• Enabling technology - clean operation with low costs
• 200,000 tpa of secondary copper/lead feed

Umicore Precious Metals, based in Hoboken, Belgium, is one of the world’s most successful metals recycling companies. In co-operation with Xstrata, Umicore developed a new process that uses the ISASMELT™ furnace to treat complex secondary copper-lead and precious metals scrap and residues. The Hoboken site needed dramatic modifications to meet present day economic conditions and environmental regulations because the plant is located next to a residential area and emissions are monitored very closely by local authorities. The ISASMELT™ furnace replaced a large number of unit processes, allowing the company to reduce operating costs.

A demonstration plant was designed by Xstrata and operated for some months at the Hoboken smelter site. Following successful operation of the demonstration plant, a full scale commercial ISASMELT™ furnace was designed and constructed for smelting the secondary materials. The smelter has been operational since 1997.