Aurubis fiscal year a record setter

Hamburg, Germany-based Aurubis AG says it earned record-high earnings before taxes (EBT) in its 2020/2021 fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30, 2021. The firm, which predominantly produces copper but also other nonferrous metals, says it “was the most financially successful” year in the company’s history.

The 353 million euros ($398 million) of EBT it earned exceeded the 221 million euros ($249 million) of EBT from the prior fiscal year by about 60 percent, Aurubis says.

“We’re proud of the achievements in a fiscal year that was still under coronavirus conditions for the most part – it went fairly smoothly despite this and other challenges, such as supply chain bottlenecks and rising energy prices,” says Aurubis CEO Roland Harings. “Additional positive factors included high plant availability across the group, the swift and successful integration of the new recycling [former Metallo] sites in Belgium and Spain into the group and the consistent ongoing implementation of our cost reduction program.”

Aurubis says it maintained “a good ongoing supply on both the primary raw material side (concentrates) as well as for recycling materials.” Healthy increases in refining charges for copper scrap and other recycling materials positively impacted its results, says Aurubis, as did “strongly increased metal prices” and demand for finished copper, nickel and tin.

The company says it has restarted its production plant in Stolberg, Germany, which was destroyed following severe flooding this summer. “This wouldn’t have been possible without our employees on-site and the prompt, uncomplicated support from the Aurubis Group,” states the firm.

The company indicates “the recycling business is a key element of the strategy where Aurubis will continue to grow.” Harings says, “We want to responsibly transform raw materials into metals for an innovative and sustainable world. During the past fiscal year, Aurubis processed more than 1 million tons of recycling material for the first time – this impressively shows what Aurubis is capable of achieving today in this area alone.”

Aurubis points to the construction of a recycling plant in the United States, an investment of about 300 million euros as a further commitment to metals recycling.

In Beerse, Belgium, site of a former Metallo smelter, Aurubis will invest roughly 30 million euros ($33.9 million) in a metallurgical facility designed to process anode sludge rich in tin and precious metals.

The company says it is striving to make its production carbon-neutral well before 2050. “We see ourselves as a provider of solutions for ecologically sustainable business activity in order to accelerate decarbonization,” the firm states.

Looking ahead, Aurubis predicts that “supported by industry forecasts and current demand on the markets, Aurubis expects a good supply of copper concentrates, an at least stable supply of recycling materials, and positive global copper demand. The Aurubis copper premium was raised to $123 per ton for 2022 owing to demand and higher costs.” In 2021, Aurubis says that premium averaged $96 per ton.