Message from the President
As a Global Corporate Citizen Engaged in the Business of Resources and Materials
President and Chief Executive Officer
Chairman of the CSR Committee
JX Nippon Mining & Metals Corporation
JX Nippon Mining & Metals Corporation is the core company engaged in the non-ferrous metals business in the JX Group, which is aiming to become one of the largest "integrated energy, resources and materials business groups" in the world. As a member of the JX Group, we are constantly striving to realize the JX Group Values of ethics, advanced ideas, relationship with society, trustworthy products/services, and harmony with the environment. While acting in accordance with these values, the Company has been active in businesses covering upstream resources development, midstream metals smelting and refining, and the downstream areas of electronic materials and recycling and environmental services with copper at its core. As an integrated nonferrous metal manufacturer, the Company is forging ahead with a global mindset under its basic policy not only to grow each field of its business in a steady and solid way, but also to maintain a well-balanced approach.
In this time when alarm bells of concern are ringing in regards to global warming, there is strong demand for companies to act as good global citizens and contribute to the sustainable development of both the economy and society. Since its founding over 100 years ago, the Company has been operating with the philosophy in mind that we should exert the utmost care and attention to the resolution of environmental issues and maintain a harmonious relationship with local communities. This is symbolized by the construction of the Giant Smokestack and the planting of Oshima zakura Cherry trees at the Hitachi Mine, which was the Company's birthplace. (The author Jiro Nitta's novel "Aru Machi no Takai Entotsu" / "A Tall Stack in a Town" was written on these themes.) Going forward, we will continue to implement such activities, which are the origin of our CSR activities, and further enhance our CSR activities, turning our attention toward issues that have been increasingly gaining international attention, such as biodiversity and human rights. Also, in response to the recent diversification of customer needs for materials, supply chain management is becoming more important, not to mention the need to provide high-quality and highly functional products. The Group believes that faithfully responding to such needs and becoming a valuable business partner to our customers is also an important part of our CSR activities.
Our CSR Activities are Nothing More or Less than Our Business Activities
The characteristics of our business are:
- We supply society with the basic metal resources and materials that support daily life and industry activities in a broad sense.
- Our business activities-ranging from the exploration of resources and the manufacturing and fabrication of the most cutting-edge materials to materials recycling-are consistently geared to a recycling-oriented business structure that uses the limited resources from the earth as its primary raw materials.
- Our business activities are developing globally, widely, and diversely.
The Group has defined its code of conduct based on these characteristics and our resolve that we will contribute to the sustainable development of both the economy and society by further pursuing "innovation in productivity" based on the tenacious development of technologies, while working to maintain a harmonious relationship with a diverse range of stakeholders. In other words, we believe that developing our operations while maintaining harmony with the environment will contribute to the sustainable development of the economy and society; therefore, our CSR activities are nothing more or less than our business activities. For this reason, it is imperative that each employee play a principal role and conduct CSR activities as a matter of course in their daily work. In order to actualize such CSR activities, we formulated the CSR Action Policy, which spells out in concrete terms how we should implement the pillars of our code of conduct in each business field- "innovation in the productivity of resources and materials" and "a harmonious relationship with stakeholders." Also, by including specific measures related to this code in our medium-term management plan and through the strict implementation of the PDCA (Plan, Do, Check, and Act) cycle, we are working to solidify this code.
Furthermore, we also believe that safety and disasterprevention measures as well as compliance are prerequisites to the continuation of our business, and form the basis of our CSR activities. Regrettably, on June 13, 2009, a tragic accident took place that claimed the lives of three employees of Nissho Ko-un Co., Ltd., the Group member company engaged mainly in stevedoring of metal concentrates. Reflecting grievously on the occurrence of this accident, we are determined to once again exert our utmost efforts to materialize thorough safety and disaster-prevention measures in order to ensure that such an accident never happens again.
Toward the Stable Supply of Resources and Materials
The 21st century is said to be a period when resources will be increasingly scarce. By this token, the social mission the Group shoulders to stably supply resources and materials becomes even heavier than before. In February 2010, we decided to continue and advance the Caserones Copper and Molybdenum Deposit Development Project in Chile. Through this and other projects, we are aggressively promoting the development of new mines overseas. Furthermore, from various angles based on fully applying our own technologies, the Group is recovering rare and other value-bearing metals from used lithium-ion batteries for the power source for mobile phones and electric vehicles-otherwise called "urban mines"-and extracting value-bearing metals from low-grade copper ore. Going forward, we will work to further strengthen and solidify our CSR activities based on our mission of efficiently developing and producing a variety of products using the limited resources from the earth.
Deepening Your Understanding, Welcoming Your Opinions Regarding the Group's CSR Activities
The Group has endorsed the 10 sustainable development principles of the ICMM (International Council on Mining and Metals), which is devoted to developing a sustainable society, agrees with the thoughts of the EITI (Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative), and supports the 10 principles of the United Nations Global Compact. Sustainability Report 2010 has been compiled in accordance with the initiatives listed above, as well as with the Sustainability Reporting Guidelines 2006 of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and the GRI Mining and Metals Sector Supplement, and has incorporated the 10 sustainable development principles of the ICMM. We also investigated opinions relating to implementing initiatives regarding climate change issues including global warming, which is one of the four material issues that the Group has selected, by holding roundtable discussions with employees. This and other such initiatives are outlined in the special feature section of the report.
The Group clearly recognizes its wide and diverse range of social responsibilities. In addition to reviewing the CSR activities that we have engaged in, we also actively work to communicate information about these activities both inside and outside of the Group. By absorbing a wide range of views and opinions, we are determined to further deepen and advance our CSR activities going forward.
I hope that this sustainability report will help readers deepen their understanding of our CSR activities, and at the same time, encourage them to candidly voice their opinions.
