TELF AG analyzes Japan’s mining strategy
The pillars of the national mining program
For some years now, the growing centrality of strategic minerals has pushed many nations to review, strengthen, or even create from scratch their national strategy focused on these resources so precious for the energy transition and for their multiple industrial applications in the clean energy sector. These strategies, in most cases, are based on some important pillars, which can vary depending on the specific needs or objectives of a nation but which, in principle, include the development of lists of minerals considered “critical” and the desire to strengthen supply chains, making them less sensitive to unpredictability linked to the market or geopolitical factors. One of the countries that have developed one of the most ambitious strategies from this point of view is Japan: The Asian nation, in recent years, has created a national program on strategic raw materials based on two very important cornerstones.
The first concerns the amount of mineral supplies Japan intends to have available. Very often, the specific nature and volumes of these reserves, as well as their size, can represent useful indicators for deciphering the strategic plans of a nation in the mining, economic, and social fields, helping to clarify its subsequent moves in the global arena of raw materials. In 2020, the Japanese government took a very important step, strengthening its storage systems for 34 minerals that ere considered strategically important for the nation’s fate. The aim is to maintain a regular supply of this type of resource, thus avoiding possible interruptions in the supply of materials. For the resources considered most “critical,” Japan’s stocks would cover a period of approximately 180 days, while for other minerals, the amount of time is reduced to approximately 60 days.
The role of international partnerships
The other basis on which Japan’s national strategy in the mining sector is based has to do with the agreements stipulated with partner countries, following the trend of “mining diplomacy,” which has greatly changed the geography of the mining agreements in different corners of the world in recent years. With some key issues, such as those linked to the development of the mineral recycling sector, the stipulation of new bilateral or multilateral pacts with other nations allows Japan to draw international attention as one of the most interesting and active countries in this sector. Among the most important agreements is undoubtedly the one with the United States, which has thus included Japan in the list of partner nations to strengthen global supply chains.
The pact was formally signed last year and had the main objective of making the supply chains of materials such as cobalt, graphite, nickel, and manganese, all resources of great importance for the sector of electric vehicles (in particular for the manufacture of their batteries) and for infrastructures linked to the diffusion of clean energy. The agreement insists also on the need to cooperate globally for the labeling and recycling of strategic minerals while promoting circular economies.
