Asian Metal visit Umicore Precious Metals Belgium facility

On the 29th February 2016, Scott Yarham, Regional Manager EMEA and Joseph Clarke, Metal Market Analyst from Asian Metal’s London office, were fortunate enough to visit Umicore and witness the capabilities first-hand courtesy of Mr. Kris Van den Broeck, Sales Manager Special Metals, New Markets & Products at Umicore’s refining & recycling plant in Hoboken, Belgium.

The origins of Umicore can be traced back to 1837 with the ‘Société Anonyme des Mines et Fonderies de Zinc de la Vieille-Montagne’; the oldest predecessor of the eventual Umicore company. Today, Umicore is a global materials technology and recycling group, generating a turnover of € 10.4 billion (€ 2.6 billion excluding metal) in 2015 and currently employs 10,400 people worldwide.

The core services of Umicore’s Hoboken operation is the recycling, recovery and sale of 17 metals: precious metals (silver, gold, platinum, palladium, rhodium, iridium, ruthenium), special metals (indium, selenium, tellurium), secondary metals (antimony, tin, bismuth) and base metals (lead, copper, nickel). Umicore stand alone with regards to eco-efficient recycling and refining services for precious metal bearing materials such as by-products from other non-ferrous industries (drosses, mattes, speiss, anode slimes), and consumer and industrial recyclable products (e.g. electronic scrap, spent auto catalysts, spent industrial catalysts, sweeps and bullions).

Umicore’s processes are based on complex lead/copper/nickel metallurgy, using these base metals as collectors for precious metals and other metals. The main advantage of this innovative plant is increased productivity, combined with greater efficiency, which results in maximized metal recovery rates and generating optimum precious metals yields. With a recent investment in the processes of the plant, Umicore is ideally placed to continue their growth and strong position in the market.

Mr. Van den Broeck and Umicore are happy to assist Asian Metal in furthering their comprehensive coverage and understanding of the metal markets and are pleased to help cultivate an environment of clear and accurate information for the industry, Asian Metal were thanked for their continued work on being an outstanding and insightful index in today’s Asian metal market.