U.S. and Japan plan world’s deepest undersea mine to challenge China
The project could supply centuries of industrial demand and help the two countries reduce reliance on China, which controls about 90% of rare earth production.
- The United States and Japan are partnering to develop the world's deepest seabed mine near Minamitorishima Island, aiming to meet centuries' worth of industrial demand for rare earth elements.
- Beijing currently controls around 90 percent of global rare earth production, prompting the strategic collaboration to reduce dependence on Chinese supply chains amid geopolitical tensions.
- Researchers at the University of Tokyo estimate the target site holds over 16 million tons of rare earth elements, potentially supplying global yttrium demand for 780 years.
- Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi pledged around $5.7 billion in public and private funding by 2040, with Japan scheduling extraction trials for February 2027 and full commercialization by 2028.
- Hudson Institute senior fellow William Chou said the project could enable a "fully closed-loop, mine-to-magnet rare earths supply chain," though no deep-sea mining projects have reached commercial scale and international guidelines remain under debate.
11 Articles
11 Articles
Minamitorishima appears very inconspicuous. It's a small, isolated coral island with an area of approximately 1.4 square kilometers, located nearly 2,000 kilometers southeast of Tokyo, and has no permanent population. Needless to say, however, its importance is disproportionately greater than its surface area. In sediments located at a depth of approximately 5–6 kilometers, scientists have found high concentrations of rare-earth elements. These …
The aim is to combat the Chinese monopoly of these minerals essential for the technological sector.
The US and Japan want to mine rare earth metals at a depth of 6 km to challenge ChinaThe US and Japan are considering a project to mine rare earth elements from the seabed near the island of Minamitorishima at a depth of 6 km. This should reduce dependence on China, which dominates the market.
In front of Japan's Minami-Torishima island, Washington and Tokyo want to promote raw materials from the seabed. The project is technically risky, geopolitically explosive – and could provoke China.
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