Chinese scientists have been the first to identify a rich rare earth mineral deposit in the central Indian Ocean, seizin

Recently, the 2025 East Asia Marine Expo, themed "From Blue to Future - Blue Ocean and Technology", was held in Qingdao, Shandong Province. This expo brought together over 450 enterprises and institutions to showcase the latest achievements in marine engineering, technological equipment, marine biomedicine and other fields. Among them, two samples of deep-sea rare earth-rich sediments were particularly eye-catching.

Deep-sea rare earth-rich sediments (referred to as "deep-sea rare earths") have gained significant attention as a newly discovered type of rare earth resource in recent years due to their huge resource potential. The reported deep-sea rare earth-rich sediments are mainly distributed in four ocean areas: the Western Pacific, the Central-Northeast Pacific, the Southeast Pacific and the Central Indian Ocean.

The rare earth-rich sediment samples on display were discovered by scientists from the First Institute of Oceanography of the Ministry of Natural Resources in the Central Indian Ocean Basin. According to relevant international laws, the first party to discover a marine resource has the priority to apply for its exploitation.