Glencore enters aluminum scrap recycling JV

Commodities trading firm Glencore and scrap brokerage Zeb Metals are partnering to install an aluminum scrap and dross recycling operation in the Charleston, South Carolina, area.

The plant will target a late 2023 opening date and will include as many as two rotary furnaces to recycle aluminum dross and industrial scrap for regional consumption, according to people familiar with the matter.

Century Aluminum operates a primary smelter in Goose Creek, South Carolina, close to JW Aluminum's Mt Holly rolling mill. Both facilities are less than 20 miles from Charleston and produce dross, which is an aluminum-containing byproduct of both primary and secondary smelting.

While Glencore already has exposure to copper scrap and precious metal scrap recycling at facilities in the US, Canada, Italy and Chile, the plant will mark the company's first foray into aluminum scrap recycling at a time when industry investment is at its highest in decades.

"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 said earlier this month in its 2022 full year earnings, expecting to benefit from the growing trend toward decarbonization.

In May 2022, Novelis announced it would build the first US greenfield rolling mill in decades, which was followed by similar US mill announcements from Steel Dynamics and Ball.

By John Betz