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June 07, 2025
 

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MINING

Workers transport soil containing rare earth elements for export at a port in Lianyungang, Jiangsu province, China in 2010.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jun 4, 2025
Global alarms rise as China's critical mineral export curbs take hold
China has a stranglehold on minerals crucial for sectors ranging from aerospace to semiconductors.
Workers ride motorbikes into Weda Bay Industrial Park (WBIP), a major nickel processing and smelting hub, in Lelilef Sawai, Central Halmahera, North Maluku, Indonesia, on April 18.
ENVIRONMENT
May 28, 2025
Nickel rush for stainless steel guts Indonesia tribe's forest home
The plight of the Indigenous people there started gaining attention last year after a video online showed emaciated members emerging from their homes to beg for food.
Ukrainian lawmakers discuss ratifying the deal with the United States about mineral resources during a session of parliament in Kyiv on May 8.
BUSINESS
May 28, 2025
Ukraine revamps minerals sector, eyeing billions in investment from U.S. deal
The country has deposits of 22 of 34 minerals deemed as critical by the European Union for industries such as defense, high-tech appliances and green energy.
The site of a rare earth metals mine in China
BUSINESS / Companies
May 23, 2025
Rare earth production outside China 'major milestone'
Lynas' announcement illustrates how much more needs to be done to broaden the supply of elements critical for electric vehicles and renewable technology.
Rainmaker Mountain in Pago Pago, American Samoa
BUSINESS
May 21, 2025
Trump sets stage to sell ocean mining rights off American Samoa
There’s growing appetite in Washington for new domestic sources of critical minerals, following China’s decision to curb exports of rare-earth materials.
The Lynas Rare Earths processing plant in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia
BUSINESS
May 18, 2025
Australian firm produces heavy rare earth, in first outside China
Beijing has banned the export of processing technology that could help rival nations, and has been accused of using state-imposed quotas to control supply.
A gold miner holds up a piece of gold along the Madre de Dios River near Puerto Maldonado, Peru.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
May 6, 2025
Mining murders show Peru’s struggles with illegal gold rush
Skyrocketing gold prices are creating a further incentive for illegal mining activities in the country.
In France, a state-of-the-art rare earths plant to extract key minerals like dysprosium and terbium is being built with French and Japanese support — the first of its kind outside China. Its significance goes beyond the project itself.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 5, 2025
New rare earth plant shows strength of Japan-France cooperation
In France, a state-of-the-art rare earths plant is being built with French and Japanese support, showing the way for those who see the benefits of working together and not alone.
China's Bayan Obo rare earth mine in Inner Mongolia. As U.S.-China tensions strain critical mineral supply chains, Tokyo’s multipronged approach based on sovereignty, resilience and sustainability is gaining quiet relevance.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 5, 2025
Japan's resource security path may hold answers to trade turmoil
Critical mineral supply chains are made vulnerable by China's dominance and U.S. protectionism. Japan's strategy may provide clues as to how to secure these vital resources.
An open-pit mine in Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine, on April 23. The financial payoff from the deal may take a decade or longer to materialize.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
May 2, 2025
U.S. and Ukraine may wait decade or more to see revenue from minerals deal
While the financial benefits from the deal are uncertain, officials in Ukraine believe it will help shore up U.S. support for Kyiv.
Greenpeace activists hold banners during a protest against the deep sea mining vessel Hidden Gem, commissioned by Canadian miner The Metals Company, off the coast of Manzanillo, Mexico, on Sept. 27, 2023.
WORLD / Politics
May 1, 2025
U.N. body warns over Trump's deep-sea mining order
Washington wants to spearhead mining for mineral-rich nodules in the deepest ocean floor, sidestepping a global effort to regulate such potentially damaging exploration.
The United States and Ukraine signed a minerals deal on Wednesday, offering a measure of assurance to officials in Kyiv.
WORLD / Politics
May 1, 2025
U.S. and Ukraine sign resources deal after fraught negotiations
The signing ceremony on Wednesday concluded weeks of contentious negotiations and pulled the two countries back from a rift.
The Maersk Launcher, chartered by a seabed-mining company to explore the practices viability, returns from an expedition to the Clarion Clipperton Zone in the Pacific Ocean in June 2021.
WORLD
Apr 26, 2025
Trump moves to ramp up deep-sea mining for critical minerals
The move comes amid increasing concern over new Chinese curbs on the export of rare-earth materials.
Brine pools at the Atacama salt flat in Antofagasta region, Chile, in 2023. Local Chilean Indigenous communities are pushing for greater control over lithium extraction in the country just as the government plans to raise production.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy
Apr 8, 2025
As Chile revs up lithium plans, Indigenous people demand more control
Mining companies describe a potential system as "unprecedented" in Chile, adding that it would comply with international treaties on Indigenous rights.
A rare earth open-pit mine in Mountain Pass, California. U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order that taps the Cold War-era Defense Production Act as part of an effort to domestically process a range of critical minerals.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 21, 2025
U.S. moves to curb China’s grip on critical minerals
Trump invokes emergency powers for more U.S. mining, citing economic and security concerns.
Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown addresses the media in Bonn, Germany, in October 2023.
ASIA PACIFIC
Feb 14, 2025
Cook Islands in talks with China on deep-sea mining
The Cook Islands causes concern in New Zealand as it moves toward a possible collaboration with China on deep-sea mining.
Bereaved family members join hands at a memorial service for the Chousei coal mine accident in Ube City, Yamaguchi Prefecture on Saturday.
JAPAN
Feb 1, 2025
Victims of 1942 Yamaguchi underwater mine disaster remembered
The memorial event was held near the former site of the Chosei coal mine and was attended by about 450 people.
A member of the M23 armed group (center) stands in front of two Guatemalan soldiers from the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) as they monitor access to the border crossing into Rwanda on Tuesday.
WORLD
Jan 30, 2025
What is happening in Congo and why are M23 rebels fighting?
The latest advances are part of a major escalation of a decades-old conflict over power, identity and resources.
A memorial stone listing the names of 183 people who lost their lives in the flooding accident at Chosei coal mine in the city of Ube in Yamaguchi Prefecture in 1942, photographed in December
JAPAN
Jan 27, 2025
Survey to begin at western Japan site of 1942 undersea mine accident
The remains of 136 people from the Korean Peninsula and 47 Japanese nationals still lie in the flooded Chosei coal mine in Ube.
A lithium smelter in Yichun, Jiangxi province, China
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 9, 2025
Stubbornly resilient lithium supply remains hurdle to recovery
Lithium prices have plunged since late 2022 on oversupply and slower-than-expected growth in electric vehicle demand.
Japan eyes tougher rules for foreign residents and tax hike for tourists
A tax-free shop in Kyoto in April 2024. Last week, members of a Liberal Democratic Party study group drafted a proposal seeking to scrap the country's tax-free shopping system altogether.
From ridicule to redemption: Rice crisis returns Koizumi to the spotlight
Agriculture minister Shinjiro Koizumi speaks to the media as he inspects a warehouse storing stockpiled rice in Kanagawa Prefecture on May 30.
Hakuho’s departure highlights worrying sumo trend
Former <i>yokozuna</i> Hakuho performs a ring-entering ceremony at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo in February 2020.
Trump and Musk trade barbs on social media as alliance crumbles
The trouble between U.S. President Donald Trump and Elon Musk started brewing days ago, when Musk denounced Trump's sweeping tax-cut and spending bill.
How Japan's youth are slowly changing the country's work ethic
After the asset-price bubble crash of the early 1990s, employment at a Japanese company was no longer necessarily for life. As a result, a new generation is less willing to endure a toxic work culture —life’s too short, after all.
New Naoshima museum bets on Asia, not the West
Detail of Takashi Murakami, “Rakuchu-Rakugai-zu Byobu: Iwasa Matabei RIP” (2023-25)
Japan’s prison reform focuses on rehabilitation
Justice Minister Keisuke Suzuki speaks to reporters in Tokyo on Friday. Suzuki said preparations for the changes that will focus more on rehabilitation are being actively made at each correctional facility.
Six months into 2025, J-pop is having a full-on identity crisis (and a great time)
The year so far is only proving that Mrs. Green Apple is the biggest band in Japan. Their success also seems to be hinting at a change in the musical landscape more broadly.
Nintendo’s Switch 2 console is finally here
The Switch 2 is Nintendo's first new gaming console in eight years.
Hakuho’s departure highlights worrying sumo trend
Former <i>yokozuna</i> Hakuho performs a ring-entering ceremony at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo in February 2020.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

After the asset-price bubble crash of the early 1990s, employment at a Japanese company was no longer necessarily for life. As a result, a new generation is less willing to endure a toxic work culture —life’s too short, after all.
How Japan's youth are slowly changing the country's work ethic
By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Ishii Iron Works remakes self for workers, new energy
Ishii Iron Works remakes self for workers, new energy

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