Date set for Japan's $26,300,000,000 economic boom after making 230,000,000 ton discovery

A date has been set for the 'large-scale' extraction of Earth minerals which could provide a huge $26.3 billion boost to Japan's economy.

A recent survey by The Nippon Foundation and the University of Tokyo discovered a field of dense manganese nodules on the seabed of Minami-Tori-shima island - some 1,200 miles from Tokyo.

Located some 5,700 meters below sea level, the nodules contain millions of metric tons of cobalt and nickel.

The sought-after materials are two of the crucial components needed to create electric vehicle (EV) batteries: cobalt and nickel.

Minami-Tori-shima island (Gallo Images/Orbital Horizon/Copernicus Sentinel Data 2024)

How big of a find are we talking?

Around 610,000 metric tons of cobalt and 740,000 metric tons of nickel has been found, which equates to a staggering amount of money.

One metric ton of cobalt is worth $24,300 while nickel sees a value of $15,497, according to current market figures from Trading Economics.

This means Japan has amassed $14,823,000,000 worth of cobalt while the 740,000 tons of nickel comes in at $11,467,780,000.

That totals an eye-watering total of $26,290,780,000, at the time of writing.

Some of the manganese nodules found on the sea bed (The Nippon Foundation)

When will Japan's economy benefit from the find?

Japan's economy could benefit from this discovery sooner rather than later.

The Nippon Foundation previously said large-scale extraction would begin by the end of fiscal year 2025 with the University of Tokyo contributing to material analysis.

The foundation added: "Starting in 2026, we expect to set up a joint venture with multiple Japanese companies to commercialize the minerals as domestically produced resources."

Cobalt and nickel are used in electric vehicle batteries (Robert Alexander/Getty Images)

Environmental concerns have been raised

Experts have previously spoken out about the potentially devastating environmental impacts deep sea mining could have.

One study, conducted by Travis Washburn, a researcher at the Geological Survey of Japan, found ocean creatures vanish from areas within and even outside deep-sea mining operations.

"These results suggest the impact of deep-sea mining could be even bigger than we think," Washburn said.

One year after the test was conducted, those working on the study found a massive 43 percent drop in fish and shrimp populations around the site.

Elsewhere Sophie Benbow, director of a marine programme at a conservation charity, told the BBC: "There is so much we could learn from ocean biodiversity. Medical advances and new technologies could be deciphered from the study of deep-sea species, but they could be wiped out before we even know they exist if deep-seabed mining is to go ahead prematurely."

Meanwhile, Colin Hamilton spoke about the complexity mining at such depths provides.

"Extraction will not be simple, and we see this as a potential test case for the benefits versus disadvantages of deep-sea mining of materials relating to the global fuel-to-materials transition," he said in a recent brief.

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