Japanese researchers have found more than 200 million tonnes of manganese nodules rich in battery metals in the Pacific Ocean, within the country’s exclusive economic zone. The team of experts from the University of Tokyo and the Nippon Foundation said the fist-sized nodules cover an extensive area of the seabed near Minamitorishima, a remote Tokyo Island.
These metals-rich rocks are located at depths of about 5,500 metres and are thought to be very similar to the polymetallic nodules found in the Clarion-Clipperton zone in the Pacific, as they hold cobalt, nickel and copper in addition to manganese.
The team estimates the deposit contains 610,000 tonnes of cobalt (equivalent to 75 years of Japan’s consumption) and 740,000 tonnes of nickel (11 years), according to the Japan Times. The Nippon Foundation and other entities expect to start large-scale extraction of nodules next year, to be delivered to Japanese companies with the capability to process them.
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