Europe: Glencore and Zeb Metals have announced a partnership to establish an Aluminum scrap and dross recycling facility near Charleston, South Carolina.
Construction is underway on a new Aluminium plant in the region, which is targeting an opening date of late 2023. The facility will feature two rotary furnaces to recycle Aluminium dross and industrial scrap for local usage. Sources close to the project have confirmed this information.
Century Aluminium operates a primary smelter near Goose Creek, South Carolina, just a short drive away from JW Aluminum's Mt Holly rolling mill. Both facilities are located within 20 miles of Charleston and produce dross – an Aluminum-based byproduct of the primary and secondary smelting processes.
Glencore is making a big move in the Aluminum scrap recycling industry, investing in their first facility amid an era of unprecedented investment. This adds to their existing exposure to Copper and precious metal scrap recycling at various sites in the US, Canada, Italy and Chile.
"Recent government policies, such as the US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and the EU's proposed Green Deal Industrial Plan, demonstrate the growing need for critical raw materials through to the end of the decade and beyond, necessitating fresh investment in both primary supply and recycling,". Glencore anticipates that the increasing shift towards decarbonization will be beneficial to its 2022 full-year earnings.
In May 2022, Novelis made a ground-breaking announcement - they would build the first US greenfield rolling mill in decades. This bold move was quickly followed by Steel Dynamics and Ball making similar announcements - marking a new era for US mills.
