Saihei Hirose (June 16, 1828 – 1914) was a Japanese

mining Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic via ...

businessman and former head of the board of directors of Sumitomo Zaibatsu from 1877 to 1894. Prior to that, he was manager of the

Besshi Copper Mine The was a rich source of copper in Niihama, Ehime Prefecture, Japan. The deposits were discovered in 1690, and copper mining began in the following year. From then until the closing of the mine in 1973, Besshi produced about 700,000 tons of ...

, which he extensively modernised using Western technology. There is a museum dedicated to him in

Niihama 270px, Niihama City Hall 270px, Aerial View of Central Niihama is a city located in the eastern part of Ehime Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 115,824 in 57781 households and a population density of 490 persons per ...

, called the Hirose Memorial Museum.

References

1828 births 1914 deaths Japanese mining businesspeople {{Japan-business-bio-stub