Nippon Mining & Metals to Expand Environment & Recycling Business

Nippon Mining & Metals expands environmental and recycling business. The firm expands the asbestos treatment capacity to 1.7 times at Nikko Environmental Service in Ibaraki in fiscal 2007 ending March 2008 from now. The firm also expands the recycling business to recover precious metals including gold and silver. The firm considers materials collecting from offshore sources when the domestic recycling materials supply is not expected to grow. Nikko Environmental Service, which melts asbestos at 1,300-1,400 degrees of centigrade in recycling furnace with the high temperature melting method, expands the business. The firm tries to increase the treatment volume from current 300 tonnes per month to 500 tonnes in fiscal 2007 around Tokyo where the competitors are fewer in asbestos treatment. Nippon Mining & Metals focuses on precious metals recycling. The firm recovers precious metals from recycling materials at Saganoseki copper smelter after the pretreatment at 4 plants, which burn and melt recycling materials with plastics including waste circuit board. The Saganoseki smelter also recovers precious metals from copper scrap treating total 80,000 tonnes per year of recycling materials. However, domestic recycling materials market is expected not to grow when electronic parts plants and other manufacturers shift to China and Southeast Asia. Nippon Mining & Metals tries to seek recycling materials collection from offshore sources to expand the business.