Mitsubishi seeks contract with Oyu Tolgoi copper mine

Tokyo(ScrapMonster): The third largest copper producer of Japan, Mitsubishi Materials Corp, is looking for a long term contract to extract copper from the Oyu Tolgoi mine, located in Mongolia.

The company as well as the Mitsui and Co, the trade house based in Japan has together signed a contract in order to extract copper from the Oyu Tolgoi based in Mongolia, which allows both of the companies to export 5,000 metric tonnes copper ore from Oyu Tolgoi mine in a trial basis. The General Manager of Mitsubishi's raw material division, Tatsuya Inoue, declared the matter today on the Tokyo based headquarters of the company.

This move by the company, Mitsubishi was to diversify where the company gets its raw materials. The company had already imported about 1 million tonnes of copper concentrates per year, of which about 70 percent of the total imports  are carried from South America.

One of the biggest copper concentrates in the world, Oyu Tolgoi, had put a halt on its expansion procedures due to a conflict between the shareholders of the mine, Rio Tinto, and the government of Mongolia. The mine is anticipated to produce about 195,000 tonnes of copper concentrates in the year of 2015.

According to Inoue, Mitsui has arranged the shipping of copper concentrates, which will be carried through the rail to Vladivostok, the Russian Port, and then via ship to the Mitsubishi Materials, which is located in Naoshima plant, in the Southern Shikoku Island in Japan. The shipping would reach Japan, within a time limit of 30 days, which is similar to Chile.