ILA member Aurubis invests €27 million in recycling plant

Aurubis, a European-based metals recycling company, has announced plans to build a hydrometallurgical recycling facility at its Beerse site in Belgium.

The company acquired the site in Beerse when it purchased the Metallo Group. The site currently processes around 250,000 tons of multi-metal scrap annually, producing metals including lead, other metal products and minerals, all from re-useable resources.

The new facility, known as ASPA – Advanced Sludge Processing by Aurubis (ASPA) – will process anode sludge from the company’s recycling sites in Beerse and Lünen, Germany. Anode sludge is a valuable intermediate product from electrolytic copper refining. The new process will enable faster extraction of more precious metals, such as gold and silver, as well as tin.

Since the acquisition of the Metallo Group, Aurubis says it has further expanded its role as one of the world’s leading recyclers, processing roughly one million tonnes of copper annually.

“Metal recycling is a core business area for Aurubis,” Heiko Arnold, chief operating officer of Aurubis AG, which is headquartered in Hamburg, Germany, says. “This is how we contribute significantly to the circular economy.”

For Dirk Vandenberghe, Managing Director at the Beerse site, the newly developed hydrometallurgical process is a very important project. It significantly increases the valorisation of valuable metals, such as tin and precious metals. “There will be more metals that can be reused. For us, this is the circular economy at its best,” he adds.

Aurubis is investing 27 million euros in the project at Beerse. Detailed engineering and approval processes for ASPA are underway. The start of construction for the facility is planned for the second quarter of 2022 and the commissioning for early 2024.

Cover image: Aurubis site in Beerse (Belgium) Global View. Photo credit: Schmitt Global View