Corporate History
1905
Fusanosuke Kuhara founded the
Hitachi Mine from which the Group
originated
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(1869-1965)
1906
Start of digging at the first shaft of Hitachi Mine
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1907
Hitachi Mine performed the first diamond drilling at a metal mine in Japan
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1908
Start of operation at the Daioin Smelter & Refinery (current Hitachi Works)
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1912
Kuhara Mining established
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1914
Giant stack erected at Hitachi Mine
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1916
Initial stock offering by Kuhara Mining
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Start of operation at the
Saganoseki Smelter &
Refinery
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1928
Yoshisuke Aikawa named the second President of Kuhara Mining
Kuhara Mining renamed to Nippon Sangyo
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(1880-1967)
1929
Nippon Sangyo mining and smelting division spun off to form Nippon Mining
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1945
All overseas operations lost with the end of WWII
1949
Karasuyama Laboratory (predecessor of our R&D organizations) established
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1950
Operations begun at Kawasaki Works
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1953
Mikkaichi Zinc Smelter (current JX Metals Mikkaichi Recycle) established
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1964
Kurami Works established
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1968
Chile Office opened
1970
First Nikko process flash smelting furnace completed at Saganoseki (the second was completed in 1973)
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1971
Tomakomai Chemical (current JX Metals Tomakomai Chemical) established
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1972
Operation started at the Musoshi Mine in Zaire
(present Democratic Republic of the Congo; turned over to the local government in 1983)
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1981
Nikko Gould Foil (current Copper Foil Department, Hitachi Works) established
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Hitachi Mine closed due to resource depletion
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1985
Start of operations at the Isohara Works
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1986
Nippon Mining Museum opened
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1988
Nikko Coil Center (current JX Metals Coil Center) established
U.S. firm Gould Inc. acquired
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1989
Nippon Mining Taiwan (current Nikko Metals Taiwan) established
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1990
NIMTEC (current JX Metals Corporation USA) established
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Production started at Escondida Copper Mine (Chile)
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1992
Start of operations by Nikko Metals
(The metals and metal fabrication businesses of Nippon Mining were spun off into a separate entity, Nikko Metals, and Nippon Mining subsequently merged with Kyodo Oil to form Nikko Kyoseki [renamed as Japan Energy in 1993].)
1996
Start of Saganoseki Smelter & Refinery operation with one flash smelting furnace
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GNF Philippines, (current JX Metals Corporation Philippines) established
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1998
Nikko Metals listed on First Section of Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE)
1999
Nikko Materials established (as spin-off of Japan Energy electronic materials business)
2000
Start of production at Los Pelambres Copper Mine (Chile)
Pan Pacific Copper (PPC) established as a joint venture between Nikko Metals and Mitsui Mining & Smelting
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2001
Nikko Metals Shanghai established
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2002
Nippon Mining Holdings established as
joint holding company of Nikko Metals
and Japan Energy
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2003
Nikko Metal Manufacturing
established (as spin-off of the metal fabrication business of Nikko Metals)
Nikko Woojin Precision Manufacturing (Suzhou) (current Nippon Mining & Metals [Suzhou]) established
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2005
Nikko Materials Korea (current JX Metals Korea) established
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2006
New Nikko Metals established (by three-way merger of Nikko Metals, Nikko Materials, and Nikko Metal Manufacturing)
Integration into PPC of the copper smelting and refining functions of Nikko Metals and Mitsui Mining & Smelting (the smelting and refining functions of Saganoseki Smelter & Refinery and Hitachi Refinery were spun off into Nikko Smelting & Refining and then transferred to PPC)
2010
Holding company, JX Holdings, established
with the merger of Nippon Mining Holdings
and Nippon Oil Nikko Metals renamed as
JX Nippon Mining & Metals Corporation
Tsuruga Plant(current JX Metals Circular Solutions)
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2014
Mine opening ceremony held at Caserones Copper Mine (Chile)
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2017
JXTG Holdings established with the merger of JX Holdings and Tonen General Sekiyu
Frankfurt Office established
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2018
H.C. Starck Tantalum & Niobium GmbH (current TANIOBIS GmbH) shares acquired
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2020
H. C. Starck Tantalum & Niobium GmbH renamed as TANIOBIS GmbH
2023
English trade name renamed as JX Metals Corporation
Johannesburg Office established