Major Find By Japanese Scientists May Threaten Chinese Rare Earth Hegemony

cold fjord writes "It looks like deep sea exploration may pay off big time as Japanese scientists have located rich deposits of rare earth elements on the sea floor in Japanese Exclusive Economic Zone waters, following up on their find two years ago of huge deposits of rare earths in mid-Pacific waters. The cumulative effect of these finds could significantly weaken Chinese control of 90% of the world supply of rare earth metals, which the Chinese have been using to flex their muscles. The concentration of rare earth metals in the Japanese find is astonishing: up to 6,500 ppm, versus 500-1,000 ppm for Chinese mines. The newly identified deposits are just 2-4 meters below sea floor which could make for relatively easy mining compared to the 10+ meters they were expecting... if they can get there. The fact that the deposits are 5,700 meters deep means there is just one or two little problems to resolve : 'A seabed oil field has been developed overseas at a depth of 3,000 meters. . . But the development of seabed resources at depths of more than 5,000 meters has no precedent, either at home or abroad. There remains a mountain of technological challenges, including how to withstand water pressure and ocean currents and how to process the mining products in the ocean, sources said.'"

rare earths are not "rare"

[Anonymous Coward]

We have plenty of rare earths in the USA. Only the absurd policies regarding treating thorium (which has a 14 billion year half life) as a dangerous nuclear waste, requiring prohibitively expensive disposal, keeps us from taking advantage of those resources. note: Coal fired power plants get to treat the radioactive nuclear material in their fly ash as a natural byproduct and so are completely unregulated.

Re:Oh good, undersea mining

[K. S. Kyosuke]

That's basically space technology - building autonomous vehicles operating in extreme conditions doing useful work. Almost like space mining, although in a different environment. For the Japanese, this could be their equivalent of the Apollo project. I find it an interesting technical challenge. But you're right that if rare earth elements are the only thing to be extracted from these seabeds, they'll end up with huge piles of tailings. Well, I guess that would be one of the the tough tech problem to crack...

Senkaku islands

[KiloByte]

Cue China's claim these areas "have always belonged to China", like Senkaku Islands, in 3.. 2... 1...

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Glomar Explorer

[A10Mechanic]

Finally another use for the Hughes Glomar Explorer, a ship built in the 70's under the guise of underwater mining but actully used by the CIA to raise a sunken sub. My daily dose of Irony is now complete.

Re:Rare earth refining

[Dripdry]

it's not just that. The rare earths in China don't have to be refined as much as the stuff found pretty much everywhere else on earth. I don't remember the term, but a metallurgist friend explained it to me once, saying that hands down China is at the front of the pack because of this.

So, I'd be interested to know if the rare earths (and I know, there are many substances under that umbrella) found here are of a similar purity to the ones in China or the ones in the States.

Re:Herm...

[ElectricTurtle]

The Chinese have invaded Taiwan several times. Koxinga did it successfully with a relatively small force in 1661, and Chiang Kai Shek did it again in 1949 (and yes, that was an invasion, since the islanders didn't want him there and his forces proceeded to initiate a political persecution rivaling the mainland's in viciousness if not scale that lasted generations). The reasons the communists couldn't immediately invade Taiwan were many, though primarily it was because they first had to consolidate their power on the mainland vs. remaining resistance pockets and they had to rebuild a navy since the KMT had taken as much of it as they could (which they used to harass the nascent PLA navy and merchant marine as much as possible, retarding immediate growth). By the time the communists were ready, geopolitics had shifted such that the US was ready to support Chiang and the KMT for the foreseeable future.

Today the PRC has the capacity to invade Taiwan absolutely, but they don't want to risk war with the US to do it, especially since they've figured out they can just buy people like Ma Ying Jeou to secretly dismantle ROC sovereignty in closed-door meetings. Reunification lies down that road, but it will be on the PRC's terms, by and large.