Belgian precious metals recycler Umicore unveils Nexyclus certifications, a green guarantee at every step of its process.

Leveraging the might of its precious metals refining and jewelry and industrial metals capabilities, Umicore SA has launched Nexyclus to address resource scarcity and the increased demand for recycled, responsibly sourced and low-carbon metals.

Based out of Belgium, Umicore is a multinational materials technology firm that was formed through the merger of four companies in the mining and smelting industries.

Now organized into four business groups that deal in battery materials, catalysis, recycling, and specialty materials, Umicore expanded its Hoboken facility located in the port city of Antwerp, with a new offering that will guarantee quality with three types of certificates.

Umicore

Umicore's Hoboken facility in Belgium, processes and recovers 17 precious metals from 200 industrial waste streams.

"Umicore's Nexyclus represents the world's widest fully recycled, responsibly sourced precious metals offering, harnessing the technology leadership of our worldwide and world-renowned precious metals refining and recycling capabilities," said Umicore Executive Vice President Recycling Veerle Slenders.

Essentially, Nexyclus is a guarantee for 100% high-quality recycled metals, starting with gold, silver, and the platinum group metals platinum, palladium, and rhodium. Already capable of processing and recovering 17 precious metals out of 200 different and complex industrial waste streams, Umicore's Nexyclus will become the brand backed by its extensive experience in metals.

For the initial precious metals, the framework for Nexyclus relies on the company's existing supply chain, from reliable suppliers to the option for customers to choose between three recycled content offerings in a chain of custody certifications – all to be third-party audited for more reliability.

"The offering secures reliable access to critical raw materials for a range of industries supporting their own sustainability objectives and advances the circular economy," said Slenders.

Aiming for decarbonization and the eventual establishment of a circular economy for these metals, Umicore appears to have emulated a type of system similar to how a blockchain would function but through its own structure.

Empowering circularity, enabling traceability, and embracing sustainability, as it is written on the company's website. The company seeks through this new offering to enable a significant carbon footprint reduction for products and applications as part of its "Let's Go for Zero" program.

"Thanks to the complementary technological capabilities of our different production sites, we can tailor to your needs and offer three solutions to support your circular and responsible sourcing journey," the website states.

As for its three recycling content offerings, they are listed as:

• Book & Claim – functioning as a note of intent not directly tied to the physical flow of refined precious metals from its production facilities, this certificate operates more as a promise of quality and assurance of its sourcing and gives certainty to future purchasers of the adherence to specific standards and compliance with audited review boards.

• Mass Balance – given the complexity of materials processed at Hoboken, the Mass Balance certificate is a guarantee for the content supplied. With the potential for undesirable materials mixed into its batches, this certificate is intended to trace the proportions of precious metals from recycled sources to ensure 100% recycled output.

• Material Segregation – adhering to the Responsible Jewellery Council, London, the world's leading sustainability and standard setting organization for the jewelry and watch industries, this certificate functions as proof of compliance to the standards set by RJC and provides the utmost transparency for recycled precious metals.

With the addition of these qualifiers to its recycled goods, end users can feel secure in the transparency of these metals, cosigned to end products with a complete trail of sourcing to sale tagged with Nexyclus certifications.