Sumitomo Corp. Gets 35% Interest in Bolivian Silver, Zinc Mine

Sumitomo Corporation announced on Tuesday the firm agreed with Apex Silver Mines of for strategic alliance of USA, which has interest in San Cristobal mine of Bolivia through wholly owned subsidiary Minera San Cristobal. Sumitomo Corp. will purchase 35% of Apex Silver’s silver, zinc and lead interest in Bolivia by purchasing share of Minera San Cristobal and its loan receivable from Apex Silver for 224 million yen and conditional payment. Sumitomo Corp. will pay around 23% of silver output dedicated for Sumitomo Corp. and 20% of zinc overvalue more than US$ 1,800 per tonne for Sumitomo Corp.’s output. They close the deal by the end of the month. The mine will reach full capacity operation in third quarter of 2007. San Cristobal mine with US$ 800 million of investment has 15,000 tonnes of silver reserve, 3.7 million tonnes of zinc and 1.3 million tonnes of lead. The mine will keep the operation for 16 years at annual 550 tonnes of silver output, 168,000 tonnes of zinc and 64,000 tonnes of lead. The mine is one of the new largest silver-zinc mines starting in 5 years. Sumitomo Corp. aggressively invests for various mineral resources including planned Batu Hijau copper mine of Indonesia, Pogo gold mine of Alaska and nickel mine of Madagascar.