World’s deepest undersea mine? US, Japan target China’s rare earths dominance

The United States and Japan are collaborating on the plan to construct the world’s deepest seabed mine in history in a bid to counter China’s dominance in critical minerals.

Under this strategic partnership, both countries will conduct joint research and development of undersea mining of rare earth minerals in Minamitorishima Island. This island holds significant deposits that could “meet centuries’ worth of industrial demand,” according to Bloomberg.

The partnership between Tokyo and Japan came to existence when both countries met at the summit in March.

The only reason behind this project is to counter China’s dominance in the critical minerals industry as Beijing currently controls around 90 percent of global rare earth production. Given its leverage, previously the country restricted the supply chain by imposing export controls during diplomatic and geopolitical spats.

William Chou, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute said, “Minamitorishima is an ambitious project, but one that could enable Japan and the U.S. to possess a fully closed-loop, mine-to-magnet rare earths supply chain, helping to break China's leverage over them.”

Japan PM Sanae Takaichi has positioned the project at the core of her economic security agenda, pledging around $5.7 billion in public and private funding by 2040.

But such a project is not bereft of challenges because extracting seabed mud at a depth of 3.7 miles presents extreme engineering challenges.

Houston-based Deep Reach Technology and other North American oil and gas specialists have been engaged in preliminary discussions with Japanese officials regarding extraction technology.

Researchers at the University of Tokyo estimate that the target site holds over 16 million tons of rare earth elements, which could potentially supply global yttrium demand for 780 years.

According to Japan’s plan, it has scheduled a month-long extraction and refining trial for February 2027 followed by full commercialization by 2028. The US’ issued executive orders also precipitated the permitting processes.