Mitsui Mining & Smelting Ceases Supply of Electrolytic Cu Powder for Sintered Parts

Mitsui Mining & Smelting announced on Monday the firm withdraws from production and sales business of electrolytic copper powder used for automotive sintered parts. The firm will cease the production at Takehara Refinery in Hiroshima, Japan by the end of December 2010. Meanwhile, Takehara Refinery continues production of electrolytic copper powder for electronic materials. Mitsui Mining & Smelting’s annual revenue of electrolytic copper powder is estimated at 428 million yen for fiscal 2009 ending in March 2010, down by 41% from the previous fiscal year.

Productive facilities for electrolytic copper powder are aging and need to be renewed. However, sale and profit of the product have plunged since global economy deterioration in autumn 2008, especially for automotive sintered parts. Then Mitsui Mining & Smelting decided to concentrate capital expenditure into electrolytic copper powder for electronic materials.

On the other hand, Mitsui Mining & Smelting enhances the other metal powder businesses including wet process copper powder and atomized copper powder. Wet process copper powder is produced at the subsidiary, Hikoshima Smelting, Yamaguchi, Japan, to be used mainly for electronic materials. Atomized copper powder is produced at another subsidiary, Kamioka Mining & Smelting in Gifu, Japan, used for electronic materials and sintered parts.