Japan kicked off a month-long mission to test mining of rare-earth-rich mud from the deep seabed near Minamitori Island, about 1,900 kilometres southeast of Tokyo. The government-backed project is the country’s first endeavour to domestically source rare earths and comes as China begins restricting rare-earth exports to Japan more broadly.
The test vessel Chikyu departed on January 12 from the port city of Shizuoka for the remote coral atoll. According to Reuters, this will be the world’s first attempt to continuously lift rare-earth-rich seabed sludge from a depth of 6 km onto a ship.
“One of our missions is to build a supply chain for domestically produced rare earths to ensure a stable supply of minerals essential to industry,” Shoichi Ishii, the head of the project, told reporters last month.
The project’s estimated reserves have not been disclosed. However, if testing is successful, a full-scale mining trial will be conducted in February 2027.
Source: Reuters