Yokohama Marine Mining’s senior management hosted the conference and addressed several key issues. Rocks formed on the sea bed over millions of years at the bottom of the ocean, can help satisfy the growing demand for the metals used in batteries and clean energy technologies, and is extremely critical to the break away from the use of fossil fuels. These deep sea minerals are essential to turning the world into a greener and environmentally friendly planet.
Yokohama Marine Mining’s Chief Operating Officer, Mr. Katsumi Kinmochi commented on the conference saying “These nodules which we mine on the sea bed can contain nickel, manganese, copper and cobalt, and these minerals are all set to see a surge in demand over the next decade. Yokohama Marine Mining exploration team plan to extract thousands of tonnes of these nodules from the sea floor using advanced under-sea vehicles. Mining in the deep sea can avoid the problems of land mining, such as deforestation and pollution.”
“It is estimated that the earth’s oceans, which covers around half of the earth’s surface, contains more nickel, cobalt and possibly rare earth metals than all land-based reserves combined. We need the metals or we will have to stop doing everything we do. Otherwise we won’t have cell phones, everyday goods and electric cars. We have an opportunity right now to do something in an environmentally friendly way as possible,” added Mr. Katsumi Kinmochi, Chief Operating Officer of Yokohama Marine Mining.
About Us - Yokohama Marine Mining
At Yokohama Marine Mining, we have a commitment to discover, develop and produce from rare earth mineral from locations throughout the Pacific Ocean.
Japan consumes more than 30,000 tons of rare earth metals every year. The Agency for Natural Resources & Energy in Japan have placed a significant emphasis on developing production of rare earth metals in the country. They have offered numerous development grants and exploration concessions.
We focus our exploration locations in the Pacific Ocean within 500km of the coast of the islands of Japan. Having undertaken exploration of over 100, we estimate that more than 100 billion tons of rare earth minerals are available in the sediment on the ocean floor.