IAER 2004 Summit

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Metal Recovery from Circuit Board
Scrap Christian Hagelüken Umicore Precious
Metals Refining
IAER 2004 Summit Phoenix/Scottdale May 13, 2004
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WEEE Sexy? Well, it all depends on your taste

• Electronic scrap is a complex mix of many
  different substances
• Cu, Ag, Au, Pd, (valuable?)
• Fe, Al, Ni, Sn, Zn, (standard metals?)
• Hg, Be, Pb, Cd, As, Sb, Bi, (metals of
  concern!)
• Halogens (Br, F, Cl, ...)
• combustibles (plastics)
• ? high risk of environmental damage if landfilled
  or if not treated in an environmentally
  sound way
• ? But WEEE in total contains a lot of metals /
  resources and represents a true mine above
  the ground, which must not be wasted
• Circuit boards are of special interest, since
  they contain valuable precious metals

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The value of circuit boards varies significantly

• high grade Au gt 400 g/t
• medium grade Au 200 - 400 g/t
• low grade Au 100 - 200 g/t
• very low grade Au lt 100 g/t

Other precious metals contained Ag, Pd, (Pt)
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A sophisticated accurate sampling process is
needed to determine the true metal content
Foto Partial view on Umicores circuit board
sampling installations at the Hoboken plant near
Antwerp/Belgium

• Experience and integrity of the precious metals
  refiner is crucial for reliable assays

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Creating value and ecological benefit in a modern
intergrated metals refinery
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Metals refining is a complex metallurgical
disintegration and separation process
Input
? a complex, problematic feed is systematically
worked on and turned into recycled, useful
products
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There is more room for optimisation by
considering the entire WEEE recycling chain

• Streamlined transparent collection / recycling
  chain ?
• Can undesired reuse of devices or components be
  surely excluded ? (e.g. in case of OEM
  production scrap)
• Right reliable operators and technologies
  involved ?
• Separated fractions in marketable quality?
  Sufficient market demand ?
• Real economical ecological benefit of all
  separation steps ?
• total chain costs
• total (precious) metal losses breakdown per
  step
• total final quantity for landfill or incineration

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Optimising the trade-off between preprocessing
smelting/refining
E.g. low grade material paying a gate fee to a
smelter can still be a better deal than total
costs and value losses by extensive preprocessing
Eco-efficiency of total chainHow deep for
pre-processing ?How early to feed into a
smelter/refiner ?
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Much more than PCB-recycling From a commodity
to customised solutions

• Our integrated metals refinery can treat
• populated and unpopulated circuit boards
• entire small devices after battery removal
  (e.g. mobile phones, handheld computers etc.)
• Plastic fractions with (precious) metals
• Cu- or Fe-based metallic fractions (with/without
  PM)
• Components like ICs, MLCC, hard disks,
  contacts, ...
• ...
• Within Umicore we also recover Li-ion and NiMH
  batteries

Lets analyse your material streams and mutually
determine the best economical and ecological way
? maximising eco-efficient
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We are committed to eco-efficient recycling
Thanks for your attention ! Questions
? Contact Christian HagelükenThierry van
Kerckhoven preciousmetals_at_umicore.com www.precious
metals.com
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Focus on eco-efficiency - finding the right
balance between ecological and economical
performance
Recycling cost is not a determinant factor by
itself!
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Example the Umicore smelter refinery at
Hoboken/Antwerp (Belgium)
OUTPUT

• Precious Metals
• Base Metals
• Special Metals
• Chemicals
• Aggregate for concrete

• By-products from smelters and refiners
• Industrial consumer recyclable products

Since 1997 extensive refurbishment, new
smelter, PM plant electrowinning EHS related
investments gt 50 M
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In some cases less can be more(depending on
type of material)
Examples for .... ... less is
benefitial small devices - mobile phones,
handheld computers, digital cameras, ... ...
more makes sense white goods, TV-sets,
monitors, PCs, ...
Total costs for recycling chain
Shredding/size reduction
Fluff (PM)
Dismantling
Components, casing etc.
logistics
PM Precious metals (Au, Ag, Pd)