logo
Japan plans 'world first' deep-sea mineral extraction

Japan plans 'world first' deep-sea mineral extraction

CNA03-07-2025
TOKYO: Japan will from January attempt to extract rare earth minerals from the ocean floor in the deepest trial of its kind, the director of a government innovation programme said on Thursday (Jul 3).
Earlier this week, the country pledged to work with the United States, India and Australia to ensure a stable supply of critical minerals, as concern grows over China's dominance in resources vital to new technologies.
Rare earths - 17 metals difficult to extract from the Earth's crust - are used in everything from electric vehicles to hard drives, wind turbines and missiles.
China accounts for almost two-thirds of rare earth mining production and 92 per cent of global refined output, according to the International Energy Agency.
A Japanese deep-sea scientific drilling boat called the Chikyu will, from January, conduct a "test cruise" to retrieve ocean floor sediments that contain rare earth elements, said Shoichi Ishii, director of Japan's Cross-ministerial Strategic Innovation Promotion Programme.
"The test to retrieve the sediments from 5,500m water depth is the first in the world," he told AFP.
"Our goal ... of this cruise is to test the function of all mining equipment," so the amount of sediment extracted "doesn't matter at all", Ishii added.
The Chikyu will drill in Japanese economic waters around the remote island of Minami Torishima in the Pacific - the easternmost point of Japan, also used as a military base.
Japan's Nikkei business daily reported that the mission aims to extract 35 tonnes of mud from the sea floor over around three weeks.
Each tonne is expected to contain around 2kg of rare earth minerals, which are often used to make magnets that are essential in modern electronics.
Deep-sea mining has become a geopolitical flashpoint, with anxiety growing over a push by US President Donald Trump to fast-track the practice in international waters.
Beijing has since April required licences to export rare earths from China, a move seen as retaliation for US curbs on the import of Chinese goods.
Environmental campaigners warn that deep-sea mining threatens marine ecosystems and will disrupt the sea floor.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Japan expects only 1% to 2% of $550 billion US fund to be investment
Japan expects only 1% to 2% of $550 billion US fund to be investment

Business Times

time33 minutes ago

  • Business Times

Japan expects only 1% to 2% of $550 billion US fund to be investment

[TOKYO] Japan expects only 1 to 2 per cent of its recently agreed upon US$550 billion US fund to be in the form of actual investment, with the bulk of it being loans, according to the nation's top chief negotiator Ryosei Akazawa. At the same time, Tokyo would save roughly 10 trillion yen (S$87 billion) through lower tariff rates in its deal with America, he said. The US$550 billion investment framework will be a combination of investments, loans and loan guarantees provided by financial institutions backed by the Japanese government, Akazawa said on public broadcaster NHK on Saturday (Jul 26) night. Of the total, investment would be worth 1 per cent or 2 per cent and the US and Japan would split the profits of that investment at a ratio of 90-10, he said. Japan had originally proposed a 50-50 ratio, he added. The fund is a centrepiece of the deal announced by the two sides that will impose 15 per cent tariffs on Japanese cars and other goods. But the details given by Akazawa suggest the Japanese may end up giving up much less than at first glance. The comments come as officials from countries with deals with the US sift through the terms to explain to the public what they entail. 'It's not that US$550 billion in cash will be sent to the US,' Akazawa said. 'By letting the US have 90 per cent of the profits rather than 50 per cent, I think Japan's loss will be at most a couple of tens of billions of yen. People are saying various things, such as 'You sold out Japan', but they are wrong.' For the loans provided through the programme, Japan will simply be collecting the interest payments, and for the loan guarantees, if nothing happens, Japan will also be just collecting fees, Akazawa said. 'For that part, Japan's just making money,' he said. BT in your inbox Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox. Sign Up Sign Up Akazawa also clarified that the investment programme will not be only supporting Japanese and US firms. As a potential example, he cited a Taiwanese semiconductor firm building a factory in the US. 'We'd like to put the US$550 billion in place during President Trump's term,' Akazawa added. Further details of the implementation of the US-Japan deal remain unclear, including when the new tariff rates would take effect and when the new investment vehicle would kick off. There's been no joint document signed by both sides for the deal, although the White House has published a fact sheet. 'If you say something like, 'Let's create a joint document,' they will say, 'We will lower tariffs after the document is created,'' Akazawa said. In order not to lose time, 'we will demand that they issue an executive order to lower tariffs as soon as possible, regardless of a document'. Last week, Akazawa said that he expects universal tariffs on Japan's shipments to be lowered to 15 per cent on Aug 1, while he said he wanted the car tariffs to be cut to 15 per cent as soon as possible without specifying a date. The Trump administration has touted the deal with Japan as a potential model for others. On Sunday, the US and European Union agreed on a deal that will see the bloc face 15 per cent tariffs on most of its exports, with the EU pledging to invest US$600 billion in the US. BLOOMBERG

Japan PM Ishiba signals intent to stay on despite calls to quit
Japan PM Ishiba signals intent to stay on despite calls to quit

Business Times

time5 hours ago

  • Business Times

Japan PM Ishiba signals intent to stay on despite calls to quit

[TOKYO] Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba signalled he intends to stay in office despite a growing number of calls within the ruling party for him to step down after an election setback last week. 'I intend to devote myself to the people and the future of the country,' Ishiba said in an interview with national broadcaster NHK. He added he must take responsibility for implementing the recently announced US-Japan trade deal, and that the real work on it starts now. He is set to speak at a meeting of Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) lawmakers on Monday (Jul 28). Party members have been calling on someone to take responsibility for the Jul 20 elections that saw the LDP lose its majority in Japan's upper house elections. It marks the first time since 1955 that a leader from the storied Japanese party will govern the country without a majority in at least one of the legislative bodies. Former foreign minister Toshimitsu Motegi called for a leadership change within the LDP on his YouTube channel over the weekend. The party needs a 'fresh start with a new leader', he said. Local media reported last week that Ishiba was set to resign, but the prime minister denied the news shortly afterwards. Asked by NHK if he had second thoughts about his decision to continue in office, Ishiba said no. While pressure mounted on Ishiba last week, a relatively favourable trade deal for Japan was announced with the US, including the lowering of across-the-board tariffs to 15 per cent from 25 per cent. The deal could offer Ishiba a mark of success that he can leverage to shore up his leadership. A Mainichi newspaper opinion poll conducted Jul 26 to 27 after the election defeat showed support for Ishiba's Cabinet rose five percentage points to 29 per cent, compared with a month ago. The most number of respondents also ranked Ishiba as the most suitable person to be prime minister, citing the US tariff issues. BLOOMBERG

Commentary: Will AI help or wreck your next holiday?
Commentary: Will AI help or wreck your next holiday?

CNA

time7 hours ago

  • CNA

Commentary: Will AI help or wreck your next holiday?

TOKYO: On a recent trip to Taiwan, I turned to ChatGPT to ask for recommendations for the best beef noodles in my area – with the very specific request that the shop had to accept credit cards, as I was running low on my stash of local currency. The chatbot immediately recommended a place that was a short walk and featured some of the most delicious, melt-in-your mouth beef tendon I've ever had. I was pleased to be the only foreigner in the no-frills, no air-conditioning joint that was home to a fat, orange cat taking a nap under one of the metal stools. But after my meal, I panicked when the impatient woman behind the counter had to put aside the dumplings she was folding to try and communicate in English to me that it was cash only. Even a quick Google search of the hole in the wall would've saved me from this fate, and I felt foolish for blindly trusting the AI's outputs. Talking to other travellers, I realised I was lucky that the restaurant existed at all, hearing stories of AI tools sending confused tourists to places that were closed or not even real. Still, I found the tool incredibly helpful while navigating a foreign city, using it not just to find spots to eat but also to translate menus and signs, as well as communicate with locals via voice mode. It felt like the ultimate Asia travel hack. THE SAME TOURIST SPOTS Back home in Tokyo, where a weak yen has helped make Japan a top destination for global travellers, I decided to put various AI platforms to the test. I asked DeepSeek, ChatGPT and the agentic tool Manus to create itineraries for someone visiting the city or Japan for the first time. The results were jam-packed and impressive, but mostly featured all the same tourist spots that you'd find at the top of sites like Tripadvisor. Some of the recommendations were also a little out of date; ChatGPT advised staying in a traditional inn that has been closed for over a year. And even my request for more off-the-beaten-path locations spit out areas I specifically avoid at peak times, like Shimokitazawa, because of the crowds of tourists. The outputs made sense given that these tools are an amalgamation of data scraped from the internet. It does save travellers the step of having to scroll through hundreds of websites themselves and put together an itinerary on their own. But relying on this technology also risks a further homogenisation of travel. TOURISM WINNERS AND LOSERS BY ALGORITHM Already, the tech industry is being blamed in tourist hotspots for creating feedback loops that push visitors to the same destinations – with winners and losers chosen by a powerful algorithm. Given that AI systems are predominantly trained on English-language text, this can also mean that local gems easily slip through the cracks of training data. I can't imagine the late Anthony Bourdain eating pho on a stool anywhere in Vietnam that even had a website. AI isn't entirely to blame, even if it adds a much larger scale to the issue. Before the rise of these tools, social media was already reshaping travel in Asia – sometimes in bizarre ways. There's a railroad crossing in my neighbourhood that an influencer posted on Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu and is now constantly inundated with people doing photoshoots. One of my favourite summer swimming spots in the outskirts of the city unexpectedly went viral on TikTok last year, and it was shocking to see how crowded the riverbanks had become with foreigners. A town near Mt. Fuji garnered international headlines last year after briefly erecting a barrier to block the view of the iconic landmark when it was overrun with tourists trying to all get the same shot – behind a convenience store, of all places. PUT THE PHONE DOWN Of course, this isn't limited to Asia. As AI applications proliferate, more people are turning to them to plan vacations from Barcelona to New Orleans. Instead of just advice on local customs, online travel forums have also become popular places to share clever ways to engineer prompts for generative AI tools to make more personalised itineraries. Still, there are inherent limitations to the data they're trained on. Perhaps it wouldn't hurt to put the phone down and ask a local for their top spots. Ultimately, AI can break down language and cultural barriers for travellers in ways that seemed unimaginable a decade ago. That's a good thing, and the convenience is undeniable. But it's good to remember that some of the best parts of travel can never be optimised by a machine.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store