JX Nippon Mining & Metals Eyes Full Operation of HMC Plant for Rare Metal Recycle

JX Nippon Mining & Metals plans to operate HMC plant, recycle base, at full capacity within this year. HMC plant started operation of all equipment for first-third phase until April 2009, and can operate recovery process of non-ferrous and precious metal at full capacity, but has technical challenge about rare metal recovery process. The firm sees the light at the settlement for the challenge and will increase operation rate step by step.

HMC plant is recycle plant by smelting process for copper, zinc, nickel and lead, and recovers 16 elements, base metal, precious metal or rare metal, from recycle raw material such as discarded electronic substrate or intermediate products of Sagaseki copper smelting plant.

HMC plant started operation to produce tin, nickel, antimony or bismuth, on August 2008 in first phase, and zinc and indium on January 2009 in second phase and copper, gold, silver and platinum system precious metal on April 2009 in third phase.

HMC plant can already operate of the process for copper, lead, zinc, nickel and precious metal at full capacity, but had the problem for recovery of some rare metal, of lead and zinc smelting, and couldn’t increase production efficiency of rare metal in intermediate products generated by Sagaseki smelting plant.

HMC plant stockpiled date of non-uniform recycle raw material, and accumulated know-how such as operating condition with each raw material, and had clear idea of business solution and improved equipment. HMC plant was supposed to operate at full capacity on October 2011, and retarded by the influence of disaster of earthquake.