The Relationship Between Sogo Shosha and Mining

Sogo shosha (Japanese general trading companies) play a critical role in the global mining sector. Instead of just buying and selling commodities, they act as major global investors, project developers, and supply chain managers for raw materials. Their relationship with mining is driven by three main strategies:

Securing Resource Security: Japan lacks natural resources. Companies like Mitsubishi, Mitsui, and Itochu invest heavily in overseas mining projects (e.g., in Australia, South America, and Africa) to guarantee a stable supply of coal, iron ore, copper, and rare earths for Japanese industries.

Shift from Trading to Equity Ownership: Historically, sogo shosha were just middlemen. Today, they hold direct equity stakes in major mines worldwide, often partnering with mining giants like BHP or Rio Tinto. They earn massive profits from dividend income when commodity prices rise.

Green Energy Transition: Recently, sogo shosha have shifted their mining investments away from thermal coal. They are now aggressively investing in “critical minerals” like lithium, nickel, and copper, which are essential for electric vehicles (EVs) and renewable energy technologies.

Never done

Except they did it for decades in some cases

去你妈的

The only one mentioning “breaking China’s hold” is you in this thread. Which only strengthens my point that you sound like an insecure about “Chinese dominance” Chinese troll farm employee even if I don’t take into consideration your quite telling username.

>if you are against Kremlin you are pro [insert whatever group that would make your interlocutor sound evil]

OK, Ivan (or Chang given your history of sucking off China). Have 15 kopeykas and IDI NAKHUY. We are still not going to buy from Russia or China.

Can you rephrase that in a way that makes any sense? There are many words in your post yet they make no sense together.

I’m sorry to inform you that Murdoch has zero influence over me here in Europe. But I can understand that certain “(pseudo)anarchist/(pseudo)green circles” prefer Europe remains dependent on purchase of minerals from China and Russia. As Eastern European I can comment that only in one way “IDI NAKHUY”.

and Russia

I knew it. Go shill for Kremlin somewhere else.

Who is working? I’m European from Poland. GreenX is Australians mostly. Alternative source of tungsten needed for sensors used in medicine equipment is well, China. Are you in league with China? I’m certainly not.

We can do it much greener than China tho. And we need a lot of metal to transform from oil/coal to solar/nuclear. Do you prefer we buy that metal from China or even do nothing and remain dependent on oil and coal for another century or two? Remember that huge portions of Asia and Africa also needs metals to build ANY electric infrastructure as people in many parts of the world still have ZERO access to electric power lines and light their homes with kerosene lamps.

That meme that been around the internet for months now is not even about anything of that.

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