MAR CAMINO

The World's Only Copper Concentrate and Sulfuric Acid Carrier

Commissioned in 2010, the Mar Camino has attracted much attention as a key business of Nippon Marine Co., Ltd. Mar Camino is Spanish for "Sea Road." It is worthy of this name because it plies the Pacific Ocean roundtrip between Chile and Japan (and certain other countries) in about 90 days.

The ship's most distinctive feature, found in no other ship in the world, is its ability to transport both copper concentrate and sulfuric acid in one vessel. First, copper concentrate of 30% purity produced from the copper mines of Chile is stowed in the ships' hold and then shipped principally to the Pan Pacific Copper (PPC) Saganoseki Smelter & Refinery in Oita Prefecture. After that, concentrated sulfuric acid produced in an intermediary dry smelting process is loaded in a special-purpose tank and shipped back to Chile, where it is again used in a smelting process at the copper mine or it can be sold to major local customers.
    Being dual purpose, Mar Camino reduces logistical costs for the entire smelting business. It is a revolutionary new ship that helps sustain the JX Nippon Mining & Metals Group's nonferrous metal business.
    In September 2010, Mar Camino was christened at the Imabari Shipbuilding Co., Ltd.'s Imabari Shipyard in Ehime Prefecture where it was built. Since then, Mar Camino has been successfully navigating the seas under the operational management of Nippon Marine. Together with the opening of the Caserones mine, in December 2013, we are planning to launch a second copper concentrate and sulfuric acid carrier of the same type.

A Note about Sulfuric Acid

Copper concentrate, the raw material used to produce copper ingots, contains sulfur. Smelters in Japan that perform dry smelting, including Saganoseki Smelter and Refinery, remove the sulfur content and finally produce and then ship sulfuric acid. In other words, sulfuric acid is a by-product of copper ingots. On the other hand, because the method used to produce copper ingots, called wet smelting (solvent extraction-electrowinning [SX-EW]), produces the copper ingots through an electrolytic process from a leach solution obtained by dispersing sulfuric acid on copper ore, it uses large amounts of sulfuric acid. In Chile, the world's number one copper producing country, the consumption of sulfuric acid is increasing due to growing copper ingot demand. The copper concentrate and sulfuric acid carrier is therefore economically efficient, as it can transport copper concentrate to Japan, where it is needed, and sulfuric acid (a by-product of copper ingots) to Chile, where it is needed.

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