Japan Collects Rare Earth Mud From Deep Waters Off Island In Pacific

TOKYO, Feb 2 (Bernama-Kyodo) -- Japan has successfully collected mud containing rare earth elements from a depth of about 5,600 metres in waters off Minamitori Island in the Pacific, around 1,900 kilometres (km) southeast of central Tokyo, the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology said Monday, Kyodo News Agency reported.

The project team retrieved the mud on Sunday aboard the agency's research vessel Chikyu as part of a study on the feasibility of extracting critical minerals from the seabed.

The effort is a step toward the domestic production of rare earths crucial to modern technology, including electric vehicles and defence equipment, amid China's dominance in supply and refining.

The ship arrived in the work area, around 150 km southeast of the remote island, on Jan 17 and began collecting sediments on Friday.

The retrieval devices, including a riser pipe system, operated without problems, although work was temporarily halted due to bad weather, the Cabinet Office said. The retrieved mud samples will be dehydrated and further analysed.

A full-scale test is planned for February 2027 with the goal of collecting about 350 tonnes of sediment per day. The government plans to assess the feasibility of industrialising deep-sea rare earths by March 2028, examining costs and potential economic security benefits.

In the 2027 test mining, retrieved sediments will be processed at a dehydration facility on Minamitori Island -- Japan's easternmost territory -- before being shipped to mainland Japan, where rare earth elements are expected to be extracted and refined.

Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Masanao Ozaki said at a regular press conference earlier Monday that the successful collection was "a meaningful achievement in terms of economic security and comprehensive ocean development."

"Moving toward industrialisation of rare earth 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 ongoing tests," he said.

Rare earth sediments lie on the seabed within Japan's exclusive economic zone, according to the Cabinet Office, but the cost of mining and transporting rare earths from remote areas such as Minamitori is seen as a hurdle to exploiting them for industrial use.

-- BERNAMA-KYODO