full screen - Umicore Precious Metals Refining

Amazing what
we can recover from
your electronic scrap

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1l Copper smelter
in Hoboken
2l Umicore Precious Metals
closes the loop of non-ferrous
metals recycling
Here’s how to turn
electronic scrap into profits
Umicore is a key player in the
non-ferrous recycling business
Umicore Precious Metals, a business unit of
Umicore, is a world-market leader for the
recycling of precious metals-bearing complex
materials.
Founded in 1887, the Hoboken facility near
Antwerp (Belgium) has evolved to one of
the world’s largest and most advanced
precious metals recovery operations.
Umicore closes the loop of raw
materials by means of a unique
metallurgical process
The plant’s feedstock mainly consists of
recyclables, such as complex industrial
intermediate products and specific precious
metals-bearing materials (end-of-life or
production scrap e.g. car catalysts, electrical
and electronic equipment, catalysts used in
the oil refining and petrochemical industry).
Precious metals (gold, silver, platinum,
palladium, rhodium, ruthenium, iridium),
special metals (indium, selenium, tellurium),
minor metals (antimony, tin), as well as base
metals (lead, copper, nickel) are recovered
using an unique metallurgical process
ensuring first-class metal recovery yields.
Umicore Precious Metals either purchases the
recovered high-purity metals, or acts as
a toll refiner, where all or several of the
contained metals are returned to the raw
materials supplier.
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Umicore Precious Metals
3l Logistical
assistance as
a service for
customers
4&5l Umicore Precious
Metals’ plant in
Hoboken (Belgium)
near Antwerp
Umicore is an environmental
pacesetter
Environmental efforts embrace the
metallurgical process as well as gas cleaning
and waste water treatment facilities.
A typical illustration is the pyrometallurgical
flow sheet that guarantees dioxin-less
processing of electronic scrap.
Umicore Precious Metals is committed to
anticipate the future environmental laws
by investing continuously in e.g. reduced
emissions and immisions from its plant. This
commitment is set out in its environmental
charter, with the ISO 14000 standard being
its guide for external certification.
Working with both society and industry,
Umicore Precious Metals has the area
expertise to be a dynamic and trustworthy
partner in environmentally friendly recycling.
Umicore is centrally located
Its geographical location, centrally in Europe,
in the direct neighbourhood of one of
the world’s biggest harbours, and at the
gateway to the extensive European rail and
highway network, makes material transport
to and from the Umicore Precious Metals
facilities easy. Moreover, this strategic
location allows a world-wide sourcing of
raw materials.
Umicore has a profound global
experience
Umicore Precious Metals can assist its
customers in exporting the goods out of
their company in a way that meets all
relevant environmental legislation with
regards to the shipments of waste within,
into and out of the EU, the control of
trans-frontier movements of wastes
destined for recovery operations (OECD),
and of course the Basel convention.
Umicore can also arrange transport
services from customer’s warehouse to the
Hoboken plant.
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Umicore Precious Metals
6l Telecommunication
tools containing
circuit boards
7l Populated
printed circuit
board
8l Electronic
scrap
containing
precious metals
9l Some examples
of sampling
processes used
by Umicore
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Umicore continuously optimises
its dedicated sampling and
assaying processes
With several thousands of lots per annum
entering its plant, it is obvious that Umicore
Precious Metals considers professional sampling
and assaying of raw materials as one of the
key factors for successful operation.
The quality and accuracy of its ISO 9002
certified sampling system is an internationally
recognised reference. Umicore Precious Metals
is continuously striving for enhanced and
even more efficient sampling processes.
€ 6 Million
With this innovative spirit and its customers
as driving force, Umicore Precious Metals has
invested € 6 million in the development of
dedicated electronic scrap sampling procedures
and equipment. The stream sampler, conceived
for at least thousand increments per primary
sample, and the shredding line are typical
examples.
Umicore’s focus on progress
ultimately results in higher
net return for its customers
The samples of the raw material are
subsequently sent to the state-of-the-art
in-house analytical laboratories, where the
exact content of precious metals and other
components is determined in each lot.
This illustrates Umicore’s commitment to
deliver the highest possible guarantee to its
customers.
Umicore gives precious and
other non-ferrous metals
a new life!
Whatever kind of recyclable material is offered,
dealing with a company committed to a
tradition of quality and reliability is a necessity.
Umicore Precious Metals’ expertise in
refining and recycling not only allows its
customers to enjoy the highest recovery
yields for precious metals but also to
benefit from the quality and purity of the
recovered metals.
Moreover, by virtue of its large scale,
Umicore Precious Metals can render its
services for attractive commercial terms.
Umicore offers absolute
flexibility for a variety of
complex materials
Its advanced metallurgical flow sheet allows
Umicore Precious Metals to feed its operations
with both low grade and high grade material,
shredded or unshredded, having widely varying
compositions, and coming from end-of-life or
production waste.
With environmental caring, efficient recycling
technology, Umicore Precious Metals offers a
dependable and safe way to close the raw
materials loop for general electronic scrap,
printed circuit boards, integrated circuit scrap
or telecommunication scrap.
Besides electronic scrap, Umicore Precious
Metals is also interested in other precious
metals-bearing products, such as spent
industrial and car catalysts, industrial sweeps
and bullions, tankhouse slimes,
photographic industry residues, etc…

Umicore Precious Metals
10l Electronic
scrap
containing
precious
metals
11l Sampling of
electronic
scrap
12l Assaying
13l Slag tapping
in blast
furnace
14l Pouring
1 kg gold bars
15l Gold:
granules and
1 kg bars
Umicore …
undisputed world leader
in the non-ferrous metals sector
Union Minière changes its name
into Umicore
Umicore is the new name Union Minière
adopted on 3 september 2001.
Umicore is an international metals and
materials group. Its activities are centred
on four business areas: Advanced Materials,
Copper, Precious Metals and Zinc. Each
business area is divided into market-focused
business units.
Umicore focuses on application areas where
it knows its expertise in materials science and
metallurgy can make a real difference, be it
in products that are essential to everyday
life or those at the cutting edge of exciting,
new technological developments. Umicore’s
overriding goal of sustainable value creation
is based on this ambition to develop, produce
and recycle metals in a way that fulfils its
mission: materials for a better life.
The Umicore Group has industrial operations
on all continents and serves a global
customer base.
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This and much more information can be found on our website: www.preciousmetals.umicore.com
n.v. Umicore s.a.
Precious Metals
A. Greinerstraat 14
B-2660 Hoboken, Belgium
www.preciousmetals.umicore.com
Tel +32 3 821 7480
Fax +32 3 821 7807
e-mail: preciousmetals@umicore.com
VAT BE 401 574 852
Bank 210-0052900-87 - TRB 85382
Registered Office Broekstraat 31 Rue du Marais, B-1000 Brussels, Belgium
03/2002 - ENG - Printed on recycled paper