Minami-Torishima Island | 22 Jul 2024

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.