ITOCHU Corp Decides Development of Coal Mine in Australia

ITOCHU Corporation announced on Thursday the firm decided development of Ravensworth North coal mine in New South Wales, Australia through IMEA, a subsidiary of ITOCHU Corp which has interests of the mine at 10%. ITOCHU Corp starts construction of coal development equipment with investment of about A$ 1.4 billion (116.5 billion yen) in the beginning of 2011. The production is scheduled to start in July 2012. The mine will produce soft-caking coal and high quality fuel coal at 8 million tonnes per year for about 26 years. ITOCHU Corp acquired an exclusive distributorship to Japanese market.

Xstrata, a major raw material supplier, holds the rest 90% interests of the mine and has already approved the development project. ITOCHU Corp plans to expand its coal equities to total 15 million tonnes per year in 2015 from present 8 million tonnes per year. The firm seeks good assets and trade in order to enhance raw material businesses.