Mitsubishi Corp. to Acquire 30％ Stake in Arizona Copper Mine Development Project, Expanding Global Interest in Copper
Mitsubishi hopes that the mine will be operational in around 2029. It will be the first time in 45 years for the company to take part in developing a copper mine in the United States. Mitsubishi hopes the project will help the company provide a stable supply of copper, which is in high demand.
The project is being advanced by major Canadian resource company Hudbay Minerals Inc. The two companies aim to finalize their research on commercializing the project and make a formal decision on whether to go ahead with it by 2026. The mine is expected to produce up to 100,000 tons of copper annually, with Mitsubishi securing 30% of the output. The trading house has yet to decide on purchasers for its portion of the copper. Mitsubishi has also said that it is considering constructing smelting facilities.
The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has imposed a 50% tariff on products such as semi-finished copper since August. Raw copper materials are exempt from the tariff, but experts point out that moves to rebuild systems to produce and process copper in the United States may intensify.
Demand for copper is expected to grow, as the metal has a wide range of applications such as in electric vehicles and electric power grids for renewable energy. However, there are concerns that global supply may decline, as an increasing number of mines have run out of high-grade copper reserves and the costs of developing new mines have risen.
Mitsubishi has a stake in the copper industry in South America and had previously invested in another copper mine in the United States, though it withdrew in 2003 due to changes in market conditions and other reasons. The United States is one of the world's top copper-producing countries, ranking fifth in production and seventh in reserves. The trading house hopes that acquiring a stake in the new project will contribute to securing more copper and ensuring a stable supply of the metal.
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Japan Times
3 hours ago
- Japan Times
Banking's ailing climate coalition loses ground in Europe
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In the EU, meanwhile, net zero has been enshrined in law and the bloc's banks stand out as some of the world's most climate conscious. A spokesperson for NZBA said the alliance is committed to supporting its remaining members, without commenting on possible EU defections. This moment calls for "long-term work that requires courage, consistency and true leadership to stay on track, even when faced with barriers to action,' the person said. BNP Paribas, the EU's biggest bank by assets, was questioning the value of continued NZBA membership as recently as June, according to another person familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified discussing private conversations. The bank is reluctant to create headlines by leaving, however, and back in June discussed postponing a formal decision until around the end of the year, the person said. A spokesperson for BNP declined to comment. Deutsche Bank, Germany's largest lender, is "monitoring current developments and will assess them,' according to a spokesperson, who added that the bank's own sustainability and net-zero targets remain unchanged. A spokesperson for Spain's Banco Santander said it's still committed to net zero but declined to say whether that includes remaining an NZBA member. A UniCredit spokesperson reiterated comments it made last month in connection with its earnings release, when the bank noted that it's an NZBA member with a net-zero transition plan to support clients in their low-carbon transition. Commerzbank closely monitors "market trends, regulatory developments and jurisdictions to ensure we can act appropriately if necessary,' Beate Schlosser, a spokeswoman for the bank said by email. Commerzbank's 2050 net-zero goal still holds, she said. Among reasons EU bank executives have given in the past for staying in NZBA was the access it gave them to other banks. But as defections continue, that access is no longer a selling point. Barclays, which left earlier this month not long after U.K. peer HSBC Holdings, said the string of walkouts means NZBA "no longer has the membership to support our transition.' Barclays' exit was promptly followed by UBS Group of Switzerland. Those departures, though all by banks in non-EU countries, have added to speculation that EU banks will be next, the person familiar with discussion inside NZBA said. The value of climate alliances such as NZBA remains a topic of debate. Lisa Sachs, head of Columbia University's Center on Sustainable Investment, said that a key weakness of frameworks like NZBA is the assumption that the finance industry can have a material impact on the low-carbon transition simply through setting targets to reduce emissions and committing to nudging portfolio companies to decarbonize. "Financial institutions are not the right institutions to fix market flaws or deliver societal transitions because their mandates are to maximize returns within existing market conditions,' she said. "And their assessments of risk are based on those parameters rather than on long-term societal risks.' NZBA still has 125 members across the globe representing a combined $41 trillion in assets, according to its website. Banks in Northern Europe are among the most outspoken in their support, with ING Groep and ABN Amro Bank in the Netherlands, Swedbank and SEB in Sweden and Danske Bank in Denmark all underscoring their backing via spokespeople. The alliance was created to encourage banks to throw their weight behind the net-zero transition. It initially required members to align their financing operations with the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. But after being virtually wiped off the North American map earlier this year, NZBA dropped that requirement and recast itself in more of a support role. It's a dramatic loss of stature for the alliance, which was created back in 2021 and feted by global bank executives at the COP26 climate summit in Scotland. Back then, when interest rates were at crisis lows and a global pandemic had created room for a green energy boom, net-zero finance looked like a reliable path to commercial success. That narrative was reinforced when U.S. President Joe Biden a year later signed the Inflation Reduction Act — the biggest piece of green legislation in U.S. history. Ironically, NZBA is hemorrhaging members just as fossil-fuel finance appears to be in decline on Wall Street. 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Yomiuri Shimbun
8 hours ago
- Yomiuri Shimbun
GDP Increase / Impact of High U.S. Tariffs Mitigated for the Time Being
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The Mainichi
9 hours ago
- The Mainichi
Air Canada suspends operations as flight attendants go on strike
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