According to the China Ocean Mineral Resources R & D Association, Xiangyanghong 01 has successfully finished its research mission in the fifth segment of China First Around-the-world Marine Integrated Scientific Research and the 46th China Ocean Expedition. During this voyage, scientists have discovered a large area of rich sediment of rare earth elements (REE) in the southeast Pacific Ocean, which creates a new record of China and even the world in REE investigation.

SHI Xuefa, the chief scientist of this research mission, introduced that the forth segment of the 46th China Ocean Expedition has conducted marine geological surveys and comprehensive environmental investigations within a 2.6-million-square-kilometer area in the deep sea basins of the southeast Pacific Ocean, collecting samples of deep-sea sediment and seawater, and data on seabed topography, geophysics, hydrology, meteorology, and biochemistry. After testing samples by handheld XRF elemental analyzer, scientists found that REE in the deep-sea clay of SE Pacific Ocean is pretty high with the highest volume of 2500ppm and has met the requirement of mineralization.

Scientists have preliminarily zoned a 1.5-million-square-kilometer area of REE-rich sediment in deep sea basins of the southeast Pacific Ocean. This is the first time internationally to find REE-rich sediment in this area. The discovery will assist the study of rare earth resources and deep sea environmental research.

LI Bo of China Ocean Mineral Resources R & D Association commented that as the key component of China First Around-the-world Marine Integrated Scientific Research, the 46th China Ocean Expedition is preciously planned by his team and expected to realize the 13th five-year plan of “Jiaolongtanhai Project” and improve the strategic layout of China’s ocean exploration. China Ocean Mineral Resources R & D Association initiated research on rare earth resources from 2012, and has preliminarily zoned 4 metallogenic belts in the Indian and Pacific Ocean and come up with 12 potential areas. In 2015, during the 34th China Ocean Expedition, REE-rich area was firstly found in the mid-Indian Ocean Basin. In the 46th China Ocean Expedition, rich sediments of REE were found just inside of the potential areas, demonstrating China’s leading role in deep-sea rare earth resources research.