Aurubis starts building its €300M multimetal recycling plant
German-based Aurubis AG has broken on its latest investment – a new plant for multimetal recycling in Augusta, Richmond County in Georgia.
The company is investing an estimated EUR 300 million in the project, and the plant is expected to be fully operational by mid-2024.
"We have doubled down on our commitments to use our technology and experience to become a forerunner for recycling valuable materials containing copper, nickel, tin, and other industrial and precious metals locally in the US," says Roland Harings, CEO of Aurubis AG, in a press release.
Once fully on-line, Aurubis Richmond, USA, will have the capacity to process about 90,000 tons of complex recycling materials annually. These include printed circuit boards, copper cables, and other recycling materials containing metals. Currently, much of these materials in the US are either shipped to Asia and Europe or trucked to local landfills.
“The US currently produces about 6 million tons of recycling materials that contain valuable metals. We want to take advantage of this great potential and help ensure that these materials get reused. They are critical input materials for many industries in the US,” Roland Harings continues.
Copper is 100% recyclable without any loss in performance. But secondary smelter recycling at an industrial scale requires significant long-term investment.
