Mitsui & Co. to Expand Captive Aluminium Sources

Mitsui & Co. targets annual 500,000 tonnes of captive aluminium metals including alumina in around 2015 compared with around 250,000 tonnes now. The mineral & metal resources business unit tries to expand new captive resources for nonferrous metals along with expansion of existing projects as a part of strategy for underground resources. The unit tries to secure competitive metal resources including copper, aluminium, manganese, chrome and rare metals and expands aluminium resources after the firm got copper equity in Caserones mine in Chile.

Mitsui & Co. has around 250,000 tonnes of aluminium equity including indirect interest. The firm has 2.8% interest in Indonesia Asahan Aluminum with annual 225,000 tonnes of output and 7.4% interest in Alubras of Brazil with 450,000 tonnes of output while the firm has 2.7% interest in Alunorte with 6.3 million tonnes of output.

The executive managing officer Masayuki Kinoshita said the unit studies which aluminium projects to invest including upper and downstream cautiously. He emphasized the firm decided to secure upper stream resource interest when worldwide supply could get tighter. The unit eyes potential investment in bauxite resources in long term.

The firm accelerated the activity to get aluminium resources when the firm increased the interest in Alunorte and started exploration with Rio Tinto in Laos in 2009. The firm also invested in rolled aluminium makers belonged to Guangdong Dongyanggung Aluimnum group.