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Japan Team Maps 'Semi-Infinite' Trove of Rare Earth Elements (japantimes.co.jp)

Posted by BeauHD on from the hide-and-seek dept.

schwit1 quotes a report from The Japan Times: 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 team, comprised of several universities, businesses and government institutions, surveyed the western Pacific Ocean near Minamitori Island. In a sample area of the mineral-rich region, the team's survey estimated 1.2 million tons of "rare earth oxide" is deposited there, said the study, conducted jointly by Waseda University's Yutaro Takaya and the University of Tokyo's Yasuhiro Kato, among others. 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.

17 of 162 comments (clear)

  1. Space Economics by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    There goes asteroid mining.

    1. Re:Space Economics by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 5, Informative

      There goes asteroid mining.

      Nope. "Rare earth" metals were never the rational for asteroid mining, because rare earth metals are not actually rare. They are fairly common, but generally don't exist in concentrated ores that can be economically mined. Neither asteroids nor deep sea deposits change that, because neither is going to be more economical to mine than known deposits in China, Africa, and California.

      The Mountain Pass Mine in California is currently mothballed, not because of lack or ore, but because prices are too low to stay in business.

      Asteroid mining is for metals like gold, platinum, and other siderophile elements, which are rare in the earth's crust, but thousands of times more common in the earth's core and in asteroids. The earth's crust is mostly oxides, so metals that do not oxidize readily tend to sink to the core.

    2. Re:Space Economics by crypticedge · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Environmental control costs raise prices of the ore mined from that mine, thus prices were too low for them to stay in business without poisoning the landscape.

      Thanks for agreeing.

  2. Seriously?!?!?!?!? by OzPeter · · Score: 3

    The Duped story is the one before this one. WTF editors .. get your shit together

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    1. Re:Seriously?!?!?!?!? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      It's already semi-infinite

  3. Dupe articles... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    I thought Slashdot's new owner would fix this shit by now.

  4. "semi-infinite" = bullshit by gweihir · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Either infinite or not. If not infinite, then not "semi-infinite" either. As physical and real, not infinite.

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    1. Re:"semi-infinite" = bullshit by Blymie · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Better to divide by zero, than divide infinity. At least my brain won't explode.

    2. Re:"semi-infinite" = bullshit by es330td · · Score: 2

      Either infinite or not. If not infinite, then not "semi-infinite" either. As physical and real, not infinite.

      Though diagnosed, my mother in law is not being treated for cancer because the doctors have determined that at her age something else will cause her death long before cancer does. I think in this situation semi-infinite can be read as "longer than we have for shortage to be of concern."

    3. Re:"semi-infinite" = bullshit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      For the next 100 years. Humankind, especially governments and corporations can't seem to see beyond even 20 years so they probably think it's "semi-infinite", but I bet after 50 years of mining, they'll go, "um oops, we are running out."

    4. Re:"semi-infinite" = bullshit by Zontar+The+Mindless · · Score: 2

      Either words actually mean things, or they don't. Take your pick.

      --
      Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
  5. Semi-infinite? by nospam007 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Is that a bit like semi-pregnant?

    1. Re:Semi-infinite? by sexconker · · Score: 2

      Statistically, they were not.

      Percent literally means per hundred. You don't take percentages relating to group metrics and attribute them to individuals. An all-or-nothing binary distribution shows you how fucking stupid that is in an extreme case. It's just as stupid whenever the thing your modeling isn't following a known distribution (or it does but you're using the wrong model to determine the "average" expected values), or your population size is too fucking low for anything to matter.

      The joke your dad's friend gives statisticians a mild ribbing, but they need far more than that.

  6. Godzilla? by MrTester · · Score: 4, Funny

    Am I the only person who's first reaction was to think "AHA! So mining these rare earth metals are what will awaken Godzilla"

  7. That sound you hear... by es330td · · Score: 4, Insightful

    is the Chinese leadership lamenting the loss of the pressure point they thought they had to influence the world.

  8. Slashdot maps semi-infinite trove of dupes. by Qbertino · · Score: 2

    EOM

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  9. This just in: by rworne · · Score: 4, Funny

    A Chinese scholar just discovered a long lost 14th century docx file declaring the sea around Japan as Chinese sovereign territory, pushing aside a Korean waving a 15th century PDF file claiming it was theirs.

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