Dowa Mining Building Secondary Smelter

Dowa Mining announced plans to build a new furnace that will able to melt scraps and waste materials. The new furnace, to be built in Japan, is expected to be operational by March 2007.

According to published reports the furnace will be built at the company’s Kosaka 72,000 metric tons per year copper smelter.

The furnace would have a capacity to smelt 150,000 metric tons per year of electronic scraps, metal residues and other waste materials. Due to the flexibility of the proposed furnace a wide range of materials would be accepted, and the end product would be one of 19 different types of metals.

Dowa plans to collect scraps and wastes from its 16 plants in the country, and also would establish a feedstock supply chain overseas. The company's offices in Shanghai and Suzhou in China, and New York and Ohio in the US are working to build the supply chains that would extend throughout China and South East Asia, and North America. "The domestic feedstock supply is limited and the feedstock prices may rise. So we would source from overseas," he said.