Sumitomo Corp. to Expand Invest for Nonferrous Resources

Sumitomo Corporation’s Mineral Resources Division No.1 plants to invest 35.3 billion yen for fiscal 2008 started April, which is around 30 billion yen more than previous year. The unit, which covers mainly for nonferrous metal resources, invests 30.3 billion yen for Ambatovy nickel development project in Madagascar. The unit tries to secure new resources by expanding the investment to around 100 billion yen for 3 years through 2011. The unit plans to invest around 40 billion yen for 2009, 20 billion yen for 2010 and 40 billion yen for 2011. The unit focuses on the development of Ambatovy and better operation for San Cristobal zinc-lead-silver mine. The unit tries to seek new competitive copper resources to keep the captive resources. The unit expects the net profit increases to 17.6 billion yen for fiscal 2008 compared with 3.3 billion yen in fiscal 2007. The unit tries to post annual 18 billion yen of profit in fiscal 2009 and 2010 even with lower nonferrous metal prices. The unit tries to expand the earnings to 23.5 billion yen for fiscal 2011 and to near 40 billion yen for fiscal 2014 with contribution from Ambatovy project.