Bloomberg reported that Mitsubishi Corporation of Japan plans to almost double its copper output in 2012 after spending USD 5.39 billion to buy a minority stake in Anglo American Plc’s Chilean unit.

Mitsubishi said that the Tokyo based trading house’s copper production will rise to 250,000 tonnes compared with 140,000 tonnes last year. The increase is due to an expansion at the Los Bronces mine in Chile which will produce 440,000 tonnes this year from 260,000 tonnes last year.

Mitsubishi acquired 24.5% of Anglo American Sur SA, the owner of the Los Bronces mine in November. Codelco, Chile’s state owned copper company, filed a lawsuit in a Santiago court on January 10th 2012 that seeks to annul the Mitsubishi sale.

(Sourced from Bloomberg.net)