Sumitomo’s move comes as Japanese trading companies have been grabbing assets and increasing their stakes on a few of them thanks higher commodities prices, which have boosted their profits.
The country's antitrust regulator is investigating the effects on the market of Chinese miner Tianqi Lithium acquisition of a 24% stake in SQM, the world's second largest lithium producer,
A week choc-a-bloc with billion dollar copper, iron ore and cobalt deals ends with huge drop in prices and sell-off in stocks of mining's biggest names.