Itochu Corp. (8001) said Thursday it will spend 140 million Australian dollars (11.6 billion yen) to develop coal mining in Australia.
The trading house will start building facilities early next year at the Ravensworth North coal mine in New South Wales. Itochu has a 10% stake in the mine.
The company plans to begin mining raw coal and fuel coal in July 2012, aiming for annual output of 8 million tons as soon as possible.