HOME
Corporate Overview
Corporate History

Corporate History

1905

Fusanosuke Kuhara founded the
Hitachi Mine from which the Group
originated

Kuhara headquarters (center) and the Motoyama Boarding House (two-story building on left)

1906

Start of digging at the first shaft of Hitachi Mine

Commemorative photo shoot in front of the first shaft at the time of founding

1907

Hitachi Mine performed the first diamond drilling at a metal mine in Japan

1908

Start of operation at the Daioin Smelter & Refinery (current Hitachi Works)

1912

Kuhara Mining established

Kuhara Mining Head Office (Nakanoshima, Kita-ku, Osaka-shi)

1914

Giant stack erected at Hitachi Mine

Commemorative photo taken upon completion of giant stack construction

Giant stack under construction on a slope 325 meters above sea level

1916

Initial stock offering by Kuhara Mining

Start of operation at the
Saganoseki Smelter &
Refinery

Overall view of Saganoseki Smelter & Refinery (ca. 1917)

1928

Yoshisuke Aikawa named the second President of Kuhara Mining

Kuhara Mining renamed to Nippon Sangyo

1929

Nippon Sangyo mining and smelting division spun off to form Nippon Mining

Head Office of Nippon Mining at the time of its founding

1945

All overseas operations lost with the end of WWII

1949

Karasuyama Laboratory (predecessor of our R&D organizations) established

1950

Operations begun at Kawasaki Works

1953

Mikkaichi Zinc Smelter (current JX Metals Mikkaichi Recycle) established

1964

Kurami Works established

Manufacture of copper discs used for 10 yen coins for the Japan Mint

1968

Chile Office opened

1970

First Nikko process flash smelting furnace completed at Saganoseki (the second was completed in 1973)

In front of Saganoseki flash smelting furnace

Second Saganoseki flash smelting furnace

1971

Tomakomai Chemical (current JX Metals Tomakomai Chemical) established

1972

Operation started at the Musoshi Mine in Zaire
(present Democratic Republic of the Congo; turned over to the local government in 1983)

1981

Nikko Gould Foil (current Copper Foil Department, Hitachi Works) established

Hitachi Mine closed due to resource depletion

Party held after ceremonies marking the closing of Hitachi Mine and dissolution of the Motoyama labor union

1985

Start of operations at the Isohara Works

Isohara Works at the start of operations

1986

Nippon Mining Museum opened

Main Exhibition Hall of the Nippon Mining Museum

1988

Nikko Coil Center (current JX Metals Coil Center) established

U.S. firm Gould Inc. acquired

1989

Nippon Mining Taiwan (current Nikko Metals Taiwan) established

1990

NIMTEC (current JX Metals Corporation USA) established

Production started at Escondida Copper Mine (Chile)

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

GNF Philippines, (current JX Metals Corporation Philippines) established

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

Overall view of Los Pelambres Copper Mine (Chile)

Inside separating area with rows of ball grinder mills (Los Pelambres Copper Mine)

2001

Nikko Metals Shanghai established

2002

Nippon Mining Holdings established as
joint holding company of Nikko Metals
and Japan Energy

Announcement of Nippon Mining Holdings corporate logo

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

2005

Nikko Materials Korea (current JX Metals Korea) established

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）