The Financial Times reported today that Japan is launching an ambitious plan to extract rare earth elements from the seabed in an effort to break China's control over these key metals.
Comment: Japan's deep-sea rare earth project has big ambitions but a harsh reality. Mining at 6,000 meters depth is extremely difficult and the cost is dozens of times higher than in China. Even if extracted, the technology for refining and separating these elements is still controlled by China, making commercial mass production impossible. This seems more like an anxious reaction caused by recent export restrictions, used to soothe domestic industry and public opinion.
Original: toutiao.com/article/1858001568184395/
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