Japan finds deep-sea sediment containing rare earth minerals

Japan said it has successfully drilled and retrieved deep-sea sediment containing rare earth minerals from the seabed near a remote island.

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said the deep-sea drilling vessel Chikyu successfully gathered the sediment at a depth of nearly 6,000 metre below sea level near the island of Minamitorishima.

She added the test retrieval of the rare earths from that depth is a world first.

Takaichi said "it is a first step toward industrialisation of domestically produced rare earth in Japan."

The Japanese Prime Minsiter said her government "will make effort towards 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 event of Beijing taking military action against Taiwan.

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

Details including the amount of rare earth contained in the sediment gathered from Minamitorishima, and how economically viable its processing would be still need to be analysed.