PPC and Toho Zinc Plan to Increase Base Metal Output in 1H

Pan Pacific Copper, Japanese copper smelting joint venture between Nippon Mining & Metals and Mitsui Mining & Smelting, announced on Friday the firm plans to increase refined copper output by 6.2% to 310,000 tonnes in first half of fiscal 2007 started April compared with same period of fiscal 2006. Nikko Smelting & Refining, a group company of PPC, plans to increase refined copper production by about 2%, when the affiliate schedules no seasonal maintenance in 1H. Hibi Kyodo Smelting, another group company of PPC, plans to decrease refined copper output by about 2% due to delay of material delivery.PPC plans to increase sulphuric acid production by 4.6% to 835,000 tonnes in 1H from a year earlier, increasing by 3.2% to 616,000 tonnes at Nikko Smelting & Refining and by 8.6% to 219,000 tonnes at Hibi Kyodo Smelting. PPC estimates its gold output would increase by 12.3% to 16,100 tonnes, while silver output would decrease by 12.3% to 150 tonnes.Toho Zinc announced on Friday the firm plans to increase refined zinc production by 9.9% to 63,307 tonnes in 1H from a year earlier, while to decrease lead output by 3.1% to 48,000 tonnes and silver output by 1.2% to 163 tonnes. In 2H of fiscal 2006, the firm produced refined zinc of estimated 66,988 tonnes, up by 26.8% from a year earlier, lead of estimated 43,097 tonnes, up by 2.9%, and silver of 139 tonnes, down by 9.7%.