Dec 1, 2018
The tremendous potential of deep-sea mud as a source of rare-earth elements
Scientific Reports
- Volume
- 8
- Number
- 1
- Language
- English
- Publishing type
- Research paper (scientific journal)
- DOI
- 10.1038/s41598-018-23948-5
- Publisher
- Nature Publishing Group
Potential risks of supply shortages for critical metals including rare-earth elements and yttrium (REY) have spurred great interest in commercial mining of deep-sea mineral resources. Deep-sea mud containing over 5,000 ppm total REY content was discovered in the western North Pacific Ocean near Minamitorishima Island, Japan, in 2013. This REY-rich mud has great potential as a rare-earth metal resource because of the enormous amount available and its advantageous mineralogical features. Here, we estimated the resource amount in REY-rich mud with Geographical Information System software and established a mineral processing procedure to greatly enhance its economic value. The resource amount was estimated to be 1.2 Mt of rare-earth oxide for the most promising area (105 km2 × 0-10 mbsf), which accounts for 62, 47, 32, and 56 years of annual global demand for Y, Eu, Tb, and Dy, respectively. Moreover, using a hydrocyclone separator enabled us to recover selectively biogenic calcium phosphate grains, which have high REY content (up to 22,000 ppm) and constitute the coarser domain in the grain-size distribution. The enormous resource amount and the effectiveness of the mineral processing are strong indicators that this new REY resource could be exploited in the near future.
- Link information
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- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-23948-5
- PubMed
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29636486
- Web of Science
- https://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcAuth=JSTA_CEL&SrcApp=J_Gate_JST&DestLinkType=FullRecord&KeyUT=WOS:000429680200001&DestApp=WOS_CPL
- Scopus
- https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?partnerID=HzOxMe3b&scp=85045247828&origin=inward Open access
- Scopus Citedby
- https://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.uri?partnerID=HzOxMe3b&scp=85045247828&origin=inward
- ID information
-
- DOI : 10.1038/s41598-018-23948-5
- ISSN : 2045-2322
- eISSN : 2045-2322
- Pubmed ID : 29636486
- SCOPUS ID : 85045247828
- Web of Science ID : WOS:000429680200001