Aurubis announces executive appointments

The supervisory board of Germany-based Aurubis AG has appointed Dr. Toralf Haag as its new CEO and Tim Kurth as its new chief operations officer (COO) for custom smelting.

The appointments complete a restructuring of the Aurubis executive board that was announced this January in part as a response to a recycled metals valuation and inventory scandal that emerged last year.

With the appointments of Haag and Kurth, the executive board will consist of those two along with co-COO Inge Hofkens and Markus Kramer as chief transformation officer. In October, Steffen Alexander Hoffmann will be added as chief financial officer.

Aurubis says Kramer will be recalled to the supervisory board as planned Sept. 30 and current CEO Roland Harings will step down as of Aug. 31.

Haag has a wide range of industry experience, including having held several management positions in the ThyssenKrupp Group, a producer and recycler of steel and metals. He also has served in executive roles with the predecessor company of Aurubis (Norddeutsche Affinerie AG), with Swiss chemical and pharmaceutical company Lonza Group AG and with industrial equipment supplier the Voith Group.

Kurth currently serves as the managing director of Aurubis Bulgaria and plant manager of its Bulgarian site in Pirdop. He began his career with Unilever and joined Aurubis in 2006.

“With Toralf Haag, we have succeeded in winning a proven industry expert over to Aurubis who will lead the company with great strategic vision,” says Dr. Fritz Vahrenholt, chair of the Aurubis supervisory board.

“Tim Kurth has done an exceptional job advancing the Bulgarian site. His extensive experience makes him the ideal candidate to take on responsibility for important segments of the Aurubis smelter network.”

He also says that entity “would like to thank Roland Harings for his dedication and service to Aurubis over the past few years. He initiated and realized important strategic directions during his tenure.”

Aurubis is a global provider of nonferrous metals and as one of the largest copper recyclers worldwide, including in the United States.