To fulfill our commitment, Mitsubishi Materials has already started taking on challenges. In this section, we would like to introduce employees who are actively striving to achieve their targets.

In April 2023, Mitsubishi Materials acquired 5% of the stocks of Western Copper and Gold Corporation (WRN), a company in Canada. WRN owns 100% of the Casino Mine Project involving a copper mine located in Yukon, a territory in northwestern Canada, and aims to start production in 2030.
The Casino Mine boasts abundant reserve amounts, and the copper concentrates it produces are expected to have few impurities, ensuring clean quality. The mine is projected to stably provide copper resources in the long term until 2057. Additionally, the concentrates are profitable due to their high-grade (pure) gold content, in addition to copper. This acquisition of stocks is part of our initiatives for securing a stable supply of copper concentrates, which are natural resources, through ongoing investments in copper mines. By steadily promoting this project, we will advance these initiatives.

At the Mining & Metallurgy Laboratories I belong to, we provide technical support to maintain stable operations at smelter/refinery and mine sites, offer solutions for technical issues in operations, and also develop processes to create new business. As a leader on the mining and mineral processing team, I lead young researchers and work closely with frontline teams to analyze the root causes of existing issues and to develop solutions in order to secure necessary quantities of copper concentrates with stable quality. Furthermore, we are committed to developing unique technical synergies within Mitsubishi Materials by applying mineral processing techniques, cultivated through mining over the years, to each smelting location. To achieve the FY2031 Strategy, we will focus on developing technologies to enhance the productivity of our invested operating mines and strive to secure a supply of copper concentrates from these mines. Specifically, we aim to develop efficient processes for extracting necessary metals from ore. In new mine investment projects, we also need to identify technical risks that cannot be discerned solely from the disclosed information. We will add more value to our mineral resources business by solving these issues.

In April 2023, Mitsubishi Materials fully acquired Onahama Smelting and Refining Co., Ltd. Its Onahama Smelter and Refinery is the only copper smelter and refinery in East Japan. It plays a vital role as a resource recycling hub for non-ferrous metals, ensuring a stable supply of copper materials and alloy metals as well as processing automobile shredder residue (ASR) and E-Scrap. Mitsubishi Materials is enhancing its Material Grid to facilitate the recovery of various metal elements across its metallurgy business locations. As we now fully own Onahama Smelting and Refining Co., Ltd., we are promoting the project to establish a new pre-processing facility for recycled materials at the Onahama Smelter and Refinery, which will strengthen our Material Grid. By leveraging Mitsubishi Materials’ technology to fortify the Onahama Smelter and Refinery’s recycling business, we will accelerate the metal resource recycling mentioned in the FY2031 Strategy.

Our department is involved in the planning and management of metallurgy technology and production within our metallurgy business. Specifically, I provide support to the Onahama Smelter and Refinery in its operation, the addressing of technical challenges, and the development of the capital investment plan. As shown in the FY2031 Strategy, we are committed to increasing the processing capacity for E-Scrap to 240,000 t/year. Our department is aiming to achieve this target by supporting each smelter and refinery in developing the capital investment plan. The Onahama Smelter and Refinery has long worked on processing waste, including ASR, and has promoted continuous capital investment and technological improvement, enhancing processing capacity. To further enhance the capacity, we are moving forward with plans to increase the processing capacity of E-Scrap and will implement new processing facilities, thereby achieving a processing capacity twice as large as the current capacity by 2030. Currently, all members involved are working as one to conduct constructions and are planning new businesses toward the realization of the FY2031 Strategy. I would like to contribute to the growth of Onahama Smelter and Refinery, which is becoming more competitive and stronger.

In March 2023, Mitsubishi Materials acquired some of the stocks of Exurban in the U.K., became its major shareholder, and established a strategic partnership with the company. Exurban is currently developing the world’s first zero waste recycling facility specifically designed for E-Scrap and other recycled metals. Mitsubishi Materials will participate in the Exurban Group’s project to construct a new recycling facility in Indiana, U.S.A., contributing as a partner in the areas of construction, operating, and financing. Through this partnership, we aim to solve environmental and industrial issues related to metal recycling. We also strive to expand our E-Scrap business globally, including in Europe, to become a leader in resource recycling of nonferrous metals and achieve the target set forth in the FY2031 Strategy.

I am currently engaged in activities promoting the Exurban and LIB-recycling projects. I am also involved in planning, conducting surveys, and engaging with stakeholders to strength- en and expand our existing recycling businesses and to create new resource recycling opportunities. There is an increasing demand for recycling metal resources, driven by the need to ensure economic security and minimize environmental impacts. However, the recycling industry is becoming more competitive as resources become more restricted and competitors expand their presence or enter the market. Under such circumstances, the Business Development Dept. is working to realize the project that Exurban is planning in Indiana, U.S.A. Since Mitsubishi Materials began investing in Exurban, we have received a number of inquiries from various stakeholders, which shows high expectations for us. The future of resource circulation  is uncertain, partly influenced by the policies of individual countries and regions. That is why we are committed to actively collaborating with internal and external stakeholders and developing a resource circulation system that fully leverages our technological capabilities.