Company Director Natalie Dawson's 2023 AmCham QUAD Trade Mission through Japan

⚒️ Southern Hemisphere Mining Limited Director Natalie Dawson spent nine days in Japan this December as part of the 2023 AmCham Australia QUAD Trade Mission.

Mrs Dawson chronicled her delegation’s movements from Osaka, to Nagoya and then onto Tokyo – taking the opportunity to share the story of the Company’s growing Copper and Manganese assets in Chile – at the Llahuin Copper-Gold-Moly Project and Los Pumas Battery Manganese Project.

Southern Hemisphere Mining Chairman Mark Stowell stated that he is pleased to be able to present the company’s two key emerging 100% owned Copper and Manganese mines in Chile to groups of major manufacturers who are looking to use our raw materials to produce EV vehicles, EV batteries and other energy efficient equipment.

“We look forward to bringing new partners into each mine who use the off-take and build a vertically integrated business for the benefit of all,” Stowell said.

Mrs Dawson was also pleased with the opportunities presented by the Trade Mission.

“There is no doubt being invited to be part of this QUAD delegation was an invaluable opportunity for me to discuss our Company strategy around our growing Copper and Manganese assets in Chile with key executives – some of which are aligned to our future strategy to process our asset’s ore at site as part of the value chain proposition for the supply chain of critical minerals,” Dawson said.

“As a director of Southern Hemisphere Mining I will continue our discussions with follow up meetings with those key executives noted above, so stay tuned for further updates in the new year.”

Mrs Dawson attended 15+ key meetings with industrial executives, embassy staff from both USA and Australia, along with several factory tours.

Key companies she met with included:

Sumitomo Corporation
Toyota Motor Corporation
IBM
Panasonic
Boeing
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
JOGMEC (Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation)
Dow Chemicals
Microsoft
Osaka Gas
Plus visits with key staff at the Australian Embassy and U.S. Embassy in Tokyo, and U.S. Consulate in Osaka, as well as a number of VIP dinners with business leaders.

Here are Highlights from her LinkedIn updates.

🇯🇵 My first visits in Japan – The U.S. Consulate and Osaka Gas Co., Ltd.

The 2023 AmCham Australia Trade Mission delegation were welcomed into the Osaka office of the U.S. Consulate, with our host Brittany Banta providing an overview of what they are achieving in Osaka.

Of particular interest to me, was their work with critical minerals and the diversification of supply channels for Japan.

I was given the opportunity to talk about Southern Hemisphere Mining Limited’s growing Copper and Manganese assets in Chile, with Brittany and the consulate staff offering to provide further information and connectivity relating to these critical minerals – including the lobby group, Battery Association for Supply Chain (BASC) in Japan.

We then spent the afternoon at Osaka Gas, with a comprehensive briefing and plant tour, highlighting the innovation and technology investments they are making particularly in renewable energy and battery storage.

They have considerable investments in Australia and the USA (both in their Top 3 trading and investment areas). This centres around renewables and lowering their carbon footprint globally – working with the Australian and US Governments and industry leaders.

The context these two visits provided me on Japan’s growing need for battery minerals and diversification of supply chain channels will be invaluable for my upcoming discussions on this trade mission.

Up next: Microsoft AI and Panasonic.

Microsoft – Osaka, Japan 🇯🇵

A tour of the Microsoft AI Co-Innovation Lab was next on the agenda for the 2023 AmCham Australia delegates in Osaka, with our hosts presenting how Microsoft is working with clients and government to innovate in the emerging AI sector.

My main takeaway was they are focused on security through cyber protection through their innovation, with their message that ‘AI is here to assist us all’ clearly conveyed and it is not about to replace human thinking or ingenuity.

The Australian Consul-General for Japan, Trevor Holloway, joined the AmCham delegation for this presentation, with the Australian Government promoting Australian trade relations at Microsoft as part of The QUAD.

It is interesting to note that my visit as a director of Southern Hemisphere Mining Limited, the Kawasaki Robotics that are managed by the AI require criticalminerals – with our Company growing our Copper and Manganese assets in Chile.

Next stop: Panasonic

Panasonic – Osaka, Japan 🇯🇵

This meeting with Panasonic was one I eagerly anticipated given their need for critical mineral supply channels, and as a director representing Southern Hemisphere Mining Limited’s growing Copper and Manganese assets, this was a great opportunity to understand their vision and strategy.

And our meeting exceeded my expectations.

Panasonic’s strategic presentation centred around innovation, constructing manufacturing plants across key locations and developing diversified criticalminerals supply chain channels. This is just what I wanted to hear given Southern Hemisphere Mining’s assets in Chile.

As a market leader, Panasonic recognised they needed to have a diversified ESG supplychain network, with Panasonic Energy President and CEO of Kazuo Tadanobu being the chair of BASC (Battery Association for Supply Chain) in Japan. The company said they had already conducted a number of strategic visits with AAA rated countries including Australia and Chile – which means our Llahuin Copper and Los Pumas Manganese assets are right where they need to be.

The best part was Panasonic made it clear that processing at site or within country of critical mineral extraction was a key element of their strategy. Which was music to my ears as this aligns with the Southern Hemisphere Mining strategy, given our infrastructure options at both Llahuin and Los Pumas. Meaning we would not have to extract and then export our assets to another country for processing.

A big thank you to Panasonic for coming to The Ritz-Carlton, Osaka for the meeting, (that’s why there are no photos of Panasonic’s headquarters) as this was a discussion that ticked a lot of boxes for Southern Hemisphere Mining and we will be having follow up discussions in the future.

Thank you to Panasonic’s Kaz Sakomoto, Atsuko Oguchi and Dan Takahashi for the opportunity to meet and connect, as I continue to tour Japan with the 2023 AmCham Australia Trade Mission delegation.

Next up: Some R&R in Kyoto, then off to hashtagNagoya to meet with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Boeing and Toyota Motor Corporation.

Boeing and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries – Nagoya, Japan 🇯🇵

Our next two meetings once we reached Nagoya were with Boeing and then Mitsubishi Heavy Industries – as they are conveniently located next to each other in the city as part of the their commercial collaboration.

What is interesting about this setup, is Mitsubishi actually manufactures wings for Boeing, which are then sent – by plane – to the USA where they are assembled with the rest of the aircraft.

Boeing executives shared with our AmCham Australia Trade Mission delegation how they are reducing their carbon footprint through their strategic vision for innovation. In relation to Southern Hemisphere Mining Limited and our growing Copper and Manganese assets in Chile, although Boeing did admit batteries were not part of their immediate future (principally due to weight), the company does require criticalminerals to build their instrumentation for aircraft.

It was fascinating to hear them predict that flying cars will indeed be on the horizon.

We then walked next door to the Mitsubishi offices, where we learned more about the collaboration with Boeing and were given an informative factory tour (with photography not permitted due to security measures).

This is a highly automated manufacturing process, with skilled technicians constantly testing the process to ensure quality and efficiency.

The Mitsubishi executives also kindly shared their vision of the future for their industry, whilst recognising the need for them to move with the rest of the world to reduce their carbon footprint.

Next is a meeting with Toyota Motor Corporation – also in Nagoya.

Toyota Motor Corporation – Nagoya, Japan 🇯🇵

Nagoya is the birthplace of Toyota, so we were given the opportunity to not only meet with Toyota executives but conduct a fascinating tour of the Toyota Museum and learn about the evolution of the brand from textile industry automation to motorised bikes and vehicles.