Japan Succeeds in Salvaging Minerals from Deep Sea

Tokyo, Sept. 26 (Jiji Press)--The industry ministry and state-affiliated Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corp., or JOGMEC, said Tuesday that they have succeeded in salvaging minerals from the sea bottom at a depth of some 1,600 meters in a test conducted near the nation's southernmost prefecture of Okinawa. It is the first time in the world that a large amount of minerals have been salvaged serially from sea-floor deposits. The ministry and JOGMEC aim to commercialize the technology around the mid-2020s, while surveying the amount of resources and studying refining technologies. An official of the ministry's Agency for Natural Resources and Energy described the success of the latest test as a "big step" toward establishing technologies for developing mineral resources in Japan, which depends on imports for most of such resources it uses. "We'll promote the development of domestic natural resources, taking advantage of the country's exclusive economic zone, which is the sixth-largest in the world," industry minister Hiroshige Seko said. In the test, conducted between mid-August and late this month, mineral ores mined from hydrothermal deposits at the sea bottom by a machine were salvaged by a pump onto a ship multiple times. The mineral ores, weighing some 16.4 tons, contain 7-8 pct minerals, according to officials of the industry ministry and JOGMEC. Sea-floor hydrothermal deposits contain zinc, lead, copper, gold and silver. Such deposits have been confirmed at eight locations in the country, mainly around Okinawa. One such deposit contains amounts of zinc exceeding annual domestic consumption, the officials said. Zinc is used for such purposes as galvanizing steel sheets for automobiles. END