Rapid Fire
Minami-Torishima Island
- 22 Jul 2024
- 1 min read
Recently, researchers have uncovered a significant deposit of minerals on the seabed near the remote island of Minami-Torishima in Japan.
- This discovery includes manganese nodules containing enough cobalt and nickel.
- The researchers estimated that the seabed near Minami-Torishima island holds approximately 610,000 metric tons of cobalt and 740,000 metric tons of nickel.
- Both cobalt and nickel are essential components in EV batteries.
- Cobalt is important for EVs as it prevents the cathode from overheating while extending the life of batteries while Manganese contributes 61% of the cathode needs of the batteries.
Minami-Torishima Island:
- Discovered in 1543, Minami-Torishima is a coral atoll in the central Pacific Ocean 1,125 km southeast of Japan.
- It's also about 1,200 km away from the Chichijima Island of the Ogasawara Island group.
- The triangular-shaped island of Minami-Torishima is the summit of a giant seamount rising from the seafloor and is located on the Marcus-Necker Ridge.
- Located at the easternmost edge of Japan, the island is the first in Japan to see the sunrise.
Read more: Hokkaido, Japan’s Garden of Gods
