Metlen Energy and Metals’ new metals recovery facility in Sindos, Thessaloniki, is in the final stages of starting its pilot activity.
According to administration planning, the unit will begin in the first half of December. As Metlen’s leadership highlights, this is a pioneering project, of international standards, which can provide significant leadership and a strong competitive advantage in the group’s mining activity.
The investment amounts to 30 million euros and concerns the unit’s political operation in a critical sector such as the recovery of metals from mining waste and secondary materials. Especially, in fact, at a time when Europe is looking for ways to secure metals for its energy transition, but also to support modern economic activities.
The unit will be able to receive waste from other production processes, which will have quantities of specific metals, which can be recovered – produced, as well as other secondary materials, which to this day are produced by various industrial processes, as secondary products and which also have exploitable quantities of metals. The aim is to further expand this project, if the pilot is successful according to Metlen Group specifications.
According to the Approval of Environmental Terms, this involves the installation and operation of the activity “Copper and Zinc recovery unit from industrial waste and secondary materials”, which are metals in high demand in the European and international market. As for the unit’s building facilities, they include: Central metallic installation building, storage area for liquid consumables, boiler room, bridge deck and outdoor areas. Access to the unit location will be via the VI.PE road network. Thessaloniki.
Metal recovery is the treatment of various waste containing quantities of precious metals, with the aim of recovering only pure precious metal, without impurities. In the case of the new Metlen unit, the specific process is the result of the group’s Research and Development department