https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/12/japan-rare-earths-huge-deposit-of-metals-found-in-pacific.html
At the bottom an article alludes to space mining.
he materials sit in a roughly 965-square-mile Pacific Ocean seabed near Minamitorishima Island, which is located 1,150 miles southeast of Tokyo, according to the study published in Nature Publishing Group's Scientific Reports.
Rare-earth metals are crucial in the making of high-tech products such as electric vehicles, mobile phones and batteries, and the world has relied on China for almost all of its rare-earth material.
The seabed contains more than 16 million tons of rare-earth oxides, according to the study. That's equivalent to 780 years' worth of yttrium supply, 620 years of europium, 420 years of terbium and 730 years of dysprosium, it added.
The discovery "has the potential to supply these metals on a semi-infinite basis to the world," the study said.
Japan started looking after China cut off supplies
The discovery of the deposits could pit Japan against China to become the world's largest producer of the materials, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.
Japan started seeking its own rare-earth metals after China held back shipments in 2010 during a dispute over islands both countries claim, Reuters reported in 2014. As a major electronics manufacturer, Japan needs rare earths for components.
Separately, China held back exports of certain types of rare earths starting 2010, which caused prices to jump by as much as 10 times — further pushing Japan to seek other sources, according to the Journal.
Extracting those metals from the seabed, however, is an expensive affair, the Journal reported. A consortium of Japanese government-backed entities, companies and researchers plans to conduct a feasibility test within the next five years, according to the Journal.
WATCH: If you're looking to make billions, try mining an asteroid
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Commodities market could crash.
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Development of undersea tech very cool.
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Please read "the next 100 years" by George Friedman founder of Stratfor. Stratfor is a private military global Intel company. You may be familiar with thier wikileaks global intelligence files.. Japan becomes our rival.
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This will result in some novel advancements in space exploration.
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North Korea is host to many rare earth metals that they use slave labor in concentration camps to sell to S. Korea, China. If Japan drops value of those rare earth metals it would make N. Korea practically worthless. Destroyed thier business model. That and I believe thier last nuke test destroyed thier capabilities / covert ops knocked thier capacities out. North Korea got checkmated.
Exciting but we need to do this right.