Sweeps, bullions, complex precious metals (PM) residues & by-products
Coming from various sources such as incineration of electronic scrap, precious metal-bearing milled slags and metallic scraps, sweeps and bullions actually close the loop of the pre-processing chain to achieve ultimate refining.
Other precious metal bearing residues, be it complex by-products from the PM refiners, high grade solutions from PM chemistry or PM bearing wastes are also recovered.
A unique flow chart, strong sampling and assaying capabilities and metallurgical expertise in meticulous separation of a wide variety of impurities make Umicore Precious Metals Refining a natural home for sweeps, bullions and other precious metals containing residues.
SWEEPS:
are defined as dry, free-flowing, inorganic powders consisting of fine particles, homogenized and bearing economically significant precious metal elements (sometimes resulting from an incinerating process).
Depending on their origin, sources of sweeps can be summarized as follows:
- Silver sweeps: ashes or residues, primarily from the photographic industry
- Jewelry sweeps: wipes, sweeps and grindings from jewelers
- Electronic-scrap sweeps: ex E-scrap pre-processors yielding e.g. incinerated samples or fused boards, e-components...
- PGM sweeps: ex production scrap, end-of-life treatment of car and industrial catalysts, ground scraps from the glass industry, by-product of a recovery operation, ground rich slags...
BULLIONS:
originate mainly from smelting processes involving jewelry, electronic and dentistry scraps containing economically viable amounts of recoverable elements, cast into ingots or blocks; copper is one of the major non-ferrous elements along with precious and/or platinum group metals.
Other PM-bearing RESIDUES:
Precious metal refining and specialized industrial down stream operations yield various types of process residues, e.g.:
- Wet materials like solutions, filtrates, sludges, cakes, ...
- Dry residues such as flue dusts, slags, ...
- Bricks and refractories from the glass and fiberglass industries.
CONTACT:
Michel Verhelst
T: +32 3 821 73 06
F: +32 3 821 78 07
E: michel.verhelst@umicore.com
Alexis Kazmitcheff
T: +32 3 821 75 92
F: +32 3 821 78 07
E: alexis.kazmitcheff@umicore.com
Hélène Deck
T: +32 3 821 79 71
F: +32 3 821 78 07
E: helene.deck@umicore.com