Dowa Establishes JV to Collect Used Auto Catalyst in Czech

Dowa Holdings announced on Monday its subsidiary, Dowa Metals & Mining agreed with Tanaka Kikinzoku Kogyo and Toyota Tsusho Europe to establish a joint venture company to conduct sampling of used automotive catalyst in Czech Republic. The new company will be established in September 2010 with total investment of approximately 430 million yen. Dowa Metals & Mining has collected used automotive catalyst and recycled platinum group metals in Japan and USA. Then the firm opens a new collecting site in Europe.

The new company, named Nippon PGM Europe and headed in Liberec of Czech, is established with a capital of 100 million yen, 51% controlled by Dowa Metals & Mining, 31% by Tanaka Kikinzoku Kogyo and 15% by Toyota Tsusho Europe. The operation will start in July 2011 for pulverization, preparing sample and simplified analysis of use automotive catalyst.

Adoption rate of automotive catalyst is increasing in recent years when gas emission restricts tend to be strengthened in many countries. Especially in Europe, catalyst adoption has widely increased since 1990s. As a result, generation of used catalyst is expected to increase largely which can be utilized for PGM recycling.

Dowa Metals & Mining aims to expand platinum group metals production by collecting materials in Europe, Asia and other regions.