今日のテキスト JAPAN FINDS RARE-METAL TROVE IN DEEP SEA

A deep-sea survey in the Pacific Ocean has paid off for Japanese researchers. They've discovered rare metals near a coral reef southeast of Tokyo.
The find includes cobalt, which is essential in the manufacture of high-tech industrial products. It's been found around Japan before, but at a shallower depth. This time, researchers from the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology went deeper, and they found rocks containing rare metals in wide areas near the Ogasawara Island chain.
They brought up some of the samples to examine. They say rocks from deeper waters tend to have higher densities of rare metals. Team leader Katsuhiko Suzuki says his team was surprised at the amount of rocks containing rare metals at a previously untapped depth.

(Katsuhiko Suzuki / JAMSTEC)
"Our team hopes to help Japan become a resource-rich country. That's our plan for the future."

Other rare metals, including platinum and nickel, have been found in seas around Japan since 2009.