Japan just discovered 16 million tons of rare earth metals.

[KONG-D'SNT-TAP]

So when will America invade them for these materials?

 

[jimbob27]

Great news. Hopefully this means we'll get the sex robots that much quicker.

 

[grimballer]

And any moment now they’ll be gassing their own ppl

 

[MadSquabbles500]

If it sounds too good to be true it probably isnt. China is a huge massive landscape. Japan just stumbles upon a huge deposit of RARE earth minerals on a tiny little island

 

[Anung Un Rama]

So when will America invade them for these materials?

What time is it now?

 

[mmascene]

China be like...

 

[Madmick]

And what other country could refine those minerals on a level China does?
They’ll have a stranglehold for years to come.

But not the raw resources. That means everything in the world.

This is arguably the most significant global story of the year so far in terms of the impact to our collective geopolitical future.

 

[KONG-D'SNT-TAP]

What time is it now?

At least we have Infinity war coming up Rama lol

 

[Fugazy]

Who else had to google these metals to find out just what the fuck they are..?

 

[Ophydian]

Should the name change now to just Earth Metals if two countries have a shit ton. Or should they keep the rare tag to increase its value?

 

[Ophydian]

Japan just discovered valuable Chinese minerals in Chinese territorial waters you mean. cause thats what the PRC is thinking right now.

I was going to say, China island building team is already on its way. China found a very ancient map that shows this area was original part of China.

 

[xcvbn]

For those wondering just wtf these elements are used for:

Yttrium

The most important uses of yttrium are LEDs and phosphors, particularly the red phosphors in television set cathode ray tube (CRT) displays.[7] Yttrium is also used in the production of electrodes, electrolytes, electronic filters, lasers, superconductors, various medical applications, and tracing various materials to enhance their properties.

Dysprosium

Dysprosium is used, in conjunction with vanadium and other elements, in making laser materials and commercial lighting. Because of dysprosium's high thermal-neutron absorption cross-section, dysprosium-oxide–nickel cermets are used in neutron-absorbing control rods in nuclear reactors.[4][26] Dysprosium–cadmiumchalcogenides are sources of infrared radiation, which is useful for studying chemical reactions.[3] Because dysprosium and its compounds are highly susceptible to magnetization, they are employed in various data-storage applications, such as in hard disks.[27] Dysprosium is increasingly in demand for the permanent magnets used in electric car motors and wind turbine generators.

Terbium

Terbium is used as a dopant in calcium fluoride, calcium tungstate, and strontium molybdate, materials that are used in solid-state devices, and as a crystal stabilizer of fuel cells which operate at elevated temperatures, together with ZrO2.[3]

Terbium is also used in alloys and in the production of electronic devices. As a component of Terfenol-D, terbium is used in actuators, in naval sonar systems, sensors, in the SoundBug device (its first commercial application), and other magnetomechanical devices. Terfenol-D is a terbium alloy that expands or contracts in the presence of a magnetic field. It has the highest magnetostriction of any alloy.[15]

Terbium oxide is used in green phosphors in fluorescent lamps and color TV tubes. Sodium terbium borate is used in solid state devices. The brilliant fluorescence allows terbium to be used as a probe in biochemistry, where it somewhat resembles calcium in its behavior. Terbium "green" phosphors (which fluoresce a brilliant lemon-yellow) are combined with divalent europium blue phosphors and trivalent europium red phosphors to provide the trichromaticlighting technology which is by far the largest consumer of the world's terbium supply. Trichromatic lighting provides much higher light output for a given amount of electrical energy than does incandescent lighting.[3]

Europium

It is a dopant in some types of glass in lasers and other optoelectronic devices. Europium oxide (Eu2O3) is widely used as a red phosphor in television sets and fluorescent lamps, and as an activator for yttrium-based phosphors.[47][48] Color TV screens contain between 0.5 and 1 g of europium oxide.[49] Whereas trivalent europium gives red phosphors[50], the luminescence of divalent europium depends strongly on the composition of the host structure. UV to deep red luminescence can be achieved.[51][52] The two classes of europium-based phosphor (red and blue), combined with the yellow/green terbium phosphors give "white" light, the color temperature of which can be varied by altering the proportion or specific composition of the individual phosphors. This phosphor system is typically encountered in helical fluorescent light bulbs. Combining the same three classes is one way to make trichromatic systems in TV and computer screens.[47] Europium is also used in the manufacture of fluorescent glass. One of the more common persistent after-glow phosphors besides copper-doped zinc sulfide is europium-doped strontium aluminate.[53] Europium fluorescence is used to interrogate biomolecular interactions in drug-discovery screens. It is also used in the anti-counterfeiting phosphors in euro banknotes.[54][55]

An application that has almost fallen out of use with the introduction of affordable superconducting magnets is the use of europium complexes, such as Eu(fod)3, as shift reagents in NMR spectroscopy. Chiral shift reagents, such as Eu(hfc)3, are still used to determine enantiomeric purity.[56][57][58][59][60]

A recent (2015) application of europium is in quantum memory chips which can reliably store information for days at a time; these could allow sensitive quantum data to be stored to a hard disk-like device and shipped around the country.

 

[milliniar]

What about vibranium or is that still just wakanda

 

[ProBoxingInsidr]

they found a "near infinite" amount of rare earth metals? something seems wrong here

 

[Lead]

Japan started seeking its own rare-earth mineral deposits after China withheld shipments of the substances amid a dispute over islands that both countries claim as their own, Reuters reported in 2014.

That backfired quickly. What an epic fail. I remember people constantly bringing up the dominance China had on these and just like that, gone, and indirectly on their own fault.

 

[JosephDredd]

That backfired quickly. What an epic fail. I remember people constantly bringing up the dominance China had on these and just like that, gone, and indirectly on their own fault.

What happened?

 

[loyalyolayal]

For those wondering just wtf these elements are used for:

Yttrium


Dysprosium


Terbium


Europium

I see fuel cell and lasers a bunch of times.

Spoiler

 

[JosephDredd]

If it was big it would have stayed silience


You don't expose something like that

Username checks out

 

[caxias]

americans seem too excited to steal japan's natural resouces

 

[JSN]

What happened?

Apparently Japan found a source of their own.