Sumitomo Metal Mining Co., Japan's largest nickel producer, plans to increase mine-exploration spending by 75 percent to a record level this fiscal year to increase its overseas mining interests.
The Tokyo-based company will spend ¥7 billion in the year started April 1, from an earlier planned ¥4 billion, Nobumasa Kemori, president of the company, said Thursday. The amount would be a record for the company.
"Although it takes a long time to begin production, we prefer to explore mines on our own as we can get majority rights," Kemori said at a meeting with investors and analysts.
Of the total, the company plans to spend more than ¥4 billion to find new mine deposits and the remainder to explore sites near existing mines, the company said.
In February 2010, Sumitomo Metal Mining, also the country's largest gold and second-biggest copper producer, said it planned to spend ¥190 billion under a three-year business plan, mostly on doubling output of nickel to a target of 100,000 metric tons, including 65,000 tons of electrolytic nickel.
The company aims to increase nickel output to 150,000 tons by 2020, Kemori said at the time. It also plans to increase copper output from its own mining interests to 300,000 tons by 2020 from 180,000 tons and gold production to 30 tons from 20 tons, he said.