In the autumn of hist year, Chinese trade- restrictions meant Japanese companies had to lurn elsewhere for metals and minerals essential to the manufacture of their products. Some of them turned to a recycling plant in a town called Kosaka, which salvages rare metals like indium, used in computer screens, and antimony, used in semiconductors. Dowa Holdings, owner of the Kosaka plant, was originally a mining company. It was nearly put out of business 20 years ago, by the low yen and international competition. But the company, and the town of 6000 people, is now open for business again: not through underground mining, but through what Japan refers to as urban mining - recycling the valuable metals and minerals from the country's huge stockpiles of used mobile phones, computers and other electronic goods.
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