PHILIPPINE ASSOCIATED SMELTING AND REFINING CORPORATION (PASAR) - Santiago, Philippines

The Philippine Associated Smelting and Refining Corporation was established in response to the presence of abundant copper resources in the Philippines.

Formed in 1976 by the Philippine Government, PASAR was the first of eleven major industrial projects intended to pave the way for the country´s industrialization. The original incorporators of PASAR were the Government through the National Development Company, a consortium of the Philippine copper mining companies, the World Bank through the International Finance Corporation, and a consortium of Japanese trading companies composed of Marubeni, Sumitomo and C. Itoh.

In June 1999, a consortium of Philippine investors and Swiss trader Glencore International AG, bought the Philippine Government´s shareholding and its receivables from  

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PASAR. This acquisition was carried out as part of the country´s privatization program, transforming the company into a privately-owned corporation. Subsequently, the shares owned by the Japanese consortium were sold to a privately-held company.

The PASAR plant complex occupies 80 hectares in the 424-hectare Leyte Industrial Development Estate (LIDE). Completed in 1983 with the capacity to produce 138,000 metric tonnes per year (mtpy) of Grade A electrolytic copper cathodes, it was expanded in 1993 to 172,500 mtpy, and in 2007 to 215,000 mtpy.

PASAR is certified by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) to have established and applied both a Quality Management System and an Environmental Management System, in accordance with ISO 9001: 2008 and ISO 14001: 2009, respectively.