Mitsui & Co., Ltd. (“Mitsui”, President and CEO: Kenichi Hori) has decided to invest in the development of three new deposits at West Angelas iron ore mine owned by Robe River Joint Venture (“Robe River J/V”), which is jointly owned by Mitsui, major resource company Rio Tinto and Nippon Steel to maintain its production capacity. The development is expected to cost A$998million in total (approximately 94.8billion yen), of which Mitsui will invest A$329million (approximately 31.3billion yen). The project has now received the major necessary approvals, and the first production is scheduled to commence in 2027.
Robe River J/V began shipments in 1972 and has since played a key role in stabilizing Mitsui’s long-term earnings base as one of its core businesses. The new deposits will maintain West Angelas’s annual production capacity of 35million tons (of which Mitsui has approximately 12million tons) for years to come. This project will leverage existing facilities, railways and port infrastructure, minimizing development costs maintaining the cost competitiveness of the existing operations.
Global demand for crude steel is expected to continue increasing, driven by further growth in Asia. Mitsui’s annual equity share of iron ore production for FY March 2025 was approximately 62million tons. With the participation in the Rhodes Ridge iron ore project, Mitsui aims to expand its annual equity production to more than 100million tons in the future. The development of new deposits at the West Angelas iron ore mine forms part of Mitsui’s broader strategy to further strengthen the long-term earnings base of our core businesses. Mitsui remains committed to contributing to the stable supply of essential mineral and metal resources for society.
Company Profile
Name
Robe River Joint Venture
First Shipment
1972 (Operations at West Angelas commenced in 2002)
Interest Ratio
Rio Tinto
53%
Mitsui
33%
Nippon Steel
14%
Development Schedule of New Deposits
Development Start: October 2025
First Production: 2027
Locations of iron ore mine owned by Robe River Joint Venture
West Angelas mine
Mitsui’s Materiality
“Build brighter futures, everywhere” as our corporate mission, and to gain the trust and expectations of our stakeholders to realize a better tomorrow for earth and for people around the world, we have identified six material issues (“Materiality”) for Mitsui’s sustainable growth. We anticipate this particular project/ business to contribute especially to the realization of “Establish a foundation for sustainable and stable supply” and “Foster a well-being society”
Establish a foundation for sustainable and stable supply
Create a community coexisting with nature
Foster a well-being society
Cultivate societies that respect human rights
Empower our people to build brighter futures
Build an organization with integrity
This announcement contains forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on Mitsui’s current assumptions, expectations and beliefs in light of the information currently possessed by it and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors. Such risks, uncertainties and other factors may cause Mitsui’s actual results, financial position or cash flows to be materially different from any future results, financial position or cash flows expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. These risks, uncertainties and other factors referred to above include, but are not limited to, those contained in Mitsui’s latest Annual Securities Report and Semi-annual Securities Report, and Mitsui undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements.
This announcement is published in order to publicly announce specific facts stated above, and does not constitute a solicitation of investments or any similar act inside or outside of Japan, regarding the shares, bonds or other securities issued by us.
The information contained in this release is true and accurate at the time of publication; however, it may be subject to change without prior notice.