<h3><span class="strongInContent">Japan has an opportunity now&#8221;!</span></h3>
<p> It was in &#8217;13 that a research team from the University of Tokyo discovered an enormous amount of rare earth mud in the waters near Minamitori Island in Japan&#8217;s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). Rare earths are a type of rare metal, and of the 31 rare metals, 17 elements are of particular industrial importance.</p>
<p> The amount discovered in the waters around Minamitori-shima is 16 million tons in a confirmed area of 2,500㎢ (0.6% of the EEZ) alone. Compared to the world&#8217;s reserves, this amount is equivalent to the third largest. Later, in 2004, they also discovered the existence of manganese nodules, a type of rare metal, offshore Minamitori Island.</p>
<p> Manganese nodules are spherical objects containing elements essential for storage batteries such as cobalt and nickel.</p>
<figure id="attachment_422700" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-422700" style="width: 4132px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="fa024ca3"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2025/04/f75bcc340c89232458d15d2924faacae.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-422700" class="wp-caption-text"> Manganese nodules grew over millions to tens of millions of years by attaching trace amounts of metals contained in seawater to rocks and fish bones that had sunk to the seafloor as a nucleus (PHOTO: Courtesy of the Nippon Foundation)</figcaption></figure>
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<p> Japan is becoming a resource-rich country!　It will become a rich country with free tuition and medical care!</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> Just because a country is rich in resources does not mean that it will become rich.</span></p>
<p> Professor Kentaro Nakamura, who contributed to the discovery of rare earth mud and manganese nodules in the seas around Minamitori Island as a member of the University of Tokyo&#8217;s research team, says this.</p>
<p> It is true that some countries, such as Venezuela, have the world&#8217;s largest oil reserves, but their economies have collapsed and their people are living in poverty.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> We can only become rich if we use our domestic resources to make products. Rare earth mud and manganese nodules are essential resources for green transformation and high-tech equipment, such as electric vehicles and storage batteries, which are essential for the spread of renewable energy. They are also essential for next-generation energy infrastructure.</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> And Japan has the capability to produce those products now. But if we don&#8217;t have the same capabilities left 10 to 20 years from now, we will be a country that merely sells resources. Now is the time to commercialize undersea resources.</span></p>
<p> According to a U.S. Geological Survey report, China accounted for 70% of rare-earth production in 2012. Furthermore, both the ore from the U.S. Mountain Pass mine and the ore from Myanmar are smelted in China, which ultimately supplies more than 90% of the rare earths.</p>
<p> For China, rare earths are its strongest diplomatic card, and in fact, it is now countering the Trump administration&#8217;s tariff policy by restricting the supply of rare earths. This is why President Trump is demanding rare earth resources from Ukraine in return for aid.</p>
<figure id="attachment_422702" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-422702" style="width: 1128px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="900cadfc"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2025/04/09ec96bfb09e9129c810b5bcc0bd56b8.png" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-422702" class="wp-caption-text"> Manganese nodules are densely distributed in the waters near Minamitori Island (PHOTO: courtesy of the Nippon Foundation).</figcaption></figure>
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<h3><span class="strongInContent"> Even though the technology to mine manganese nodules is available, &#8230;&#8230;</span></h3>
<p> Manganese nodules exist in the world&#8217;s oceans. Manganese nodules are found in the seas around Minamitori-jima Island, where they are distributed at particularly high densities. The technology to collect these nodules and bring them to sea was already established in the 1970s.</p>
<p> Professor Nakamura hopes to develop domestic rare metal resources as quickly as possible and utilize them for national development.</p>
<p> It has been 15 years since rare earth mud was discovered in the waters near Minamitori-jima Island. It has been 9 years since the discovery of manganese nodules. After the discovery of the rare earths by Prof. Nakamura&#8217;s team, the government has been leading the technological development of the rare earths under the SIP (Strategic Innovation Program).</p>
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<p>Rare earths are found in mud several meters below the seafloor, and in order to commercialize them, the mud must be mined efficiently and in large quantities. There is an urgent need to establish mining technology on a commercial scale.</p>
<p> What about manganese nodules?</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> In &#8217;24, our team and the Nippon Foundation jointly surveyed about 100 locations in the waters near Minamitori-shima at a depth of 5,500m and found that there are 230 million tons of manganese nodules in an area of 10,000㎢ (2% of the EEZ) alone. The amount of cobalt contained in these nodules is equivalent to more than 75 years of Japan&#8217;s annual consumption.</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> The technology to extract manganese nodules already exists overseas; it was developed in the 1970s by a consortium of European and U.S. companies, and methods for mining, offshore pumping from the seafloor, and smelting have already been established.</span></p>
<p> What is it about manganese nodules, however, that has prevented their commercialization?</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> Manganese nodules are now attracting attention as an indispensable material for green transformation and high-tech equipment, but in the 1970s they were not yet considered to be of that much value. Moreover, the price fluctuated wildly, and when the technology was established, the price was low.&#8221;</span></p>
<p> Although prices still fluctuate wildly, countries around the world are once again embarking on development, such as a Canadian company that teamed up with a European company in 2010 to begin exploratory drilling in an international mining area on the high seas.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> Japan&#8217;s strength is that both rare earth mud and manganese nodules are located in EEZs. When developing in the high seas, we need to apply to the International Seabed Authority, a United Nations agency, to obtain permission, but resources in Japan can be developed under domestic laws.</span></p>
<figure id="attachment_422703" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-422703" style="width: 6000px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="61d61360"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2025/04/55ec48ff36bb8bb86e61baa5d8ebb208.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-422703" class="wp-caption-text"> Since April &#8217;24, surveys have been conducted at about 100 locations in the EEZ off Minamitori-shima Island, and cobalt resources equivalent to 75 years of Japan&#8217;s demand have been confirmed (PHOTO: provided by the Nippon Foundation).</figcaption></figure>
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<h3><span class="strongInContent"> China&#8221; has been involved in rare earth development since 1992.</span></h3>
<p> Domestic resources have been confirmed, and the world has the technology. Mining of domestically produced rare metal resources will finally begin!　But there are many problems to overcome.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> The government is taking the lead in technological development, etc., but there are still many problems to be solved.</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> I think it is desirable that the government is taking the lead in technological development. In addition, environmental impact assessments, etc., will be necessary for future development. I think it is important for the government to actively promote the creation of systems and the collection of basic data for this purpose. Ultimately, however, I believe that it is necessary for private companies to take the risk of developing oil fields.</span></p>
<p> It was in 1992 that China strongly recognized the value of its resources, saying, &#8220;We have oil in the Middle East, but China has rare earths. Since then, it has accelerated its own mining operations and has come to play a major role in smelting in the world. It plans to dominate the rare earth supply chain.</p>
<p> In addition to onshore resources, the company has been vigorously investigating undersea resources in the world&#8217;s oceans, and has made steady progress in technological development. This summer, Chinese companies are scheduled to conduct exploratory drilling for manganese nodules in the waters adjacent to the Japanese EEZ around Minamitori Island.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> He said, &#8220;We set a national vision for the next few decades, implemented it, and seized supply chains all over the world. And now they are coming to capture the resources on the ocean floor as well. I&#8217;m impressed by their resourcefulness.&#8221;</span></p>
<p> Japan has found abundant resources in the country, but will it be able to take advantage of them in the future? We cannot rest easy just because resources have been discovered.</p>
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 Izumi Nakagawa

 In 2001, a research team from the University of Tokyo discovered an enormous amount of rare earth mud in the seas near Minami-Torishima in Japan's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). The amount discovered in the waters near Minami-Torishima is said to be equivalent to the third largest amount when compared to the world's reserves.

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