Japan said it has successfully drilled and retrieved deep-sea sediment containing rare earth minerals from the seabed near Minamitorishima, a remote island in the Pacific, as the country looks to lessen its reliance on China. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said the deep-sea drilling vessel Chikyu conducted the test retrieval at nearly 6,000 meters (19,700 feet) and brought the sediment up from the seabed.
Takaichi described the retrieval as a “world first,” saying it is meant to support industrialization efforts for rare earths produced inside Japan. She also linked the work to a broader goal of building resilient supply chains for rare earths and other critical minerals so Japan can avoid overdependence on a single country.
The government’s rare-earth push comes as China dominates production of heavy rare earths, which are used to make magnets that remain effective in heat-intensive applications. Those magnets are used across sectors including defense and electric vehicles, raising the strategic and industrial stakes of Japan’s supply-chain planning.
Japan’s efforts have unfolded amid growing tensions with China, including concerns Japan raised after China suspended exports to Japan of dual-use goods with potential military use. Japan has also pointed to earlier remarks by Takaichi in November about Japan’s possible involvement if China used military action against Taiwan, the self-governing island Beijing claims.
Separately, Japanese researchers discovered deposits rich in critical minerals around Minamitorishima in the 2010s. The government said the current work builds on those findings under Japan’s Strategic Innovation Promotion Program, including research, development and feasibility studies related to rare earths deposits around the island.
Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Masanao Ozaki said the successful retrieval was a meaningful achievement for economic security and for comprehensive ocean development. He said Japan would need to demonstrate the full process for rare-earth “mud” mining—from extraction through separation and refining—and verify economic viability, based on results from ongoing tests.
Ozaki said details including the amount of rare earth contained still require analysis. Japan said the Chikyu departed last month for Minamitorishima and arrived at the mining site on Jan. 17, and that Japan’s first batch of rare earth sediment was retrieved on Feb. 1, according to the Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology that is conducting the survey.
Japan’s Self Defense Forces said last year that Chinese naval vessels were spotted near Minamitorishima. The project’s next steps, officials indicated, hinge on translating the test retrieval into a complete industrial process and demonstrating that it can work economically.