These strategic projects will expand production, boost recycling, strengthen the European supply chain, and advance the implementation of the EU Critical Raw Materials Act.

Europe’s leading copper producer, Aurubis, signed a five-year €200M (US$236M) loan with the European Investment Bank to help fund two projects—in Bulgaria and Germany—aimed at expanding sustainable production and supporting the circular economy.

The company is investing €120M (US$142M) in its refinery tankhouse in Pirdop, Bulgaria, aiming to expand its capacity by 50% to 340ktpy. This will align the refinery’s capacity with the anode production of the on-site smelter, eliminating the need to transport anodes to other group sites for refining. Aurubis expects this expansion to be commissioned in fiscal year 2025/2026, helping to meet the forecast growth in European copper demand.

A further part of the loan will support Aurubis’ €190M (US$224M) Complex Recycling Hamburg project, which will expand and optimise the recovery performance at its smelter in northern Germany. This investment will give Aurubis the capacity to process around 30ktpy of additional secondary materials and internal complex smelter intermediary products on a much larger scale in the future.

The intention is to close the loop on both internal and external value chains, thereby securing more added value within the company and limiting the discharge or loss of potentially valuable material flows that cannot currently be recycled. The company expects these operations to begin in the next fiscal year.

In parallel, the company is also progressing with its Aurubis Richmond greenfield secondary multi-metal smelter in the USA. Commissioning of stage one is planned for September 2025, with ramp-up planned for 2026. Stage two is set to commence operations later, in fiscal year 2025/2026. Once both stages are complete, the site will have the capacity to process 180ktpy of complex recycled materials into 70ktpy of blister copper.

Aurubis was already the world’s largest recycler of copper, but when all the expansions are complete, it will possess the capacity to treat 2.4Mtpy of concentrate and 1.2Mtpy of recycling materials and blister to produce over 1.2Mtpy of copper cathodes. The loan from the European Investment Bank enables Aurubis to diversify its financing base and secure more attractive terms compared to the current market conditions.

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