Mitsubishi Materials Corp., Japan’s third-biggest copper producer, said on December 22 it is seeking a long-term contract to source the metal from Mongolia’s Oyu Tolgoi mine.
The company and Japanese trade house Mitsui & Co. have signed a contract with Oyu Tolgoi LLC to import 5,000 metric tons of copper concentrate from Mongolia on a trial basis, said Tatsuya Inoue, a general manager of Mitsubishi’s raw materials division, on Monday in interview at its Tokyo headquarters.
The move is a part of Mitsubishi’s effort to diversify where it gets its raw materials. The company imports about one million tons of copper concentrate a year, of which about 70 percent comes from South America, according to Inoue.
Mitsui arranged the shipping of the concentrate, carried by rail to the Russian port of Vladivostok and then by sea to Mitsubishi Materials’ Naoshima plant in Kagawa prefecture on Japan’s southern Shikoku island, Inoue said. At about 30 days, the shipping time is similar to imports from Chile, he said.
Mitsubishi Materials Corp., Japan’s third-biggest copper producer, said on December 22 it is seeking a long-term contract to source the metal from Mongolia’s Oyu Tolgoi mine.
The company and Japanese trade house Mitsui & Co. have signed a contract with Oyu Tolgoi LLC to import 5,000 metric tons of copper concentrate from Mongolia on a trial basis, said Tatsuya Inoue, a general manager of Mitsubishi’s raw materials division, on Monday in interview at its Tokyo headquarters.
The move is a part of Mitsubishi’s effort to diversify where it gets its raw materials. The company imports about one million tons of copper concentrate a year, of which about 70 percent comes from South America, according to Inoue.
Mitsui arranged the shipping of the concentrate, carried by rail to the Russian port of Vladivostok and then by sea to Mitsubishi Materials’ Naoshima plant in Kagawa prefecture on Japan’s southern Shikoku island, Inoue said. At about 30 days, the shipping time is similar to imports from Chile, he said.