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This weakens China's hand in the ongoing trade wars (as they are currently the primary supplier of these rare metals).
by kevmo 9y ago
This weakens China's hand in the ongoing trade wars (as they are currently the primary supplier of these rare metals).
- hangonhn 9y agoBy the time Japan is able to extract and use that supply the trade war with China would be long over or one would hope so. The supply is several kilometers down. One would have to build a rig and then find a way to efficiently pump that material back up in large enough quantities for commercial usage (i.e. cheap enough to compete with China's supply)
- mkempe 9y agoHow long do you think it took for the commercial development of North Sea oil rigs?
- oliwarner 9y agoChina owns over half of the mines in Africa. It subsidised the infrastructure to get mined materials back to China. That is all to say it now has extremely cheap access to any raw material it wants. Japan's super-expensive submarine sludge isn't going to make any difference.