Japan finds rare lands under the sea

2011/09/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Geologia
• Ingurumena
• Ozeanografia
• Materialak

Researchers at the University of Tokyo reported that the Pacific bottom, marine sediments, contains between 80 and 100 thousand tons of soil or rare metal. It has been released in the specialized journal Nature Geoscience. These rare metals have been found in 78 locations, in international waters, east and west of Hawaii and east of Tahiti. It is calculated that in a single square kilometer there is a fifth of the rare metals consumed annually.

The news is very good for Japan, as the production and market of rare metals is in the hands of China. Therefore, in case of finding a way to exploit the underwater mines, Japan could escape the Chinese monopoly. And this has great importance for Japan, since rare metals are the key to the production of technological products such as hybrid cars, plasma screens, catalysts, LCD panels, magnetic resonance devices, turbines of wind turbines...

The extraction of rare metals from sediments is now being studied. However, the intention has raised some concern among those responsible for the environment, who consider that this activity can be very harmful to the marine ecosystem.