China in the on-going cat-and-mouse game between the two over supplies.

...more...

[Coligny]

way to keep low profile guys... I don't see this ending well...

[yanpa]

If you're lucky, the Venezualan Rat Virus will get you first

[Coligny]

Thanks for the reminder... /not

And tomorrow I have to go to Nagoya... my nightmare would be to get stuck there by a giant earfquake, having to go back by foot, fighting hordes of undead (or salarimen as they are called here) on the way...

I sometimes miss Paris, afterall there is no way to survive a first nukular strike there, so no need to prepare for survival afterwardz...

[Taro Toporific]

Winner of the strange engrish headline of the week...

Fish milt used to glean rare earths
The Japan Times May 18, 2013
Japanese researchers said Friday they have found a better, cheaper way to smelt rare earth metals by using salmon milt, or sperm.
M0Ar!~

rare-earth_bukkake.gif

youtube

[matsuki]

Of course it's Japan discovering new uses for salmon bukkake...