Aurubis lands EU funding

Aurubis AG, a Germany-based producer of recycled-content copper and other nonferrous metals, has signed an agreement with the Luxembourg-based and European Union-backed European Investment Bank (EIB) for a loan totaling 200 million euros ($235 million).

The loan, which has a five-year term, will support the company’s investments in two projects: expanding copper refining at its Bulgarian site and scaling up metal recycling and environmental protection at its Hamburg plant.

“With the EIB, we’re gaining a strong European partner to support our strategic investments in a sustainable future,” Aurubis Chief Financial Officer Steffen Hoffmann says. “This financing commitment acknowledges the social relevance and outstanding quality of our investment projects [and] the loan’s attractive terms compared to market conditions enable us to further diversify our financing base.”

Both projects reinforce sustainable metal production and support key European Union policy objectives such as economic growth, regional development and sustainable business practices to create new jobs.

“Securing critical raw materials like copper and expanding recycling activities in Europe are essential to Europe’s resilience, sustainable development and industrial competitiveness,” EIB Vice President Nicola Beer says. “Copper is the hidden backbone of our modern lives: it keeps the lights on in our homes and powers the smartphone in our pockets, while also driving innovation in electric cars and renewable energy.

"The EIB’s first loan following the adoption of our new broad-ranging critical raw materials strategy will boost copper recycling, fortify European value chains and advance implementation of the EU Critical Raw Materials Act.”

The financing commitment represents the first EIB financing for the sector since the adoption of the new EIB Group strategy to secure Europe’s access to critical raw materials earlier this year and actively supports the rollout of the Critical Raw Materials Act.

In Bulgaria, Aurubis is investing 120 million euros ($141 million) to expand the tankhouse and boost cathode production there. The EIB loan also will also back the 190 million euros ($223 million) Complex Recycling Hamburg (CRH) investment program at that north German site.

The new CRH Aurubis facility will process up to 30,000 additional tons of recycled material along with “complex internal smelting intermediates,” which Aurubis says will help close both internal and external material loops.