(MENAFN) Japan has won the rights to explore for cobalt-rich crusts in the Pacific, as it seeks to cut dependence on China for rare metals, AFP reported.
The government in Tokyo said that the International Seabed Authority (ISA) had approved Japan's plan to explore a 3,000-square-kilometre area beneath international waters off the isolated Japanese coral atoll of Minamitorishima
Resources-poor Japan needs the metals for its high-tech components, including lithium-ion batteries and automobile engines.
Because of that China, the world's leading supplier of rare metals and rare earths, has used its position as diplomatic leverage at a time when it is locked in a row with Japan over Tokyo-controlled islands in the East China Sea.
The Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation set to firm a formal 15-year contract with the ISA, the statement said.
Cobalt-rich crusts are presumed to cover the seabed between 1,000 and 2,000 metres down, containing such rare metals as manganese, cobalt, nickel and platinum, according to the statement.
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