Dowa Holdings Co., Ltd.

Company headquarters building
Native name	DOWAホールディングス株式会社
Company type	Public KK
Traded as	TYO: 5714 NAG: 5714 FSE: 5714 Nikkei 225 component
ISIN	JP3638600001
Industry	Nonferrous metals
Founded	(September 18, 1884; 139 years ago (1884-09-18))
Founder	Denzaburo Fujita
Headquarters	Akihabara UDX building, Sotokanda, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, 101-0021 , Japan
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Masao Yamada (President)
Products	Nonferrous metals Electronic materials
Services	Environmental management & recycling Metal processing Heat treatment
Revenue	JPY 454.7 billion (FY 2017) (US$ 4.2 billion) (FY 2017)
Net income	JPY 24.6 billion (FY 2017) (US$ 232 million) (FY 2017)
Number of employees	6,400 (as of March 31, 2018)
Website	Official website
Footnotes / references [1][2][3]

Dowa Holdings (DOWAホールディングス株式会社, DOWA Hōrudingusu Kabushiki-gaisha) is a Japanese nonferrous metals manufacturer.^[3] The company is a component of the Nikkei 225 stock index.^[4]

History

Fujita-gumi, the forerunner of DOWA,^[5] was established by three brothers from Yamaguchi prefecture in 1881. The brothers had personal connections with influential members of the government, so in 1884 they bought the Kosaka mine, from which they expanded their business into various fields, centered on the coal mining business.^[6] After the purchase, Fujita-gumi increased its capital and invested heavily in skilled labor and equipment. By 1888 the Kosaka mine became Japan's top producer of silver.^[6]

In 1900, an engineer at Kosaka succeeded in extracting copper by accessing the kuroko (black ore — a mixture of copper, zinc and lead) deep in the mine. After that, the Kosaka changed its focus from silver to copper, and in 1907 became Japan's largest top producer.^[5]