First plant of its kind worldwide

Dr. Rolf Degel (l.), Vice President Nonferrous Metallurgy; Dr. Guido Kleinschmidt (3.f.r.), Member of the Managing Board. Vladislav Sviblov, Vice President Development Pik Group (m.); Alexander Sharuda, General Director, (4.f.r.); Vladimir Zotov, Development Director, (2.f.r.), IC VAP. ? SMS group

Aurus, a company based in Moscow, Russia, has placed an order with SMS group for the supply of an UrbanGold Compact plant. The plant will be located near Moscow.

Around 6,000 tons of printed circuit boards will be processed by the plant each year. It will be used to produce LME grade metals such as copper, nickel, gold, silver, and platinum.

The process for this was jointly developed by SMS group GmbH and UrbanGold GmbH, Austria, as part of a cooperation agreement between the two companies.

The scope of supply of SMS group includes the supply of all components, i.e. facility for mechanical preparation of the raw materials, top blown rotary converter (TBRC), refining furnace (PolyRefine), casting wheel, electrolysis, gas cleaning plants, and the automation. SMS group will provide the engineering, supervise the erection and commissioning, and train the customer's personnel.


Flow diagram: UrbanGold Compact plant. ? SMS group

UrbanGold, a spin-off of the SMS group joint venture partner Mettop in Austria, is responsible for the design of the equipment and for the metallurgical process. Commissioning of the plant is scheduled for 2018.

In winning the Aurus order SMS group has gained entry to a growing market with an innovative product from its portfolio. With the first plant of its kind worldwide, SMS group and UrbanGold are demonstrating their expertise in electronic scrap recycling technology.

Both companies together also offer a profitable integrated concept for smaller volumes of electronic scrap, with which valuable precious metals can be recovered cost-efficiently.

Aurus was founded by the Pik Group, a construction company, and IC VAP, a manufacturer of ferrous and nonferrous products.

Source: SMS group