Umicore acquires Europe’s largest cobalt refinery

INTERNATIONAL mining company Freeport-McMoran has agreed to sell Europe’s largest cobalt refinery to Umicore, a global materials and recycling company.

The state-of-the-art cobalt refinery, located in Kokkola, Finland, is the largest cobalt refinery outside of China, where almost all of the world’s cobalt is processed.

For US$150m, plus the value of the working capital at the time of close, Umicore will acquire the 15,000 t/y refinery in addition to its related cobalt cathode precursor business. The precursor business represents 60% of the refinery’s historical revenues.

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