Rare earths: the Japanese look at the bottom of the Pacific

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freddau
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Rare earths: the Japanese look at the bottom of the Pacific




by freddau » 05/07/11, 09:56

According to Japanese scientists large amounts of rare earths are found at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. But their commercial exploitation will wait a little longer ...

A team of Japanese researchers - Yasuhiro Kato, Koichiro Fujinaga, Kentaro Nakamura, Yutaro Takaya, Kenichi Kitamura, Junichiro Ohta, Ryuichi Toda, Takuya Nakashima and Hikaru Iwamori - has just published in Nature Geoscience significant concentrations of rare earths and yttrium would be found on many sites in the Pacific Ocean.

"We estimate that an area of ​​one square kilometer, surrounding one of the sites where samples were taken, could provide a fifth of the current global consumption of these elements," said Yasuhiro Kato, who led the group which works at the University of Tokyo. More than 2 samples were collected and studied by an international team also including European and American researchers.

The ores could be extracted by acid leaching from the mud - a leaching process - at the bottom of the ocean. According to Japanese researchers, the volumes would reach 80 at 100 billion tons, a thousand times more than the proven rare earth reserves estimated by the USGS.

Sludge difficult to exploit

No less than 78 sites have been identified by the Japanese, especially in areas near Tahiti and Hawaii. These deposits are particularly rich in heavy rare earths, such as gadolinium, lutetium, terbium and dysprosium. By way of example, the price of dysprosium has been multiplied by 12 in one year, to 3 800 dollars per kilogram.

"Reaching this treasure made up of key elements in the seabed will be extremely expensive and potentially dangerous for the ecology of the ocean floor", warns Nature Geoscience, however. Located between 3 and 500 meters deep, the sludge will be very difficult to exploit. And it wouldn't be for tomorrow.

A manager of a Japanese trading firm specializing in rare earths, told the Wall Street Journal, that the commercial exploitation of these riches would take at least 20 years. Questions about the technology used and the mineral rights of the seabed remain to be resolved.

In particular, it would be difficult to apply the same techniques as those used by Nautilus Minerals, which intends to mine copper ore in the Bismark Sea, but only 1 600 meters deep. On the other hand, the radioactivity generated by uranium or thorium, very often mixed with the rare earths, is, according to Kato, five times less than in the equivalent terrestrial deposits.

http://www.usinenouvelle.com/article/te ... ue.N155024
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Aqualogia
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by Aqualogia » 07/07/11, 10:19

It is to be hoped that they will study the ecological consequences well before undertaking extractions of this kind. The seabed and especially the Pacific, are home to rare species.
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by dedeleco » 07/07/11, 12:44

At the ecological level it will be another disaster, on unknown species, but given the economic importance, and existing oil technologies, it will take less than 5 years, and not 20 years, to become commercial, if the Chinese back their prices !!
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by I Citro » 07/07/11, 14:04

: Arrowu: Japan has significant rare earth requirements, of which China has a virtual monopoly, and has introduced export quotas that are reduced each year from 5 to 10%.

The Chinese argue that their reserves are running out and want to delay this deadline.

All of this rare earth are essential for the manufacture of brushless electric motors, among others.

Toyota is in dire need of it for its hybrid cars and has appealed to the WTO to try to force China to provide it with rare earths (including dysprosium).

For their part, the Chinese government says it will be (it is already) the world's largest manufacturer of electric vehicles.

The announcement of the underwater extraction of rare earths makes a real buzz in the financial circles
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