Image courtesy of Aurubis
Aurubis has broken ground at its Beerse site in Belgium, starting construction on its hydrometallurgical recycling plant, Advanced Sludge Processing by Aurubis, or ASPA, that is set to be commissioned in the company’s 2024/25 fiscal year. The company will invest nearly 33 million euros ($35.1 million) to develop the site, which it says will strengthen Aurubis’ position “as the most efficient and sustainable integrated smelter network worldwide.”
Aurubis announced its plans for the site in the summer of 2021. The company’s existing Beerse facility processes nearly 250,000 tons of multimetal scrap annually, including complex residues and higher-grade scrap types, producing metals, metal products and minerals. Aurubis acquired the former Metallo sites in Beerse as well as a site in Berango, Spain, in 2020 for a purchase price was 380 million euros, or $431 million.
The company spent more than three years developing the technology to be used at the ASPA facility, which will process anode sludge, an intermediate product from electrolytic copper refining produced at the Aurubis recycling sites in Beerse and Lünen, Germany. The company says the new process will enable faster extraction of more precious metals, such as gold and silver, as well as full recovery of tin from the anode sludge.
At the groundbreaking event, Heiko Arnold, COO of Aurubis AG, said, “Metal recycling is a growth area for Aurubis. This is how we significantly contribute to the circular economy. Our metals are the foundation for the urgently needed progress in the green energy transition, electric mobility and an increasingly digitalized world. ASPA demonstrates our clear commitment to our long-term strategy to strengthen and secure our core business and to take the lead in sustainability in our industry.”
“By systematically connecting the European sites with ASPA and optimizing the intermediate material flows, Aurubis is creating synergies in the group,” Dirk Vandenberghe, managing director of Aurubis Beerse, said. “Our local know-how and expertise directly enrich society as well: We are creating new jobs in the Flanders region with our investment in the recycling sector.”
Beerse Mayor Bar Craane said, “Today’s groundbreaking emphasizes that Aurubis plays an important global role in metal recycling. It shows that the industry is highly dynamic, vibrant and future-oriented.”
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