Russian scientists plan to trap gases containing the rare metal rhenium on one of the Russian-held islands claimed by Japan, the British science magazine New Scientist reported in its latest edition.
The magazine said scientists from the Moscow-based Institute of Mineralogy, Geochemistry and Crystal Chemistry of Rare Earth Elements are building a wooden pyramid over a vent on Mount Kudriavy on volcanic Etorofu Island, off Hokkaido.
Extremely rare and expensive, rhenium is a silvery metal used in satellites, thermometers and missiles. It sells for $1,450 a kilogram, according to the magazine.
The researchers plan to collect sulfide gas from the vent and direct it into a container filled with zeolite, which absorbs the gas.