According to a report in Japan's Sankei Shimbun on October 22nd, the Japanese government plans to attempt to mine confirmed rare earths in the easternmost waters of Nanniao Island in 2024, and relevant coordination work has begun. In the 2023 supplementary budget, relevant funds have also been included. Rare earth is an indispensable raw material for the production of high-tech products.
Several government officials confirmed the above news on the 21st.
The confirmed situation is that there is a large amount of rare earth mud stored on the seabed at a depth of about 6000 meters in the waters off Nanniao Island. Surveys conducted by institutions such as the University of Tokyo have shown that its reserves can meet global demand for hundreds of years.
The Japanese government plans to conduct experimental mining first, and the preliminary exploration is expected to take one month. In 2022, researchers successfully extracted rare earths from seabed soil at a depth of 2470 meters in the waters of Ibaraki Prefecture, and it is expected that future trial mining activities will utilize this technology.
According to the plan, the "Earth" exploration ship will descend to the seabed at a depth of 6000 meters and extract rare earth mud through a hose, which can extract approximately 70 tons per day. The 2023 supplementary budget will allocate 2 billion yen (approximately 13 million US dollars) to manufacture unmanned underwater equipment for underwater operations.
The rare earth mud collected will be analyzed by the headquarters of the Japanese Ocean Research and Development Agency in Yokosuka. There are also plans to establish a centralized treatment facility here to dehydrate and separate rare earth mud from Nanniao Island.
Sixty percent of the rare earths currently used in Japan come from China.
Post time: Oct-26-2023