Japan announced yesterday the extraction of deposits containing rare earth elements from a depth of 6,000 meters during a marine exploration mission. This is part of the country's efforts to reduce its dependence on Beijing for importing strategic metals. Tokyo confirmed that this attempt is the first in the world to extract rare earth elements from such a depth. A government spokesman, Ki Sato, said: "Details, including the exact amount of rare earth elements in the sample, will be analyzed," describing the discovery as "a significant achievement." The sample was extracted from the waters around the remote island of Minami-Torishima in the Pacific Ocean, which is rich in valuable minerals.
