Japan finds a huge cache of scarce rare-earth minerals

Rare earth elements are a set of 17 metals that are integral to our modern lifestyle and efforts to produce ever-greener technologies. The “rare” designation is a bit of a misnomer: It’s not that they’re not plentiful, but rather that they’re found in small concentrations, and are especially difficult to successfully extract since they blend in with and resemble other minerals in the ground. China currently produces over 90% of the world’s supply of rare metals, with seven other countries mining the rest. So though they’re not precisely “rare,” they are scarce. In 2010, the U.S. Department of energy issued a report that warned of a critical shortage of five of the elements. Now, however, Japan has found a massive deposit of rare earths sufficient to supply the world’s needs for hundreds of years.

(julie deshaies/Shutterstock)

The rare earth metals can be mostly found in the second row from the bottom in the Table of Elements. According to the Rare Earth Technology Alliance, due to the “unique magnetic, luminescent, and electrochemical properties, these elements help make many technologies perform with reduced weight, reduced emissions, and energy consumption; or give them greater efficiency, performance, miniaturization, speed, durability, and thermal stability.”

In order of atomic number, the rare earths are:

• Scandium or Sc (21) — This is used in TVs and energy-saving lamps.
• Yttrium or Y (39) — Yttrium is important in the medical world, used in cancer drugs, rheumatoid arthritis medications, and surgical supplies. It’s also used in superconductors and lasers.
• Lanthanum or La (57) — Lanthanum finds use in camera/telescope lenses, special optical glasses, and infrared absorbing glass.
• Cerium or Ce (58) — Cerium is found in catalytic converters, and is used for precision glass-polishing. It’s also found in alloys, magnets, electrodes, and carbon-arc lighting.
• Praseodymium or Pr (59) — This is used in magnets and high-strength metals.
• Neodymium or Nd (60) — Many of the magnets around you have neodymium in them: speakers and headphones, microphones, computer storage, and magnets in your car. It’s also found in high-powered industrial and military lasers. The mineral is especially important for green tech. Each Prius motor, for example, requires 2.2 lbs of neodymium, and its battery another 22-33 lbs. Wind turbine magnets require 43.2 kilograms of neodymium per megawatt of power.
• Promethium or Pm (61) — This is used in pacemakers, watches, and research.
• Samarium or Sm (62) — This mineral is used in magnets in addition to intravenous cancer radiation treatments and nuclear reactor control rods.
• Europium or Eu (63) — Europium is used in color displays and compact fluorescent light bulbs.
• Gadolinium or Gd (64) — It’s important for nuclear reactor shielding, cancer radiation treatments, as well as x-ray and bone-density diagnostic equipment.
• Terbium or Tb (65) — Terbium has similar uses to Europium, though it’s also soft and thus possesses unique shaping capabilities .
• Dysprosium or Dy (66) — This is added to other rare-earth magnets to help them work at high temperatures. It’s used for computer storage, in nuclear reactors, and in energy-efficient vehicles.
• Holmium or Ho (67) — Holmium is used in nuclear control rods, microwaves, and magnetic flux concentrators.
• Erbium or Er (68) — This is used in fiber-optic communication networks and lasers.
• Thulium or Tm (69) — Thulium is another laser rare earth.
• Ytterbium or Yb (70) — This mineral is used in cancer treatments, in stainless steel, and in seismic detection devices.
• Lutetium or Lu (71) — Lutetium can target certain cancers, and is used in petroleum refining and positron emission tomography.

Minimatori Torishima Island(Chief Master Sergeant Don Sutherland, U.S. Air Force)

Japan located the rare earths about 1,850 kilometers off the shore of Minamitori Island. Engineers located the minerals in 10-meter-deep cores taken from sea floor sediment. Mapping the cores revealed and area of approximately 2,500 square kilometers containing rare earths.

Japan’s engineers estimate there’s 16 million tons of rare earths down there. That’s five times the amount of the rare earth elements ever mined since 1900. According to Business Insider, there’s “enough yttrium to meet the global demand for 780 years, dysprosium for 730 years, europium for 620 years, and terbium for 420 years.”

The bad news, of course, is that Japan has to figure out how to extract the minerals from 6-12 feet under the seabed four miles beneath the ocean surface — that’s the next step for the country’s engineers. The good news is that the location sits squarely within Japan’s Exclusive Economic Zone, so their rights to the lucrative discovery will be undisputed.