Japan finds rare earths in Pacific seabed

20th Sep 2011

The geologists estimate that there are about a 100bn tons of the rare elements in the mud of the Pacific Ocean floor.

At present, China produces 97% of the world’s rare earth metals.

Analysts say the Pacific discovery could challenge China’s dominance, if recovering the minerals from the seabed proves commercially viable.

The British journal Nature Geoscience reported that a team of scientists led by Yasuhiro Kato, an associate professor of earth science at the University of Tokyo, found the minerals in sea mud at 78 locations.

“The deposits have a heavy concentration of rare earths. Just one square kilometre (0.4 square mile) of deposits will be able to provide one-fifth of the current global annual consumption,” said Yasuhiro Kato, an associate professor of earth science at the University of Tokyo.

The minerals were found at depths of 3,500 to 6,000 metres (11,500-20,000 ft) below the ocean surface.

Environmental fears

One-third of the sites yielded rich contents of rare earths, Mr Kato said.

The deposits are in international waters east and west of Hawaii, and east of Tahiti in French Polynesia.

Why rare earths are so important to the world’s economy
Mr Kato estimated that rare earths contained in the deposits amounted to 80 to 100 billion tonnes.

The US Geological Survey has estimated that global reserves are just 110 million tonnes, found mainly in China, Russia and other former Soviet countries, and the United States.

China’s apparent monopoly of rare earth production enabled it to restrain supply last year during a territorial dispute with Japan.

Japan has since sought new sources of the rare earth minerals.

The Malaysian government is considering whether to allow the construction of an Australian-financed project to mine rare earths, in the face of local opposition focused on the fear of radioactive waste.

The number of firms seeking licences to dig through the Pacific Ocean floor is growing rapidly.

The listed mining company Nautilus has the first licence to mine the floor of the Bismarck and Solomon oceans around Papua New Guinea.

It will be recovering what is called seafloor massive sulphide, for its copper and gold content.

The prospect of deep sea mining for precious metals – and the damage that could do to marine ecosystems – is worrying environmentalists.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-14009910

Attractive new magnetic material

20th Sep 2011

A material that temporarily transforms itself into a “permanent” magnet when a small voltage is applied has been discovered by scientists in Japan.

Although substances with similar behaviours have been described Magnetic field linesbefore, these have worked in this way only at super-low temperatures close to absolute zero. But what sets this new material apart is that it exhibits this magnetic phenomenon at room temperature.

For the full story – head to Science News.

Scientists demo atomic layer lithography on graphene

20th Sep 2011

A new technique, developed by a team at Rice University, will allow lithographers to strip back individual, atom-thick, layers of graphene, one at a time, shaping the material into the electronic components it promises to revolutionise.

Dr. James Tour and his fellow researchers at Rice University needed to find a way to overcome graphene’s tendency to stick to itself. Although it is famously possible to peel layers of graphene from graphite with a piece of sticky tape, this is not the most precise approach, and often brings multiple layers with breakage and gaps and so on.

Instead of sticky tape, Dr. Tour and his team coated the graphene in a layer of zinc, and then washing the area with hydrochloric acid. This strips away the coated portions leaving the layers below and uncoated areas of the surface untouched. The researchers say it is the highest precision lithography ever developed, and works on graphene oxide, too.

Dr. Tour told PhysicsWorld: “Being able to remove one layer at a time from graphene is the highest precision lithography that has ever been attained, or could ever be attained, for this – or indeed any other material – since it is made of single atoms layers.”

The work is written up in the journal Science here.

Source: ZDNet