Aurubis, Nexans announce European investments

Copper producer Aurubis AG and wire and cable maker Nexans separately have announced investments intended to boost the production of recycled-content copper products in Europe.

Aurubis, based in Germany, has invested approximately $5.9 million to make improvements at its facility in Avellino, Italy, designed to enhance production capacity by nearly 20 percent.

Those upgrades center on a modernized shaft furnace that will help it Aurubis undertake “more efficient and sustainable copper wire rod production.” The shaft furnace in Avellino melts copper cathodes and what Aurubis calls “very pure scrap.”

The new design, according to the company, makes the furnace highly energy efficient, allowing more material to be melted with lower energy consumption and a reduced CO₂ footprint.

Aurubis has started the process to obtaining The Copper Mark certification for its Avellino site, calling that designation “an internationally renowned and independent assurance framework to promote responsible practices across the copper value chain.”

Meanwhile, the Luxembourg-based European Investment Bank (EIB) has provided 250 million euros ($295 million) in financing to Paris-based Nexans that will go in part toward its project to consume up to 80,000 metric tons per year of copper scrap at its facility in Lens, France.

The company, a global provider of electrical cable and wire, system design, says the Lens project is a major asset for strengthening the group’s industrial foothold, securing raw material supplies and boosting the circular economy.

“Nexans is a key player in the energy transition," EIB Vice President Ambroise Fayolle says. "Its state-of-the-art power cables are central to the electrification of our societies and industries and are playing a vital role in meeting EU decarbonization targets. This EIB financing will enable the company to speed up its innovation, develop its production capacities and further secure access to copper, an important raw material.”

“With this financing, we will be able to further expand our production capacity, bolster copper recycling and innovate even more to back the energy transition and European industrial autonomy,” Nexans CEO Christopher Guérin adds.

Earlier this month, Aurubis announced EIB backing for its own investment projects in Europe, with EIB Vice President Nicola Beer saying at that time, “Securing critical raw materials like copper and expanding recycling activities in Europe are essential to Europe’s resilience, sustainable development and industrial competitiveness.”