Metals and Mineral Resources

Iron Ore

ITOCHU has been a partner with BHP Billiton (at that time, BHP) in Mt. Newman iron ore joint venture in  Pilbara region, Western Australia, since it was formed in 1967, through Mitsui-Itochu Iron Pty Ltd(MII). MII holds 10% entity of the joint venture, in which ITOCHU holds 30%. Production of ore started in 1969.
In 1987 we acquired an additional 5% interest from Seltrust (a BP subsidiary) and established a 100% owned affiliate, CI Minerals Australia Pty Ltd (CIMA), to hold such a stake. In 2004, CIMA has changed name to ITOCHU Minerals & Energy of Australia Pty Ltd (IMEA).

In 1990, Yandi iron ore project was implemented in a joint venture in which CIMA took an 8% interest. At the same time, CIMA purchased an 8% stake in the Mt. Goldsworthy iron ore joint venture, thus expanding ITOCHU's overall activities in the iron ore business in Australia. Since then, equity ratio among  all of three joint ventures have become ITOCHU 8% through IMEA including both direct and indirect holidng, BHP Billiton 85%, Mitsui 7%.

In April 2002, an announce was made to develop new iron ore mine at Mining Area C (MAC), which belongs to Mt. Goldsworthy iron ore joint venture, and an expansion of its Pt Hedland port and rail facilities, both in the Pilbara region of north of Western Australia. ITOCHU and its joint venture participants have entered into a joint venture arrangement with Pohang Iron & Steel Co Ltd (POSCO), as part of the Mining Area C development.

In March 2004, ITOCHU and its joint venture participants, BHP Billiton and Mitsui, also, have entered into another joint venture agreement with four Chinese steelmakers (Wuhan Iron & Steel, Maanshan Iron & Steel, Jiangsu Shagang Group and Tangshan Iron & Steel) to establish a joint venture at the Jimblebar Mine.

Then, in April 2006, Yandi Joint Venture partners, ITOCHU, BHP Billiton and Mitsui, established a new joint venture with Japanese JFE Steel for the Western 4 deposit within the Yandi mine.  

ITOCHU is the trading house which coordinates imports of Mt. Newman, Yandi and MAC ore to the Japan market. The total quantity shipped in 2008 from these 3 joint ventures was around 130 million tonnes. Currently China is the biggest buyer among our export markets, with the second-biggest being Japan.

Our Joint Venture is currently implementing two expansion plans, namely RGP 4 (capacity up to 155 million tonnes per year) and RGP 5 (capacity up to 205 million tonnes per year). These expansion projects will be completed in 2010 and 2011 respectively.

Alumina

In 1977,  ITOCHU – along with Nisho Iwai (now known as Sojitsu) and Kobe Steel – became joint venture partners with BHP Billiton (at that time, BHP), Reynolds, Shell in the development of Worsley project to mine bauxite and produce alumina.  In 1980, the Japanese holding was repositioned through the creation of Kobe Alumina Associates (Australia) – since 2003, known as Japan Alumina Associates (Australia) Pty Ltd (JAAL) – to hold a 10% interest in the Worsley alumina project.  This entity was owned 40% by Kobe Steel, 35% by Nissho Iwai and 25% by  ITOCHU.

In 2002, the original holding vehicle for the Japanese equity stake, Kobe Alumina Associates (KAA), was restructured and renamed – as Japan Alumina Associates (Australia) Pty Ltd (JAAL).  Kobe Steel, the original major stakeholder in KAA, sold down its 45% stake in the holding vehicle to ITOCHU and Sojitsu.  ITOCHU took a greater proportion of Kobe Steel’s holding in order that the two trading companies would each hold a 50% share of JAAL, giving each, proportionally, a 5% equity stake of the total Worsley joint venture. Worsley Alumina Refinery is, currently, run as a annual production capacity of 3.5 million tonnes of calcined alumina.

Worsley Alumina is one of the largest and most cost-competitive alumina producers in the world and will expand its capacity to 4.6 million tonnes per year in 2012.