Pan Pacific Copper Co., Ltd. (“PPC”), jointly owned by Nippon Mining & Metals Co., Ltd. and Mitsui Mining & Smelting Co., Ltd. has since January 2009 been conducting its pre-feasibility study (“Pre-FS”) for the development project of the Quechua Copper Deposit in Peru,including economic evaluation based on conceptual engineering and production planning designs, as well as improvement in the accuracy of resource estimation by additional exploratory drillings. As a result of recent review of the evaluation report, it was expected that the project would be economically viable, so that PPC has decided to move the project into the feasibility study (“FS”) stage.

Under the contemplated FS, to be conducted between December 2009 and January 2011, PPC will improve the accuracy of the final resource estimation, provide basic engineering of facilities, obtain environmental approvals, and estimate the development costs and profitability,in order to reach the final decision whether full-scale development will be made.

At present, this project is estimated to have 17 years of mine life and produce a total of 1,300,000 tons (76,000 tons per annum) of copper. The copper concentrate produced by this project is scheduled to be shipped to the PPC Group smelters.

The project, combined with the Caserones copper and molybdenum deposit development project in Chile, is expected to enable PPC to increase its equity volume ratio of copper concentrate from 18% to over 50% securing stable supply of raw materials for its smelting operations. PPC is committed to contributing to a stable supply of resources. (An outline of the Quechua copper deposit development project (estimated) is as follows:)