Sumitomo Metal Mining to Double Output Capacity for Advanced Materials

Sumitomo Metal Mining (SMM) will double the productive capacity for advanced materials such as indium and magnetic materials. The firm plans to double the output capacity for indium ingot to 10 tonnes per month from current 5 tonnes with 300 million yen of investment, when the demand is expected to increase for liquid crystal display. The firm will expand the output capacity for samarium iron nitride magnet from recent 100 tonnes per year to 200 tonnes within November 2006. The firm aims to expand the sales of samarium iron nitride magnet especially for auto related parts.SMM produces indium ingot at Harima smelter in Hyogo Prefecture, Japan for indium tin oxide which is used as the transparent conductive film material for liquid crystal panel. The firm constructed a new building and introduced main facilities for indium production other than electrolytic refining equipment at Harima smelter in July. The firm plans to introduce electrolytic refining equipment by the end of March 2007 with several ten million yen of additional investment following the market conditions. Then the output capacity could increase to 10 tonnes per month.SMM produces samarium iron nitride magnet at Kunitomi plant in Hokkaido Prefecture, Japan. The shipment is increasing for air conditioner, copying machine and recently for auto related parts. The users can make auto parts smaller, lighter and high power with SMM’s samarium iron nitride magnet. SMM aims to increase the sales for auto related parts when automobiles are in the weight saving trend.