A Rare Resource Found at Sea Floor Off Minami Torishima Island

Resources-poor Japan now has something to rejoice - a rare resource called manganese nodule just found lying at sea bottom 5500 meters near Minami Torishima Island within Japan's EEZ.

The manganese nodule found this time is each a ball of 5 to 10 centimeters in diameter spreading over 44 thousand square kilometers - an area larger than the whole of Kyushu.

Minami Torishima Island is situated some 2000 kilometers southeast of Tokyo. A group of researchers from the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology and Tokyo University conducted an extensive survey of the area last April onward onboard the manned research submarine "Shinkai 6500".

Manganese nodule is a chunk of rare metals like cobalt essential for manufacturing high-efficiency batteries for motor vehicles. The researchers expect the discovery this time should lead to the development of domestic resources in the future.

There have been reported similar discoveries of sea bottom resources inside Japan's EEZ in recent years, but every one of them lies far too deep for today's technology to excavate in large quantities. Further, it is not yet certain if such technology could ever be commercially viable.

Professor Yasuhiro Kato of Tokyo University comments:

"The total volume of cobalt found lying at seabed should be enough to supply 1600 years of Japan's consumption, and it is significant that such a volume lies within our EEZ.

"We must see to it that this discovery lead to future development of domestic resources."

If it's a matter of technology, Japan always finds a way out of any challenge. What other option will there be but an efficient knowhow to suck up those cobalt balls in good time? Hunger for resources should motivate Japan more than anything else to get those balls - after all there are enough of them to last for 1600 years. (Nathan Shiga)