Aurubis AG said on 7 October 2026 that it has approved construction of a highly automated pre-processing plant at Hamburg, its largest production site. Recycling Today carried the company release on 9 October. Recycling International followed on 14 October. The company, which describes itself as the world’s largest copper recycler, will use the line to separate, sort and sample metal-bearing intermediates. Commissioning is scheduled for late 2028.
The plant will pre-process copper- and precious-metal-bearing materials into defined grain sizes. Sensor and x-ray equipment is meant to split the components so the works can take a representative sample and put a more reliable valuation on the metal content. Aurubis says the intermediates can then be routed more precisely into downstream processes inside its own smelter network. The company did not publish an investment figure or a throughput in tonnes.
The line will sit in a closed building with filtration and extraction. Aurubis lists a two-stage pre-processing and sorting installation, automated material handling, a production hall, a filter system, a substation and cranes. The stated aim is tighter control of dusty work stages and safer handling of complex streams. Late 2028 is a commissioning target, not a purchase programme for this month.
The same Aurubis release notes that Complex Recycling Hamburg started in July 2026 as a system for recycling strategic metals. The new plant is the next stage of that Hamburg hub. See copper scrap for the wire and solids grades this site already uses.
Who it affects among yards, traders, mills and processors
German and North Sea yards that already sell copper-bearing residues, electronic fractions or metallurgical intermediates into Hamburg should expect the consumer to sample more tightly once the line is running. Delivery is a works ticket by truck or barge to Hamburg, not a deep-sea stem. A trader who books Berry or Birch against a rod mill should keep that ticket separate from a mixed intermediate. The plant is built to classify complex feed. A No. 1 copper-wire specification remains a different contract.
Processors that currently crush, screen or hand-sort copper-bearing residues for a smelter should treat the investment as Aurubis taking more of that first step in-house. A yard that has been paid to deliver a pre-sorted fraction should ask whether Hamburg still wants that preparation, or a coarser, well-documented mix that the sensor line can sample. The TRIMET sorter opened at Hamm this month is a laser sort of mixed aluminium. Keep those two metals on separate tickets.
The Commission’s 9 October CRMA list named Dutch recyclers that take low-grade copper, electronic waste and circuit boards. See the four Dutch scrap projects. Those plants are a different offtake from Aurubis’s own Hamburg network. A circuit-board or e-waste lot should not be offered as Berry.
BIR’s 9 October Non-Ferrous World Mirror said some European smelters are reducing activity and postponing already-purchased scrap. Aurubis’s approval is a capital decision on sampling and safety at one site. It does not restore a postponed stem this week. German copper scrap already printed record wholesale levels in late September on the LME move. Recheck the bid before you load; do not write an exchange screenshot on the offer.
Copper scrap is not a CBAM good under the mechanism in force. A recycled-content claim on the parcel does not change how the smelter will sample it.
How to name the lot
If the material is clean copper wire or solids, name the grade already used here: Barley / bare bright, Berry, Birch, Candy or Cliff. See ISRI scrap codes. If it is a copper-bearing intermediate, residue or electronic fraction, write the stream in plain English: the metal, an assay or estimated copper or precious-metal content if you have one, grain size or packing, whether it is dry, the city or works, and whether the sale is ex-works or delivered. Do not call a mixed residue Berry. Do not write late 2028 or a recycled-content percentage on the offer.
Verified companies can list on live lots or post a wanted enquiry. Request access if you have copper-bearing material or a smelter programme to cover.