Japan Successfully Retrieves Rare Earth-Rich Sediment from Seabed

Tokyo, Feb. 2 (Jiji Press)–Japan has successfully retrieved rare earth-rich sediment from the deep seabed, marking a step toward a potential domestic supply of rare earths, it was learned Monday. In a test project that began on Jan. 12, the deep-sea drilling vessel Chikyu, operated by the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, or JAMSTEC, collected the sediment from the seabed, about 6,000 meters below the surface, off Minamitorishima, a remote Tokyo island in the Pacific. The sediment is believed to contain large amounts of substances such as neodymium and dysprosium, which are used in high-performance magnets for motors and power generators. According to JAMSTEC, the vessel arrived at the marine site on Jan. 17. It started collecting undersea sediment on Friday, by extending a long pipe with a cylindrical miner device to the seabed. The first sample was collected in the early hours of Sunday. The vessel is set to return to Shimizu port in the central prefecture of Shizuoka on Feb. 15. The sediment will then be analyzed to determine what rare earths it contains and how much of them. If everything goes well, a mining test will to be conducted in February 2027 to examine potential profitability. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]