Toyota Tsusho Takes 33% Interest in Aussie Silica Sand Miner

Toyota Tsusho Corp. (TSE:8015) said Thursday that it has acquired a 33 per cent stake in Kemerton Silica Sand Pty., an Australian miner and processor of silica sand for glass.

The general trading company, which is affiliated with Toyota Motor Corp. (7203), likely spent a few hundred million yen to buy the interest in Kemerton , which was wholly owned by Tochu Corp.

Toyota Tsusho also purchased distribution rights to all the silica sand produced by Kemerton and will sell the material in Japan via Tochu. The move will double Toyota Tsusho's sales of silica sand to 600,000 tons a year, as well as double its command of the domestic market for imports to 40 per cent, closing in on No. 1 firm Mitsubishi Corp. (TSE:8058).

Domestic demand for silica sand totals roughly 4.5 million tons a year, with imports accounting for 1.5 million tons of that, says Toyota Tsusho. Anticipating growing glass demand for such applications as solar cell substrates, the company aims to use its stake in Kemerton to lift silica sand sales to 1 million tons by fiscal 2012.