KGHM, Aurubis and Mitsubishi Materials are expanding their involvement in secondary copper processing as Europe develops a supply chain combining primary mine production with recycling of electronic waste, scrap and complex industrial residues.
The three non-ferrous metals groups are pursuing different investment strategies, ranging from integrating recycling into existing mining and smelting operations to developing new facilities dedicated to secondary feedstock. Their projects reflect the growing role of recycling in European copper production and raw-material supply security.
KGHM integrates recycling with Polish copper operations
Poland’s KGHM is extending its established mining and metallurgical business through plans to convert its Legnica Copper Smelter and Refinery into an integrated recycling metallurgical plant.
The project received Strategic Project status under the EU Critical Raw Materials Act in October, alongside development of the Retków-Grodziszcze copper deposit. The two investments have a combined value of more than PLN 9.5 billion. KGHM’s approach links primary copper extraction with secondary-material processing, using its existing smelting infrastructure as the basis for expanding recycling capacity.
Aurubis and Mitsubishi develop secondary feedstock capacity
Germany’s Aurubis is investing €190 million in its Complex Recycling Hamburg facility, designed to increase the Hamburg operation’s capacity to process complex recycling materials and metallurgical intermediates. The investment builds on the company’s established multimetal smelting and recycling network.
Japan’s Mitsubishi Materials is pursuing a different route through its proposed 3ECYCLE facility in the Netherlands. The plant will use electronic scrap as its principal feedstock and recover copper alongside other valuable metals. Together, the projects expand the range of secondary materials that European metallurgical operations can process, complementing production from conventional copper mines.
Metallurgical flexibility becomes more important
Copper scrap varies considerably in composition and processing requirements. Clean, high-grade copper scrap is relatively straightforward to recycle, while electronic waste and complex industrial residues contain mixtures of metals and impurities that require more advanced treatment.
Facilities capable of recovering several metals from the same feedstock can therefore process a broader range of materials. This also expands the role of smelters beyond their traditional position between mining and semi-fabrication, connecting primary production with recycling networks, electronics waste, industrial residues and refined-metal markets.
Scrap procurement gains strategic importance
Copper demand is increasingly associated with electricity networks, renewable energy, electric vehicles, data centres and industrial electrification. European supply security consequently depends on both access to newly mined copper and the ability to recover metal already circulating in the economy.
Competition for secondary feedstock could increase as recycling capacity expands. Reliable scrap volumes, long-term collection agreements, industrial partnerships and control of pre-processing facilities may become increasingly important to recycling operators, in a role comparable to concentrate supply agreements for conventional smelters.
Europe will continue to depend substantially on international copper trade, as secondary material can only be recovered after primary metal has entered the economy. However, each tonne recovered from end-of-life equipment can reduce the need to source additional copper externally in subsequent industrial cycles. For KGHM, Aurubis and Mitsubishi Materials, recycling is becoming an additional feedstock business alongside their established metallurgical activities.
