Expanded effort

Amultinational mining and metals processing group based in South Africa, Sibanye-Stillwater is one of the world’s largest primary producers of platinum, palladium and rhodium and a top producer of gold. The group also has begun to diversify its asset portfolio into battery metals mining and processing and to increase its presence in the circular economy by expanding its recycling and tailings reprocessing exposure globally. That growth included the purchase of Abington Reldan Metals LLC (Reldan), a precious metals recycling business headquartered in Fairless Hills, Pennsylvania, now known as Sibanye-Stillwater Reldan.

Embracing recycling

In 2017, Sibanye-Stillwater entered the recycling space by purchasing Stillwater Mining Co., which operated a metallurgical and platinum group metals (PGM) recycling complex in Montana. The Columbus metallurgical complex is one of America’s largest recyclers of PGMs derived from spent catalytic converters and other industrial sources along with processing PGMs extracted from its underground mines.

Grant Stuart, head of recycling, global operations, at Sibanye-Stillwater, says the company is aware of the impacts of climate change and knows it has a role to play in decarbonizing the planet. Additionally, in response to consumer expectations of environmental and social performance, Sibanye-Stillwater has embraced recycling further through its recent purchase of Reldan. He cites an ever-increasing number of socially and environmentally conscious brands that want to ensure all components that go into their products contain recycled content.

“We want to position ourselves to supply that,” Stuart says, adding that purchasing sustainability-focused Reldan is the first strategic step that will enable the company to be recognized as a “force for good in the circular economy.”

Recycling enables producing PGMs and precious metals with five- to six-times less CO2 emissions and using 60 percent to 70 percent less water, he says.

Demand for PGMs is poised to grow in the short term as automakers increase their production of hybrid vehicles before transitioning to mass production of battery electric vehicles. While Stuart says electric vehicles (EVs) pose a threat to PGM demand, they have not taken off as aggressively as anticipated. With hybrid vehicles likely to take up an increased share of global auto sales in the near term, PGM pricing should benefit as these vehicles use more PGMs than traditional internal combustion engine vehicles.

Aspiration to action

With its purchase of Reldan in March of last year, Sibanye-Stillwater now has recycling capabilities in Pennsylvania, India and Mexico, in addition to the recycling of spent automotive catalytic converters in Montana.

Sibanye-Stillwater Reldan Mexico is in the Monterrey metropolitan area in northeastern Mexico, providing access to domestic and international markets. The facility is R2V3, ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISO 45001 and IMMEX certified. (IMMEX allows the import-tax-free and value-added-tax-free import of goods needed in an industrial process or service to produce, transform or repair foreign goods temporarily imported for their subsequent export.)

In India, Reldan formed a joint venture with ReSustainability, India’s largest integrated resource management company, known as ReSustainability Reldan. The processing facility in Hyderabad, India, was completed in 2023 and is the first of its kind in the country. It provides thermal processing, mechanical reduction, pyrometallurgical processing and hydrometallurgical processing.

Michael Randolph, head of the Sibanye-Stillwater Reldan operations, says the company is solutions-oriented and focused on addressing its customers’ needs. Since its purchase by Sibanye-Stillwater, he says the company has a “deeper bench of resources to tap into” to meet its aspirational visions.

Those aspirations include strategically positioning itself for the recycling of rare earth metals and other critical minerals, such as those found in lithium-ion batteries. While Sibanye-Stillwater Reldan handles materials that contain such elements, it hasn’t historically recovered them for recycling. “That will be next,” Stuart says.

Randolph says the company already handles a diverse stream of end-of-life products it recycles using other vendors. “We have access to and touch a lot of different diversified markets,” he says, noting that customers “don’t want 10 different downstream” vendors.

As a part of Sibanye-Stillwater, Randolph says the company now can adopt an “R&D mindset” to develop in-house solutions. He notes that Sibanye-Stillwater Reldan directly services a growing 10 percent of Fortune 500 companies and indirectly supports nearly 20 percent.

He also sees an opportunity in recycling fuel cells, several of which use PGMs, principally platinum, ruthenium and iridium, to catalyze their processes.

Portfolio expansion

The purchase of Reldan gives Sibanye-Stillwater the potential to expand the portfolio of metals it recycles in addition to the geographic footprint of its recycling operations and where it participates in the value chain.

Reldan also provides the company with a well-established market presence and skilled management team, Stuart says.

Randolph adds that Reldan’s presence in the gold and silver sectors is considerable, while Sibanye-Stillwater is a formidable presence in the PGM market. Together, both companies have synergies that enable Sibanye-Stillwater Reldan to serve all these sectors directly.

The company plans to optimize its operations as well as its role within the larger group and to invest in recovering rare earth elements and in greenfield or brownfield partnerships in additional lines of service.

Daniel Lafferty, head of commercial and sales at Sibanye-Stillwater Reldan, says Sibanye-Stillwater’s willingness to invest in intellectual capital will benefit the company as it realizes recycling efficiencies that enable a lower carbon footprint.

“This is a highly fragmented market,” he says. “It’s rare to find someone that can do it globally with one team. We are not 100 percent there but are much closer with the acquisition.”

Since the purchase closed March 15 of last year, Reldan’s integration into Sibanye-Stillwater has gone “extremely well,” Stuart says. “We are aligned on a shared vision and future.”

“A lot of people are talking about ESG [environmental, social and governance] at a high level,” Lafferty adds. “We are on the ground working today with major OEMs [original equipment manufacturers] to provide real-world data to provide solutions.”

Armed with this information, he says, manufacturers can create products that are easier to recycle.

In terms of Sibanye-Stillwater’s purpose of sustainability through its metals, Stuart says Sibanye-Stillwater Reldan reflects the company’s aspiration to make a positive social and environmental impact through the metals it recycles.

“We will help the group reach its goal of being carbon neutral by 2040,” he says. “We are committed to responsible environmental practices. Our vision is to be a leader in superior value for all our stakeholders.”

The author is editorial director of the Recycling Today Media Group and can be reached at dtoto@gie.net. A version of this article first appeared online at www.RecyclingToday.com.