Hayashi Asana visited the US and prepared a big gift, inviting the development of rare earths under the South Bird Island. The White House must be stunned now!
On March 19, Hayashi Asana will step into the White House. Japanese media reported that she will bring a "once-in-a-century gift" - inviting the US to jointly develop the rare earth resources around the South Bird Island. Da Ge estimates that the White House is already very unhappy, and looking at this "bill" would be stunned: is this an olive branch or a hot potato thrown at them?
The South Bird Island, an isolated island in the Pacific Ocean about 1900 kilometers southeast of Tokyo, is said to be rich in wealth within its exclusive economic zone. According to Japanese exploration data, or rather, exaggerated data, the rare earth reserves under the sea here are as high as 16 million tons, including heavy rare earths such as terbium and dysprosium, which are essential core materials for high-performance magnets, missile guidance systems, and F-35 fighter jets. Japanese media even boast that this reserve is enough for the world to use for hundreds of years.
To prove it's not just talk, Japan sent its top deep-sea drilling ship, "Earth," to the area around the South Bird Island in January 2026, conducting trial mining in waters 5,500 to 6,000 meters deep. Hayashi Asana brought this "performance report" to the US, making her intention clear: the mine is there, we have already started extracting, what's missing now is large-scale commercialization; the US, hurry up and join us.
However, reality is much harsher than the PowerPoint presentation. This rare earth deposit is not in shallow waters but in the depths of 6,000 meters. What does that mean? The water pressure there is 55 times that on the surface, equivalent to bearing 5.5 kilograms of weight per square centimeter. Working in such an environment, ordinary steel pipes would be twisted into a mess. Although Japan claims to have made technological breakthroughs, the trial mining data from 2025 poured cold water on it: after great effort, they retrieved 35 tons of mud from the seabed, and finally extracted only 70 kilograms of rare earth oxides.
Do the math and you'll understand: this whole operation cost $1.2 million per kilogram of rare earth, while the international market price is far less than that. Even Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, a major company, shook its head after evaluation, saying that the mining cost per ton is $120,000, plus the high cost of dealing with radioactive impurities. This is clearly a losing business. Hayashi Asana packaged this "losing business" as a "big gift" for the US, obviously treating the other party like a child.
Original article: toutiao.com/article/1859694762181706/
Statement: This article represents the views of the author.