From the perspective of the national security, it is crucial for Japan, a country with few natural resources, to develop efficient and effective survey techniques for the marine mineral resources in its exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and production technologies with extremely low environmental impact. And that will allow Japan to supply those resources to the own market at any time, independent of the international situations.
In Phase 2 of the Cross-ministerial Strategic Innovation Promotion Program (SIP) led by the Cabinet Office up to March 2023, “Development of Innovative Technologies for Exploration of Deep Sea Resources,” we identified the presence and the distribution of the sediments that highly contained heavy rare earth elements at the deep sea area off coast of Minamitorishima, Japan (in Japan's EEZ). In the past, it has been mined/produced in the southern part of China only.
We also developed the production technologies and equipment for rare earth sediments from the water depth of approx. 6,000 meters. And we also created and tested the world' s first survey techniques in the field of exploration of the marine mineral resources.
In addition, the marine observation equipment developed through the Phase 2 program are expected to be the marine environment monitoring systems covering from the deep water to shallow, and in a wide range of marine industrial applications.
Following those backgrounds, Phase 3 of SIP, “National Platform for Innovative Ocean Developments,” with the aim of promoting both conservation and utilization of the ocean, which is base of the national security, has started a five-year program from April 2023.
In line with the future vision of Society 5.0, the program intends to develop technologies for wide-area environment monitoring systems by marine robotics, to accelerate the use of marine mineral resources existing in Japan's EEZ, and to conduct basic research on large-scale carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS) , those will establish a new mineral resources supply network independent of other countries situations and contribute to the achievement of the carbon neutrality by 2050.
We are confident that translating the research results of the program into practical applications will further invigorate the marine industry and pave the way for a prosperous future of Japan, a maritime nation surrounded by sea.
We appreciate your continued understanding and support for the program.
