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posted by Fnord666 on Tuesday April 17 2018, @03:06PM   Printer-friendly
from the apparently-not-so-rare dept.

Submitted via IRC for TheMightyBuzzard

Japanese researchers have mapped vast reserves of rare earth elements in deep-sea mud, enough to feed global demand on a "semi-infinite basis," according to a new study.

The deposit, found within Japan's exclusive economic zone waters, contains more than 16 million tons of the elements needed to build high-tech products ranging from mobile phones to electric vehicles, according to the study, released Tuesday in the journal Scientific Reports.

[...] The finding extrapolates that a 2,500-sq. km region off the southern Japanese island should contain 16 million tons of the valuable elements, and "has the potential to supply these metals on a semi-infinite basis to the world," the study said.

The area reserves offer "great potential as ore deposits for some of the most critically important elements in modern society," it said.

The report said there were hundreds of years of reserves of most of the rare earths in the area surveyed.

Source:
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2018/04/11/national/japan-team-maps-semi-infinite-trove-rare-earth-elements/


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  • (Score: 2) by looorg on Tuesday April 17 2018, @07:37PM (1 child)

    by looorg (578) on Tuesday April 17 2018, @07:37PM (#668266)

    Wanna bet? I'm sure Space-Greenpeace or one of the other treehuggers will find some microscopical alien bacteria whos life matters more then minerals.

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  • (Score: 2) by Hartree on Tuesday April 17 2018, @09:42PM

    by Hartree (195) on Tuesday April 17 2018, @09:42PM (#668313)

    I've run into people who argue seriously that we never should have gone to the moon or space as humanity will ruin the environment there.

    I rated them as puddin' heads. ;)