New Nippon Mining & Metals to Seek Technological Synergy

Nippon Mining Holdings Group’s combined metal unit, Nippon Mining & Metals, which starts the operation in April after the merger of Nippon Mining & Metals, Nikko Materials and Nikko Metal Manufacturing, will establishes new technology development center. The firm tries to realize technological synergy and to create new businesses by combining the R&D activities in resources, metals, electronic materials and metal processing. The firm targets 70 billion yen of consolidated recurring profit for the year to March 2007 by clearing the targets of each firm. Current Nippon Mining & Metals has technology development centers in Hitachi plant, Ibaraki and Saganoseki plant, Oita. The electronic materials unit, Nikko Materials has technology development centers in Shirogane plant, Ibaraki and Toda plant, Saitama along with a new materials development center in Isohara plant, Ibaraki. The metal processing unit, Nikko Metal Manufacturing has technology development center in Kurami plant, Kanagawa. The group’s metal unit continues each R&D activity after the merger. The group companies share technological assets from former Nippon Mining. The assets include high-purity metal making technology and alloy technology. The group companies seek technological synergy after the merger by the new technology center to launch new businesses. The combined firm expects the consolidated recurring profit increases by 26% to 79 billion yen for the year to March 2006 from previous year. However, the higher profit includes subsidiaries’ profit due to extraordinary higher copper price. The new metal firm tries to secure 70 billion yen of the profit without profit or loss from copper price change for the year to March 2007 through the continuous effort by each unit. The resource and metal unit focuses on environmental business while the unit seeks the better resource development through Pan Pacific Copper, which is copper smelting joint venture with Mitsui Mining and Smelting. The electric materials unit focuses on sputtering target materials and 2 layered flexible copper clad laminate. The metal processing unit strengths the high-performance foil products and the Chinese operations.