Japanese geologists say they have located vast deposits of rare earth minerals — crucial to the production of high-tech electronics and components of the emerging green energy industry — 2 to 4 miles below the surface of the Pacific Ocean. A team led by University of Tokyo researcher Tasuhiro Kato found as many as 100 billion tons of recoverable minerals at 78 sites in international waters near Hawaii and Tahiti. According to Kato, an associate professor of earth science, just one square kilometer of deposits — which may include such rare earth elements as cerium and praseodymium —Â could supply one-fifth of the current global annual consumption of some rare earth metals. With China accounting for about 97 percent of the world’s rare-earth supplies — and prices rising sharply — companies and nations are racing to find new sources of rare earth minerals, which are used in everything from smart phones to hybrid car batteries; some firms are preparing to begin deep sea mining operations. A report on the discovery was published in the journal Nature Geoscience.
Rare Earth Mineral Deposits Discovered on Pacific Seafloor
More From E360
-
INTERVIEW
How One South African Community Stopped Shell Oil in Its Tracks
-
ANALYSIS
Will New Leader End Progress in Saving Indonesia’s Forests?
-
Oceans
Dire Straits: Can a Fishing Ban Save the Elusive European Eel?
-
Climate
Scientists Are Trying to Coax the Ocean to Absorb More CO2
-
INTERVIEW
Marina Silva on Brazil’s Fight to Turn the Tide on Deforestation
-
Solutions
Solomon Islands Tribes Sell Carbon Credits, Not Their Trees
-
INTERVIEW
With Sea Turtles in Peril, a Call for New Strategies to Save Them
-
RIVERS
Jared Kushner Has Big Plans for Delta of Europe’s Last Wild River
-
Energy
A Nuclear Power Revival Is Sparking a Surge in Uranium Mining
-
OPINION
Despite Official Vote, the Evidence of the Anthropocene Is Clear
-
INTERVIEW
At 11,500 Feet, a ‘Climate Fast’ to Save the Melting Himalaya
-
Oceans
Octopuses Are Highly Intelligent. Should They Be Farmed for Food?