In June 2025, three companies on three continents agreed to do something that the geopolitics of critical minerals has been demanding for a decade. Toyota Tsusho, the trading arm of Japan’s Toyota Group, committed to offtaking up to 20,000 tonnes per year of mixed rare-earth carbonate from London-listed Pensana’s Longonjo mine in Angola, with processing at Toyotsu Rare Earths India (TREI) in Visakhapatnam before final delivery to Japanese magnet manufacturers. Angola, India, Japan. Mine, refinery, market. A non-Chinese rare-earth value chain assembled in months rather than years.

Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae’s visit to New Delhi from 1-3 July 2026 for the 16th India-Japan Annual Summit produced a Joint Declaration on Economic Security Cooperation, a Geological Survey of India-JOGMEC memorandum on upstream mineral exploration, and a new Strategic Outlook for Expanding Japan-India Cooperation in Africa. Following the visit, this piece examines the pathways for frameworks to become commissioned projects.