Aurubis Berango S.L.U
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Formerly | Elmet S.L.U.; Metallo Spain S.L.U. |
|---|---|
| Subsidiary | |
| Industry | Non-ferrous metal recycling |
| Fate | Acquired and integrated into Aurubis (2020)[1] |
| Founded | 1991[1] |
| Headquarters | Berango, Biscay , Spain |
Area served | Europe |
| Products | Black copper; solder intermediates (Elmix); tin (black tin); lead by-products; zinc-oxide off-gas by-product[2] |
Number of employees | ~90 (late 2010s – 2020)[2] |
| Parent | Aurubis AG[3] |
| Website | www |
Elmet S.L.U. (later Metallo Spain, now operating as Aurubis Berango S.L.U.) was a Spanish non-ferrous metals recycler located in Berango, Biscay, within the Greater Bilbao industrial area of the Basque Country. The smelter processed complex, low-grade residues into black copper, solder intermediates, and tin- and lead-bearing products. A by-product was a material containing what was described as 'zinc oxide' but also contained heavy metals, captured and concentrated by its scrubber systems.[2][4]
The operation was established in 1991 as the Iberian site of Metallo Group and employed about 90 staff. It served as a regional node linking flows of Iberian material to Northern Europe’s secondary copper network, which at the time was anchored by Metallo Beerse and Aurubis Lünen. It was rebranded Metallo Spain in 2017 and, following Aurubis AG’s acquisition of Metallo in 2020, became part of the group as Aurubis Berango S.L.U.[3]
History
Elmet was incorporated in 1991 and registered at Barrio Arene 20, 48640 Berango, Bizkaia, within a suburban-industrial corridor that lies about 12 km north-west of central Bilbao. The area, once dominated by steel and shipbuilding, shifted during the late twentieth century towards a focus on recycling and metallurgy. From its inception, Elmet operated within Metallo Group and sustained technical and material linkswith the group’s main recycling and refining site at Beerse, Belgium. Through that shared corporate structure it was also indirectly linked to Chemetco in the United States.[5]
Within the group, the Berango operation’s role was to concentrate and prepare black copper and related semi-finished outputs for refining elsewhere in the network. In 2017 Metallo unified its branding and the Berango site adopted the Metallo Spain name. After Aurubis AG acquired Metallo in 2020, with the approval of the European Commission, the plant was integrated into Aurubis’s recycling and smelting system.[6][2]
Location and workforce
The factory was located in Berango, Biscay, within the Bilbao metropolitan region, giving it direct road access to the Port of Bilbao. This meant it could easily receive inbound shipments of secondary materials and at the same time, distribute semi-finished products to European customers and to sister sites. Staff levels remained at around 90 employees through the late 2010s and at the time of its 2020 transition to Aurubis.[2]
Operations
Feed and pre-processing
The Berango plant handled multi-metal residues with recoverable copper, tin, and lead content, including blended copper-tin oxides, zinc-rich dusts from off-gas systems, and assorted industrial by-products. Materials were received, sorted, and blended in the yard before being charged to the furnace to produce black copper.
Smelting
Primary metal recovery was performed in rotary furnaces which tolerated mixes of various grades of scrap. These yielded black copper as the main product and lead as a by-product.
Refining, products, and flows
Outputs included black copper for downstream electrorefining and fire refining within the network, solder intermediates marketed as Elmix®, and tin sold as black tin, or alloyed in solder flows. The plant served as an upstream-concentrating unit linking copper residues from Spain to refining assets in Belgium and Germany. After group consolidation under Aurubis, combined recycling capacity was over one million tonnes of secondary materials per year.[6]
Regulatory context
In U.S. proceedings concerning Chemetco in the late 1990s, testimony referred to regular and planned shipments to Elmet of 'zinc oxide' and copper-tin oxide blends. The use of the term 'zinc oxide' was found misleading by a Pollution Control Board (PCB) in Illinois, which instead tagged it as a hazardous waste on the basis of its highly elevated levels of lead, cadmium and other heavy metals, which are not present in zinc oxide. As a result, the PCB denied the bid for formal classification from waste to product and debarred shipments from Chemetco. These records illustrated Berango’s role in the Metallo Group's transboundary secondary material flows during that period. The reference did not lead to sanctions against the Spanish facility but contributed to later discussion of residue classification and documentation standards across jurisdictions.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Case M.9409 – Aurubis / Metallo Group Holding" (PDF). European Commission. 2020. Retrieved 6 October 2025.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 "Aurubis Berango – Company profile". Aurubis. Retrieved 6 October 2025.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Aurubis integrates Metallo Spain following acquisition". Invest in Spain (ICEX). 2020. Retrieved 6 October 2025.
- ↑ "Aurubis acquires Metallo Group". Recycling Today. 24 May 2019. Retrieved 6 October 2025.
- ↑ "Illinois PCB – Chemetco Petition Documents". Illinois Pollution Control Board. Retrieved 6 October 2025.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 "Aurubis Environmental Statement 2020" (PDF). Aurubis. 2020. Retrieved 6 October 2025.
External links
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