Sojitz to Expand Investment for Ferrous Materials

Sojitz’s ferrous materials & steel products unit of energy & metal division expands the mineral resource investment in fiscal 2010 started April to more than 10 times of fiscal 2009 level. The unit tries to get new interests in iron ore and ferroalloy while the unit expands the molybdenum joint venture in Canada. The unit develops Western Australian iron ore resource in mid-term while the unit expands rare metal resources interests. The executive officer Shigeru Ohno said the unit expands traditional trading and mineral resource interests. The unit seeks synergy with Metal One Corporation, which is steel products sales force joint venture, for better profitability along with higher sales of iron ore and rare metals based on wider captive resources to emerging countries.

The unit will invest near half of earmarked 55 billion yen of investment budget for energy & metal division in fiscal 2010. The unit increases the investment from 2 billion yen in fiscal 2009. The unit expends 7 billion yen to expand Endako molybdenum mine in Canada, in which the unit has 25% interest, to expand the annual output level by 50% to 16 million pounds in fiscal 2010.

The unit expends 1 billion yen for feasibility study to develop Southdown iron ore project in Western Australia. The firm expects the development could start in fiscal 2011. The unit also eyes additional interest for other resources including metallic silicon and limestone. The unit also eyes additional iron ore interest other than Southdown project. The unit also expands the tungsten production by 40% to 2,000 tonnes in mid-term.

The unit plans to secure more than 8 billion yen of recurring profit for fiscal 2010 compare with pro-forma around 3.5 billion yen in fiscal 2009. The unit targets around 12 billion yen of recurring profit for fiscal 2011 through the investment.