Umicore: 100% recycled precious metals for electroplated metal coatings

Umicore is responding to the dwindling availability of natural precious metal deposits with its idea of the circular economy and the launch of Nexyclus. Under this brand name, the world's most comprehensive range of fully recycled and responsibly sourced precious metals is being brought to market. The company now also offers electrolytes and salts for plating with gold, silver and the platinum group metals platinum, palladium and rhodium, which consist of 100% recycled precious metals. Electroplating is one of Umicore's core competencies. Its processes make it possible to apply metals to substrates in order to improve their properties such as corrosion resistance, hardness or electrical conductivity. Nexyclus is a sustainable alternative to the standard program without compromising on quality. The recycled precious metals meet the highest standards and, according to the company, the products manufactured with them do not differ in terms of electrolyte or coating properties. Umicore Electroplating's customer base can now change over accordingly from one day to the next, as the respective products are interchangeable at any time. This enables customers to meet their own efforts, the specifications of their clients or even country-specific requirements, for example in the jewelry, watch and fashion industries as well as in the electrical, automotive, semiconductor and medical technology sectors with regard to sustainable procurement or supply chain transparency and responsibility.

Umicore offers Nexyclus in three different variants, which differ in terms of recycling and Chain of Custody (CoC) certificates. These variants offer customers flexibility and the opportunity to choose the solution best suited to their needs. The material separation certificate offers maximum transparency for recycled precious metals in accordance with the standards of the Responsible Jewellery Council (RJC). It requires strict separation of primary and recycled materials in the recycling and production facilities. The mass balance certificate, on the other hand, processes primary and recycled materials together and allocates the proportion of recycled material in a rolling balance. A variation of this is the book & claim certificate. It is not linked to the physical flow of metals, but to equivalent precious metals - so it can also be used for non-physical precious metal transactions. Umicore attaches great importance to responsible sourcing. All Nexyclus products have certificates that guarantee traceability and compliance with strict sustainability standards. All three certificates are in accordance with ISO standards and meet the LBMA/LPPM/RMI guidelines for responsible sourcing. To ensure compliance with these standards, Umicore has its models audited and certified by independent third parties, the renowned auditing and consulting firms PwC or KPMG. Once the certificate has been issued, it no longer has an expiry date - the metal can be used for short-term applications or stored for long-term investment purposes. The Umicore Nexyclus certificate is only valid for use by the direct beneficiary purchaser of the Nexyclus metal units for the entire period. The Umicore Nexyclus Certificate can therefore not be transferred to a downstream buyer without written permission from Umicore - this restriction prevents unfair or multiple use of the certificate, which is an important concern for the company.