Japan starts mining cobalt and nickel in its economic zone in 2026

By Alimat Aliyeva

Japan plans to start mining cobalt and nickel in 2026 in the area of a large deep-water deposit near the remote Ogasawara Islands, whose reserves can cover the country's needs for cobalt for 75 years, and nickel for 11 years, Azernews reports.

The deposit is located in the area of Minamitorishima Island at a depth of 5.5 thousand meters. m and extends over 10 thousand square kilometers. Deposits of spherical mineral formations - ferromanganese nodules containing rare metals were discovered there. The total volume of nodules is estimated at 210 million tons, which contain about 610 thousand tons of cobalt and 740 thousand tons of nickel.

The project is being developed by specialists from the University of Tokyo and the Nippon Foundation. As noted, technologies for the extraction of ferromanganese nodules are available abroad, so it is planned to involve European and American companies in cooperation.

In 2026, it is planned to start production at the field, after which the Nippon Foundation will organize commercial supplies of the extracted metal to Japanese companies that need rare metals for production.