About Mitsubishi Materials Corporation

Our Mission: Ensuring a stable supply and recycling of metal materials
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Discarded circuit boards from home appliances, PCs, mobile phones, network equipment and other electronics contain a high concentration of valuable metals such as gold, silver, copper, and palladium.

This ‘E-Scrap’ can act as a new source of valuable smelting materials. We have established a system for recovering valuable metals from E-Scrap and are proactively launching initiatives for the effective utilization of resources. Amid growing environmental concerns, the amount of recovered E-Scrap is expected to increase in line with higher recycling rates of home appliances and other items.

Our Metals Business date back to 1873, when the Mitsubishi Company acquired the Yoshioka Mine. For over a century, we have been supporting development of Japan’s industry and society by providing copper and other metals: essential materials for a wide range of industries. Our customer base now encompasses the globe.

Targets and Strategy

Through the combined operations of our Naoshima facility and Group company Onahama Smelting and Refining Co., Ltd., we are expanding our business and working towards the largest global market share in terms of processing volume.

We are developing new mines to enhance the captive mine ratio. The mining sector is investing in overseas copper mines to secure a stable supply of copper concentrates for smelting and refining. In this sector, the Mitsubishi Process achieves highly efficient, environmentally clean and stable operations based on advanced technologies.

In smelting, we aim to become the world’s leading E-Scrap processor. To this end, we are building up collection and processing capacity. High-quality cathodes are produced at the Naoshima Smelter & Refinery and Onahama Smelting and Refining Co., Ltd., and at the Gresik Smelter and Refinery (PT. Smelting in Indonesia). The Naoshima Smelter and Refinery relies on the Mitsubishi Process for continuous copper smelting, a unique technology for smelting precious metals which has the lowest environmental impact in the industry.

In recent years, we have applied copper smelting technology to the recovery of valuable metals from E-Scrap, also known as 'urban mining'. In the precious metals department, we offer an accumlation plan called "My Gold Partner" for gold, silver and platinum, providing an alternative asset building.