Papers

Peer-reviewed
Dec 1, 2018

The tremendous potential of deep-sea mud as a source of rare-earth elements

Scientific Reports
  • Yutaro Takaya
  • Kazutaka Yasukawa
  • Takehiro Kawasaki
  • Koichiro Fujinaga
  • Junichiro Ohta
  • Yoichi Usui
  • Kentaro Nakamura
  • Jun-Ichi Kimura
  • Qing Chang
  • Morihisa Hamada
  • Gjergj Dodbiba
  • Tatsuo Nozaki
  • Koichi Iijima
  • Tomohiro Morisawa
  • Takuma Kuwahara
  • Yasuyuki Ishida
  • Takao Ichimura
  • Masaki Kitazume
  • Toyohisa Fujita
  • Yasuhiro Kato
  • Display all

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
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

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