Mitsubishi News Release April 3, 2024 Mitsubishi Materials - - News Release
April 3, 2024
Mitsubishi Materials continues to invest in overseas copper mines.
Aiming to secure 500,000 tons of copper concentrate .
In order to secure metal resources from mines and deliver them to society, Mitsubishi Materials is investing in overseas copper mines with the aim of stably procuring clean copper concentrate. There are four operating mines in which Mitsubishi Materials holds interests: the Copper Mountain mine in Canada, the Manto Verde mine in Chile, the Los Pelambres mine, and the Escondida mine, each of which has a secured capacity of approximately 150,000 tons of copper concentrate.
Mine development has been going on for a long time, and many of the locations that are easy to develop have already been mined, so the challenge is that the production costs of mines are rising. On the other hand, demand for rare metals such as cobalt is increasing, and the current situation is that supply is insufficient to meet demand. Therefore, in order to stably supply metal resources, Mitsubishi Materials is working on new participation in medium-sized copper mines, increasing the amount of copper concentrate secured from the current 150,000 tons to 55,000 tons in 2030.
With continued mining investment
Promoting stable supply of natural resources
In April 2023, Mitsubishi Materials acquired approximately 5% of the shares in Canada's Western Copper and Gold Corporation (WRN). The company owns 100% of the Casino copper mine project, located in Canada's northwestern Yukon Territory, and aims to begin production in 2030.
The Casino copper mine is rich in resources, and the copper concentrate produced is expected to be clean ore with few impurities, and is expected to provide a stable supply of copper resources for a long period of time until 2057. Another feature is that it is highly economical because it contains high gold quality (purity) in addition to copper.
This capital participation is one of our measures to stably secure copper concentrate, a natural resource, through continuous mining investment, and we will move forward with this project by steadily advancing this project.