By Adam Minter (Bloomberg) While commodities traders still work their way out of a historic slump, Japan is looking ahead to the next boom. According to Bloomberg News, next year a group of Japanese companies and government agencies will start mining minerals at a site 1,000 miles southwest of Tokyo -- and one mile beneath the ocean's surface. It will be the first … [Read more...]
Japan Dives Deep Offshore In Search For Ocean Metal
by Masumi Suga Ichiro Suzuki (Bloomberg) As deep as 1,600 meters (5,250 feet) under water and 1,500 kilometers (930 miles) from Tokyo, work has begun on the new hunting ground for metals in Japan, a country so devoid of natural resources that most of what it needs has to be imported. As the island nation depleted most of its land-based minerals in the economic boom that … [Read more...]
Keppel Unit Wins Seabed Exploration Contract in Search of Mineral Resources
A unit of Keppel Corp. has signed a 15-year seabed exploration contract in its search for rare minerals on the seabed of the Pacific Ocean. Ocean Mineral Singapore Pte Ltd entered into the contract with the International Seabed Authority for the exploration of polymetallic nodules at a site within the Clarion-Clipperton Fracture Zone, a 4,500 mile submarine … [Read more...]