Are these the things China has been holding over our heads?
Elements are quite the macro quantum creatures.
Good it’s off the Japanese coast and not Chinese coast.
Black Elk Falls Nebraska....Only niobium source in the US.
http://quantumrareearth.com/elk-creek.html
This is the result of a meteorite pipe.
Booom! That’s a game changer!
16 million tons, and what do you get? Another day older and deeper in debt.
Between US oil production, Japanese rare metals, plus the technical capabilities of both countries, you have a winning combination.
How the hell did they find these at the bottom of the ocean 1150 miles from shore?
:^)
Also known as Marcus Island
It looks like they found these deposits a few years ago. This new information is a scientific study of how much is there.
Find is in ocean floor mud, 5500 feet down, 160 miles south of what we used to call Marcus island, about halfway between Wake and Tokyo. Clinton gave Marcus back to Japan Sep. 1993, probably thinking the 300 acre island wasn’t worth much. If this can be extracted from a mile down in mid ocean it should make the geologists very curious about where else similar deposits can be found. Also, once they figure out how to mine it look for Chicom financed greenies to oppose it!
A cynic would say this attack on Syria was just to demo more weapons for sale ( especially since the attack apparently didn’t even include destroying hezballah )
Rare earths aren’t rare, the cost is in extracting and purifying them.
As noted by others, rare earth elements are not exactly rare. The Chinese have currently captured the market by selling below the cost of extraction. http://trib.com/news/local/casper/proposed-rare-earth-mine-suspended-indefinitely/article_cb93d6ba-4c33-5f9b-80e3-fd716a5bfb72.html
Soon to be claimed by China.
Clinton finalized the turn-over in 1993, but the island was first turned over by the Lyndon Johnson administration in June of 1968. Not only that, but the United States had historical claims to the island that pre-dated the Japanese claims!
Johnson has to have been one of the worst American presidents, ever.
Hmmm ... we had a base there as late as 1993. It is well east of Japan, and we had (for a time) the only competing claim. Looks good.
Well, good to see the Japanese scoring big gifts from the earth kami.
The Chinese will undoubtedly try to take over.
“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 cache lies off of Minamitori Island, about 1,150 miles southeast of Tokyo. It’s within Japan’s exclusive economic zone, so the island nation has the sole rights to the resources there.”