Toyota Tsusho to construction rare earth manufacturing plant in India

Toyota Tsusho Corporation has announced that its local subsidiary in India, Toyotsu Rare Earths Orissa Private Limited (TREO), will construct a manufacturing plant for processing rare earth oxides in the State of Orissa in India, with the cooperation of Indian Rare Earths Limited (IRE) and Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd., in order to secure a stable supply of rare earth resources for automobile and other industries. Toyota Tsusho has been surveying the rare earth resource potential around the world, extensively collaborating with the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) and the Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation (JOGMEC), in order to secure supply sources outside of China. During the course of such a process, attention was drawn to the state of Orissa in India and negotiations proceeded with the interested parties. Furthermore, on October 25 of this year, a meeting was held by the heads of state of Japan and India and a joint statement was issued indicating that an agreement had been reached for both countries, Japan and India, to collaborate in the development and the reuse of rare earth materials within India. IRE is a subordinate firm of the Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL), which has been extracting fuel (uranium and thorium) from monazite minerals mined and processed from alluvial ore deposits located along the shores of India, reserves of which have been verified to exist there in abundance. Rare earth chloride mixtures have been produced as by-products of this extracting process. This rare earth manufacturing plant will manufacture rare earth oxides using rare earth chloride mixtures as the raw materials. Shin-Etsu Chemical has at the present time already agreed to provide technical support, as well as engage in product trading with this manufacturing plant. The company is also currently considering capital participation in TREO, which is the operating body of the manufacturing plant, with IRE and JOGMEC. The construction of the manufacturing plant is expected to start as early as the beginning of 2011 and preparations are under way to start production by the end of the same year. It is anticipated that an annual volume of approximately 3,000 to 4,000 tons can be secured from the Indian produced materials described above. A supply framework is currently planned to include supplies produced in Vietnam, which are currently under development.