some background to the nippon deal

There seems to be a lot of opinion on this site but not much fact. DYOR .... DYOR ....DYOR
Check out the INL announcements starting in January 2003.
Here is an extract:
Intec Copper pilot plant established by
Nippon Mining & Metals Co., Ltd at Hitachi, Japan
Nippon Mining & Metals Co., Ltd (NMM) has constructed, commissioned and is presently operating an Intec Copper pilot plant at NMM?s research and development facilities at Hitachi, Japan. The pilot plant (pictured below) has a production capacity of 100kg per day of copper.
Construction of the pilot plant was completed in October 2002 and the results of on-going test work are being employed as inputs into a feasibility study for a semi-commercial scale Intec Copper plant. The Japanese Government agency, New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organisation (NEDO), and Mitsui Mining & Smelting Co., Ltd (Mitsui) have co-funded with NMM the Intec Copper pilot plant program.
NMM is an Intec Copper sub-licensee as a result of co-funding the development in Sydney, Australia of the Intec Copper Process from 1993 to 1999. Under the terms of NMM?s ?club? sub-licence, Intec has been providing substantial technical input into the NMM pilot plant program and continues to work closely with NMM on the commercial development of the Intec Copper Process in Japan.
NMM has two copper production facilities in Japan: the Saganoseki smelter and refinery in Oita Prefecture and the Hitachi refinery in Ibaraki Prefecture. These facilities have a combined annual copper smelting capacity of 470,000 tonnes and an annual copper refining capacity of 450,000 tonnes.
NMM has a comprehensive copper smelting and refining joint venture with Mitsui, which has a 63.5% interest in the 230,000 tonnes per annum Tamano copper smelter and refinery in Japan. The NMM/Mitsui joint venture integrates the procurement of raw materials and the production and sales of refined copper products for both companies.
NMM has a 36.8% interest, and Mitsui a 4.6% interest, in LG-Nikko Copper Inc (LG-Nikko). LG-Nikko operates the only copper smelting and refining facilities in South Korea. The two LG-Nikko facilities at Onsan and Chang Hang have a combined annual capacity of 510,000 tonnes of refined copper.
The alliance of NMM, Mitsui and LG-Nikko has resulted in one of the world?s leading copper producing groups, and the largest alliance of its kind in Asia. Combined, NMM, Mitsui and LG-Nikko produce 1.1 million tonnes of refined copper annually making the group the third largest producer of refined copper in the world.