Producer
Aurubis AG
European integrated copper group (SDAX: NDA, HQ Hamburg, Germany); world's largest copper recycler and one of Europe's largest copper smelters. After the September 2024 sale of its Buffalo, NY flat-rolled products site to Wieland, Aurubis exited the U.S. connector-strip market to concentrate on primary copper production, recycling, and multimetal recovery. Aurubis Hamburg remains a world-scale refinery (1M+ MT/year cathode output) and continues to supply copper cathode feedstock to strip rollers including Wieland's European facilities. Aurubis Pirdop (Bulgaria) is its primary copper smelter. The company also operates secondary smelters in Belgium (Lünen) and the UK (Swansea). Prior to divestiture, Aurubis Buffalo produced copper and copper alloy strip for electronic connectors, heat exchangers, architectural products, and electrical goods.
8
Inputs supplied
7
Goods downstream
5
Facilities
0
Stories
What they make
8 inputs Aurubis AG supplies
Click an input to see every good that depends on it, every country that produces it, and every other company in the supply chain.
mineral
Tellurium Metal (CdTe Solar / Thermoelectric) →
mineral
Selenium Metal (Electronics / Glass / Photovoltaics) →
mineral
Copper cathodes (refined) →
mineral
Electrolytic Copper (Conductor Grade) →
chemical
Sulfuric Acid (H₂SO₄) for Phosphate Fertilizer Production →
chemical
Sulfuric Acid (Wet Process Phosphoric Acid) →
chemical
Nickel Sulfate (Battery Grade) →
mineral
Platinum Group Metals (PGMs) — Catalytic Converters →
Where it shows up
Goods downstream
Essential goods that depend on something Aurubis AG makes, pick one to see the full supply chain.
Where they make it
5 facilities
Aurubis Hamburg Primary Smelter & Refinery →
DEHamburg · processing
Europe's largest copper smelter and refinery, located on the Elbe island Peute, Hamburg. Site area 870,000 m². Produces ~400,000 tonnes per year of electrolytic copper cathode from both primary (concentrate) and secondary (copper scrap) feed. Tankhouse is one of the largest in the world (1,080 cells). Part of Aurubis AG's Hamburg Group headquarters. In 2023, Aurubis partnered with Metso to decarbonize the Hamburg smelter as part of its green copper strategy. Aurubis also in talks with US government for a new US copper smelter (announced 2025) as part of onshoring of copper refining.
Aurubis Hamburg Smelter & H2SO4 Plant →
DEHamburg, Germany · manufacturing
Europe's largest copper smelter. H2SO4 produced as mandatory byproduct of copper concentrate roasting. ~105,000 MT H2SO4 storage capacity at on-site VOPAK terminal. H2SO4 distributed from Hamburg deep-water port to European industrial and fertilizer customers.
Aurubis Pirdop Copper Smelter — Bulgaria →
BGPirdop, Sofia Province · manufacturing
Second Aurubis smelter producing H2SO4 byproduct. ~40,000 MT total storage capacity. Serves Eastern European industrial chemical and fertilizer markets.
Hamburg Copper Refinery →
DEHamburg · refinery
Europe's largest copper refinery, processing ~1.5 Mt of copper concentrate and scrap annually. Produces >1 Mt copper cathodes/yr. Also the #1 sulfuric acid producer in Europe from smelter off-gas capture.
Retorte GmbH — Röthenbach an der Pegnitz →
DERöthenbach an der Pegnitz, Bavaria, Germany · refinery
Aurubis subsidiary Retorte GmbH processes anode slimes from Aurubis Hamburg to produce 99.999% pure selenium metal. ~250-350 MT/yr. Germany is ~9% of global Se supply per USGS MCS 2025.
What else they do
Business segments
The company's full revenue map, where this supply-chain role fits within their broader business.
Custom Smelting & Products (CSP)
70%Multimetal Recycling (MMR)
30%Precious Metals Recovery
Specialty & Critical Metals
Battery Materials
Intelligence
What's known
Sourced claims about this company's role in supply chains, chokepoints, concentration, incidents, dual-use connections.
Did you know2023
Aurubis is one of the world's major producers of tellurium — a rare metalloid recovered from copper anode slimes during electrolytic refining. Tellurium is the defining ingredient in cadmium telluride (CdTe) thin-film solar panels, which account for approximately 30% of global utility-scale solar manufacturing (First Solar's technology). Because tellurium is exclusively a byproduct of copper smelting, global solar panel supply has a hidden dependency on copper smelter operating rates. A sustained curtailment at Aurubis' Hamburg smelter would directly constrain CdTe thin-film solar production.
Aurubis AG ↗Capacity2025
Aurubis AG is in active talks with the US government (reported 2025) to build a new copper smelter in the United States, which would be the first new primary copper smelter in the US in decades. The US currently has almost no domestic primary copper smelting capacity — ASARCO's El Paso smelter was the last major US primary copper smelter and closed in 1999. All US copper wire rod and transformer copper winding producers depend on cathode from Chile, Peru, and imported sources, or from recycled copper. A new Aurubis US smelter would be a significant de-risking of US copper cathode supply — but it would take 5–7 years to permit and build.
Kitco News ↗Origin2024
Aurubis traces to Norddeutsche Affinerie AG, founded in Hamburg in 1866 — Europe's oldest copper smelter, which has operated continuously for over 150 years. The company rebranded as Aurubis in 2009 after acquiring Belgian smelter Cumerio in 2008. It now processes more than 1.5 million tonnes of copper input materials annually across Hamburg (Germany), Lünen (Germany), Olen (Belgium), and Pirdop (Bulgaria), with a new US facility in Richmond, Georgia launched September 2025.
Aurubis AG ↗