Japan retrieves rare earth-rich mud from seabed to lower reliance on China

TOKYO (AP) — Japan said Monday it has successfully drilled and retrieved deep-sea sediment containing rare earth minerals from the seabed near a remote island, as the country seeks to reduce its reliance on China.

The deep-sea drilling vessel Chikyu's successful gathered the sediment at a depth of nearly 6,000 kilometers near the island of Minamitorishima, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said in a statement on X.

The test retrieval of the rare earths from that depth is a world first, she added.

“It is a first step toward industrialization of domestically produced rare earth in Japan,” Takaichi said. “We will make effort toward achieving resilient supply chains for rare earths and other critical minerals to avoid overdependence on a particular country."

China controls most of the global production of heavy rare earths, which are used for making powerful, heat-resistant magnets in industries such as defense and electric vehicles.

Japan has faced growing tensions with China since Takaichi's comment in November about a possible Japanese involvement in the case of Chinese military action against Taiwan, the self-governing island that Beijing claims as its own.

China recently suspended exports to Japan of dual-use goods with potential military use, raising concern in Japan that rare earths may be included.

While 17 elements are classified as rare earth, the U.S. government has identified 50 minerals overall that are labeled critical minerals, which also include a number of other minerals that are seen as essential to the economic and military strength of the nation.

Japanese researchers discovered deposits rich with critical minerals around Minamitorishima in the 2010s, including those containing high-concentration rare earths that could last hundreds of years.

Under the Strategic Innovation Promotion Program, Japan has been working on research, development and feasibility studies of rare earths deposits around the island.

“The successful retrieval of the sediment containing rare earth elements is a meaningful achievement from the perspectives of economic security and comprehensive ocean development,” Japan’s Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Masanao Ozaki said Monday.

He said that moving toward industrialization of rare earths mud mining will require demonstrating the full process from mining through separation and refining, as well as verifying its economic viability, based on the results of the ongoing tests.

Details, including the amount of rare earth contained, still need to be analyzed, officials said.

The Chikyu, which means Earth, departed last month for Minamitorishima, about 1,950 kilometers (1,210 miles) southeast of Tokyo, and arrived at the mining site on Jan. 17. The first batch of rare earth sediment was retrieved on Feb. 1, according to Japan's Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, which is conducting the survey.

Japan’s Self Defense Forces last year said Chinese naval vessels had been spotted near Minamitorishima.

---

AP video journalist Mayuko Ono in Tokyo contributed to this report.