Mining in Japan

Mining in Japan is minimal because Japan does not possess many on-shore mineral resources. Many of the on-shore minerals have already been mined to the point that it has become less expensive to import minerals. There are small deposits of coal, oil, iron and minerals in the Japanese archipelago. Japan is scarce in critical natural resources and has been heavily dependent on imported energy and raw materials. There are major deep sea mineral resources in the seabed of Japan. This is not mined yet due to technological obstacles for deep sea mining.

In 2019, Japan was the 2nd largest world producer of iodine, 4th largest worldwide producer of bismuth, the world's 9th largest producer of sulfur and the 10th largest producer of gypsum.

The Japanese archipelago is in a subduction zone with great tectonic plate movement. The Philippine Sea Plate moves beneath the continental Amurian Plate and Okinawa Plate to the south. The oceanic Pacific Plate moves under the continental Okhotsk Plate to the north. These subduction plates have pulled Japan eastward and opened the Sea of Japan by back-arc spreading around 15 million years ago. It has uplifted the Japanese islands and created three oceanic trenches: the Kuril–Kamchatka Trench, Japan Trench and Izu–Ogasawara Trench. This has produced a wide variety of mineral resources, though not in large quantities on-shore. Most resources are in the seabed.

During the Meiji period, mine development was promoted under the policy of the Fengoku Robe by developing coal mining, the Ashio Copper Mine (足尾銅山), and the Kamaishi Mine (釜石鉱山) with iron ore in Hokkaido and northern Kyushu. The production of high-value gold and silver, even in small quantities, was at the top of the world. An important mine was the Ashio Copper Mine which had existed since at least the 1600s. It was owned by the Tokugawa shogunate. At that time it produced about 1,500 tons annually. The mine was closed in 1800. In 1871 it became privately owned and reopened when Japan industrialized following the Meiji Restoration. By 1885 it produced 4,090 tons of copper (39% of Japan's copper production). Due to a lack of regulations it caused substantial pollution. In 1911, the government passed the Factory Law which was Japan's first law to address industrial pollution. It was closed again in 1973.

Until the 1960s, during a period of high economic growth, active mining continued at mines in various regions. However, large-scale mining was difficult, with mixed quality, and costs were high. So foreign resources with low cost and good quality were imported. This resulted in closures of mines in Japan.

Until the 1970s, all over Japan were mines, oil, natural gas (although a small amount) and coal including gold, silver, copper, iron, zinc mining was done on a large scale. After the period of high economic growth, in addition to resource depletion or lower grades, the mining cost rose and price competitiveness was lost. So many mines stopped operations.

The Japanese mining industry began to decline rapidly in the 1980s.^{[not verified in body]} Coal production shrank from a peak of 55 million tons in 1960 to slightly more than 16 million tons in 1985, while coal imports grew to nearly 91 million tons in 1987. Domestic coal mining companies faced cheap coal imports and high production costs, which caused them chronic deficits in the 1980s. In the late 1980s, Japan's approximately 1 million tons of coal reserves were mostly hard coal used for coking. Most of the coal Japan consumed is used to produce electric power.^{[not verified in body]}

In the 21st century, mining has only been carried out in the Kushiro Coal Field (釧路炭田) for technology transfer. Other mines have lost their price competitiveness due to resource depletion, degrading quality, and increased mining costs including labor costs. So many mines closed. Only a small number of mines are operational.