MNeagle
3rd July 2011, 07:07 PM
TOKYO, July 4, Kyodo
Around 1,000 times more rare earth elements than the world's land reserves lie in deep-sea mud in the central and southeastern Pacific Ocean, a Japanese research team reported Sunday in the online edition of British science magazine Nature Geoscience.
The elements, found in the seabed at a depth of 3,500 to 6,000 meters, are relatively easy to collect although it remains uncertain how much it would cost.
The team said, ''The REY (rare earth elements and yttrium)-rich mud in the Pacific Ocean may constitute a highly promising REY resource for the future.''
http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2011/07/100802.html
Around 1,000 times more rare earth elements than the world's land reserves lie in deep-sea mud in the central and southeastern Pacific Ocean, a Japanese research team reported Sunday in the online edition of British science magazine Nature Geoscience.
The elements, found in the seabed at a depth of 3,500 to 6,000 meters, are relatively easy to collect although it remains uncertain how much it would cost.
The team said, ''The REY (rare earth elements and yttrium)-rich mud in the Pacific Ocean may constitute a highly promising REY resource for the future.''
http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2011/07/100802.html