Japan is taking a major step to end China's dominance over rare earth elements. In this regard, Japan has devised a plan to extract and refine rare minerals from the ocean floor by 2027. This strategic shift aims to challenge China’s long-standing dominance over rare earth elements, which are essential for modern technologies such as electric vehicles, wind turbines, smartphones, and defence systems.
According to the Nikkei Asia daily, Japan is preparing to search for rare minerals on the seabed 6,000 meters below the ocean surface. This process will involve extracting sediment from the seabed and processing it on the mainland. Japan is particularly looking for rare minerals such as Dysprosium, which are used in the automobile industry. Japan has one of the world's largest automobile industries, with brands like Toyota, Honda, Suzuki, and Nissan being household names in many parts of the world. However, in 2010, a dispute over the Senkaku Islands led China to halt the supply of rare earth minerals, causing difficulties for the Japanese automobile industry.
---Advertisement---
Since then, Japan has been working to diversify its sources of rare earth minerals. Interestingly, in the last few years, Tokyo has managed to reduce its dependence on Beijing by a third.
---Advertisement---
Japan moves to break China’s rare Earth monopoly
China controls approximately 70 percent of the global supply of rare earth elements and this figure rises to 90 percent in terms of refining capacity. Following the 2010 incident, Japan acquired a stake in the Australian company Lynas, securing a long-term supply of rare earth without relying on China.
Japan to extract rare earth minerals from the sea
Japan now plans to extract rare earth minerals from its territorial waters. For this, it is going to build a facility on Minami-Tori-shima, a remote island, where seabed mud can be extracted. This mud will be separated from the seabed and transported to the mainland for final refining and the production of rare earth metals. According to the report, the work is expected to begin in January or February 2026. The Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology will conduct test mining using a deep-sea research vessel to extract the mud through pipes. Reportedly, Japan has allocated 16.4 billion yen (approximately $105 million) for this project.