Market Conditions Suggest Favourable Economic Time to Jump on Pacific’s Heavy Rare Earth Deposits

Radio New Zealand International reported that the Pacific Ocean is host to a vast resource of heavy rare earths  in its seabed, and that, due to current market conditions, the time is right to extract them.

As quoted in the market report:

 I think the most important one right now is there’s been this very long, dramatic increase in base metals, particularly for nickel, cobalt, lead and zinc, and an unbelievably rapid increase in the price of gold and silver. And these happen to be the major commodities that are associated with both the polymetallic nodules and the gold-bearing mass of sulphides in Papua New Guinea and around the Pacific islands. The other one that has been particularly driving this system is a very large increasing demand for these metals largely fuelled by China. That’s also been the driver for the price increases. And I think the other thing that’s most important is that we have over the last few decades gotten tremendous experience in deep ocean exploitation from the oil and gas industry. And a lot of these capacities that have been developed by the oil and gas are largely applicable in the mining industry.

To view the whole Radio New Zealand report, click here.