Researchers in Japan say they have discovered vast deposits of rare earth minerals in the seabed of the Pacific Ocean floor. Such minerals are used in many high technology appliances. The geologists estimated that there could be 100 billion tons of the rare elements in the seabed, an amount that could challenge China’s dominance of rare earth production, should recovering the minerals from the seabed prove to be commercially viable. Yasuhiro Kato, an associate professor of earth science at the University of Tokyo, said, “The deposits have a heavy concentration of rare earths. Just one square kilometre (0.4 square mile) of deposits will be able to provide one-fifth of the current global annual consumption.” The minerals were found in international waters east and west of Hawaii, and east of Tahiti in French Polynesia, at depths of 3,500 to 6,000 meters below the ocean surface.