TOKYO, July 24, 2026 (BSS/AFP) - Japan said Friday it plans to conduct full-
scale mining tests in February for rare earth minerals from a seabed near a 
remote Pacific island, after a mission successfully recovered samples from 
six kilometres below the waves.

Japan and the United States, as well as many other countries, are seeking to 
curb dependence on China for the valuable minerals used in an array of high-
tech products from missiles to wind turbines.

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said that the samples taken earlier this year 
by a deep-sea drilling ship from a depth of around 6,000 metres (about 20,000 
feet) near Minami Torishima included traces of yttrium.

Yttrium "is globally scarce and is used in coating agents for semiconductor 
manufacturing equipment, catalysts for purifying harmful nitrogen oxides in 
exhaust gases, and in the semiconductor and automotive industries, making it 
an important rare earth for our country", Takaichi said on X.

"Based on this achievement, we plan to conduct a full-scale mining test in 
February next year."

Japan will "undertake efforts to strengthen the supply chain resilience, with 
the full involvement of both government and private sectors, so as not to 
overly depend on specific countries", Takaichi added.

The Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC) said 
separately that gadolinium and dysprosium, two other rare-earth elements, 
were also detected in the 50 tonnes of seabed material recovered.

In March, Takaichi said that she would discuss cooperation with the United 
States on mining around the coral atoll, which is some 2,000 kilometres 
(1,250 miles) from Tokyo and also known as Minamitorishima.

Previous studies have suggested that the surrounding seabed could contain 
millions of tonnes of rare earths which might ensure supplies of some 
minerals for many hundreds of years.

Environmental campaigners warn deep-sea mining threatens marine ecosystems.

China accounts for almost two-thirds of rare earth mining production and 92 
percent of global refined output, according to the International Energy 
Agency.

A spat with Beijing sparked by comments by Takaichi about Taiwan in November 
has seen China heavily restrict supplies to Japan.

Officials said in March that they also planned to conduct a preliminary 
survey on Minami Torishima, uninhabited by civilians and off-limits to 
tourists, as a possible site for nuclear waste.