Japan breaks China's stranglehold on rare metals with sea-mud bonanza
Japanese scientists have found vast reserves of rare earth metals on the Pacific seabed that can be mined cheaply, a discovery that may break the Chinese monopoly on a crucial raw material needed in hi-tech industries and advanced weapons systems.
"We have found deposits that are just two to four meters from the seabed surface at higher concentrations than anybody ever thought existed, and it won't cost much at all to extract," said professor Yasuhiro Kato from Tokyo University, the leader of the team.
While America, Australia, and other countries have begun to crank up production of the seventeen rare earth elements, they have yet to find viable amounts of the heavier metals such as dysprosium, terbium, europium, and ytterbium that are most important.
China has a near total monopoly in the heavier end of the spectrum, though it is also the dominant supplier of the whole rare earth complex after driving rivals out of business in the 1990s. It still accounts for 97pc of global supply.
Beijing shocked the world when it suddenly began to restrict exports in 2009, prompting furious protests and legal complaints by both the US and the EU at the World Trade Organisation. China claimed that it was clamping down on smuggling and environmental abuse.
"Their real intention is to force foreign companies to locate plant in China. They're saying `if you want our rare earth metals, you must build your factory here, and we can then steal your technology," said professor Kato.
The team of scientists from Japan's Agency for Marine-Earth Science and the University of Tokyo first discovered huge reserves in the mid-Pacific two years ago. These are now thought to be 1000 times all land-based deposits, some of it in French waters around Tahiti.
The latest discovery is in Japan's Exclusive Economic Zone in deep-sea mud around the island of Minami-Torishima at 5,700 meters below sea level. Although it is very deep, the deposits are in highly-concentrated nodules that can be extracted using pressurised air with minimal disturbance off the seafloor and no need for the leaching.
Professor Kato said exploration will continue for another two years before scaling up towards production. Over 50pc of the metal in the deposit is the heavier end of the spectrum, twice the level of China's key mines and without the radioactive by-product thorium that makes the metals so hard to mine.
Japan consumes half the world's rare earth metals in its cars, electronics, and environmental industries, and has accused China of withholding supplies as a pressure tool. The country has been scrambling to find other sources under its "Strategy for Ensuring Stable Supplies of Rare Metals", but a joint venture in Vietnam that once looked promising has so far yielded only lighter rare earths.
Professor Kato said a single ship drilling in the target zone at Minami-Torishima could supply Japan's needs for a year, breaking strategic dependence at minimal cost. "We don't need to mine it intensively. All we need is enough to force China to lower its prices."
Rare earth metals are the salt of life for the hi-tech revolution, used in iPads, plasma TVs, lasers, and catalytic converters for car engines. Dysprosium is crucial because it is the strongest magnet in the world but also remains stable at very high temperatures. Neodymium is used in hybrid cars, and terbium cuts power use for low-energy lightbulbs by 40pc.
The metals are also used in precision-guided weapons, missiles such as the Hellfire, military avionics, satellites, and night-vision equipment. America's M1A2 Abrams tank and the Aegis Spy-1 radar both rely on samarium.
Washington was caught badly off guard when China started restricting supplies. The US defence and energy departments have now made it an urgent priority to find other sources, but warn that it may take up to a decade to rebuild the supply-chain. The US Magnetic Materials Association said America had drifted into a "silent crisis".
Most rare earth metals are not that rare but they are hard to find in viable concentrations, and the metallurgy is complex.
The new discovery is the second time this month that Japan has announced a major find on the sea floor. It announced a break-through in extracting gas from methane hydrates under the ocean last week, a technology that is likely to prove costly but could meet Japan's gas needs for a century.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/c...d-bonanza.html
Interesting article. Thanks for sharing.
If this is in fact true and not more pie in the sky it could be a real game changer economically.
Watch the rare earth prices to see. The real answer always appears in commodity prices in the end
because that is the only place where it counts. Good Luck Japan. The bad news is getting the French involved.
It is like having cats on your team rather than horses or dogs.
even if France plays their own game it still cuts China off at the knees. whats even better is that neither of these fields are in contested waters.
Quote from: GDS_Starfury on March 24, 2013, 07:48:35 PM
whats even better is that neither of these fields are in contested waters.
Indeed.
Not in contested water yet...but far from China. They cheat too much to be good playmates.
Things are getting a bit more tense.
QuoteChina on Thursday accused Japan of raising regional tensions with its increased use of fighter jets to monitor Chinese aircraft that approach a cluster of islands claimed by both countries.
The remarks from Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying came one day after Japan's Defense Ministry said it dispatched fighter jets in response to Chinese planes 306 times during the 12 months through March 2013, up from 156 the previous year.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/china-angered-japans-increased-jet-153548068.html
Quote from: LongBlade on April 18, 2013, 12:45:25 PM
Things are getting a bit more tense.
QuoteChina on Thursday accused Japan of raising regional tensions with its increased use of fighter jets to monitor Chinese aircraft that approach a cluster of islands claimed by both countries.
The remarks from Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying came one day after Japan's Defense Ministry said it dispatched fighter jets in response to Chinese planes 306 times during the 12 months through March 2013, up from 156 the previous year.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/china-angered-japans-increased-jet-153548068.html (http://news.yahoo.com/china-angered-japans-increased-jet-153548068.html)
So it's ok for China to send planes, but if Japan does it it is raising tensions? These kinds of double standards are why other countries are wary of the Chinese.
Quote from: Mr. Bigglesworth on April 18, 2013, 03:09:22 PM
So it's ok for China to send planes, but if Japan does it it is raising tensions? These kinds of double standards are why other countries are wary of the Chinese.
I noticed that.
Also, the article notes that Japan currently holds the islands. Possession being 9/10ths of the law and all that the irony abounds.
Quote from: LongBlade on April 18, 2013, 04:56:24 PM
Quote from: Mr. Bigglesworth on April 18, 2013, 03:09:22 PM
So it's ok for China to send planes, but if Japan does it it is raising tensions? These kinds of double standards are why other countries are wary of the Chinese.
I noticed that.
Also, the article notes that Japan currently holds the islands. Possession being 9/10ths of the law and all that the irony abounds.
Crazy shit.
This almost slipped under the radar with all the insanity of last week.
QuoteTokyo summoned the Chinese ambassador to Japan after the state-owned Chinese ships entered its territorial waters while Beijing called the shrine visit an "attempt to deny Japan's history of aggression".
The flotilla is the biggest to sail into the disputed waters in a single day since Tokyo nationalised part of the archipelago in September. The islands are surrounded by rich fishing grounds and are believed to harbour vast natural resources below the seabed.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe vowed to "expel by force" any Chinese landing on the islands in the East China Sea, and promised "decisive action".
(emphasis added)
Source: http://dawn.com/2013/04/23/japan-vows-to-use-force-if-chinese-land-on-islands/
are we still in an age of land grab and resource hogging?
Quote from: undercovergeek on April 24, 2013, 04:19:33 PM
are we still in an age of land grab and resource hogging?
I didn't know we'd left it.
Quote from: LongBlade on April 24, 2013, 05:10:09 PM
Quote from: undercovergeek on April 24, 2013, 04:19:33 PM
are we still in an age of land grab and resource hogging?
I didn't know we'd left it.
i thought we'd done after ww1, maybe after 2 when the commonwealth fell apart
My theory is that we are all playing nice until a time comes not to play nice.
For some reason the Chinese have decided to not play nice.
Also, Japan is quickly running out of energy (there's a link somewhere around here about that).
Things could get bad around those islands faster than anyone thinks. Within like five years.
I think five years may be optimistic, actually, but otherwise I suspect you're only too correct.
China has struck back.
One of its newspapers has published a game where players can fight to retake the island: http://www.1001shootinggames.com/shooting-games/Recover-the-Diaoyu-Islands.html#.UbDxqpw3dh9
Quote"The Chinese nation's determination to protect the Diaoyu Islands is unwavering!" the game declares. Victory is achieved when players guide the ship to an island and successfully avoid the Japanese forces.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2013/06/06/chinese-newspaper-game-lets-players-attack-japanese-forces-over-island-dispute/