Japan’s JX, partners to merge Mitsubishi’s refined copper unit into Pan Pacific

Japan’s JX Advanced Metals, its partners and Mitsubishi Materials said on Tuesday that they plan to integrate Mitsubishi Material’s copper concentrates procurement and copper product sales into Pan Pacific Copper (PPC).

PPC is 47.8% owned by JX, 32.2% held by Mitsui Mining and Smelting, and 20% by Marubeni, and is Japan’s biggest supplier of the refined metal.

The proposed integration aims to create a new framework to boost profitability by consolidating copper concentrate procurement, cutting costs and streamlining sales operations, the companies said in a joint statement.

“As competition with overseas smelters increases, the conditions for purchasing copper concentrates from mining companies have significantly deteriorated and the outlook for the external environment surrounding the copper smelting business remains uncertain,” they said.

Details have not been finalized, but the companies plan for PPC to take over Mitsubishi Materials’ targeted business through a company split or a similar method, and then transfer it to a new company to be established by PPC.

Japanese copper smelters are contending with tumbling treatment and refining charges (TC/RCs), shrinking smelting margins due to a shortage of concentrate supply and growing smelting capacity in China.

JX, one of Japan’s top copper smelters with 450,000 tons of annual production capacity, will likely cut copper production by tens of thousands of metric tons in fiscal 2025 compared with earlier plans and unveil a roadmap to reduce smelting capacity by March, president Yoichi Hayashi told Reuters in September.

Rival Mitsubishi Materials also warned in August of scaling back copper concentrate processing.

Last month, Japan, Spain and South Korea issued a rare joint statement expressing concerns over tumbling TC/RCs, warning both smelters and miners cannot develop sustainably under current conditions.

(By Yuka Obayashi; Editing by Louise Heavens)