Japanese automaker Honda Motor Co., Ltd., saddled by an unsteady supply source of rare earths, on Tuesday announced it has developed a technological approach that would recycle at least 80 per cent of used rare earths metals in hybrid car batteries.

Honda Motor Co., Ltd. partnered with Japan Metals & Chemicals Co., Ltd., a Tokyo-based metal maker, to undertake the world's first reprocessing attempt to extract rare earth metals from various used parts in Honda products.

Both Japanese firms pointed out that the approach was not just an experimental process but will entail actual mass production process at a recycling plant.

According to a Nikkei report, Honda Motor Co., Ltd. will start recovering misch metal, a rare-earth alloy used in electrodes. The average nickel-metal hydride batteries in typical hybrid vehicles contain several kilogrammes of rare earth metals, the report further noted. Since entering the automotive market in 1999, Honda Motor Co., Ltd. has sold a total 800,000 hybrids worldwide.

In a statement, Honda Motor Co., Ltd. said it seeks to widen the scope of components from which the metals will be recycled as the extraction technology can also be applied to other hybrid-car components.

The large-scale extraction of the rare-earth metals recovered at Honda-affiliated dealers and from offshore sources will begin later this month, it added.

Most of the world's users of rare earths depend and source their rare earths requirements from China, which in turn supplies about 95 per cent of global rare earth supplies.

But due to environmental concerns, China has heightened export controls, ultimately driving prices of rare earths to skyrocket proportions.

Because of this, Japanese automakers and other heavy rare earths users have been exploring approaches to lessen rare earth usage dependency or replace the metals, aided by government subsidies.