Gold Price Guide 65% Off | Extended to 12/31!

NOBLE6

Companies That Are Not Refiners

Companies That Are Not Refiners

World leaders for wet chemistry refining of auto catalyst are Johnson-Matthey, Heraeus, BASF, and UMICORE. The first three companies maintain wet chemistry operations in the US.
 
The major US smelters sell to these companies concentrates of platinum, palladium and rhodium produced from their furnace operations because they are smelters not precious metal refiners. All catalyst from converters is considered low grade PGM material and must be smelted into ingot. This vital upgrade step increases the PGM concentration to the point that it becomes an acceptable feedstock for the wet chemistry process of refiners.
recycle catalytic converters Now, there are companies that claim to be “refiners”, but, they are not. Platinum group metals refining requires a series of complex chemical separations techniques these companies are not equipped to conduct. They will receive either your whole cats or de-canned auto catalyst. Here is their process – they de-can, ball mill to homogenize then extract samples to analyze your catalyst and pay for your material.
 
Sounds good so far…but then they send it to a smelter to be sampled and assayed a second time. So, because they have inserted themselves in between the collector of catalytic converters and smelter they have additional overhead, and expenses they must allow for when buying. Also, whatever you send to them, whether whole converters or de-canned catalyst, there will be another freight burden from there operation to the smelter.
 
If you are able to send catalyst straight to a smelter who does the same thing as these refiners, you are not at risk of paying the extra cost they incur.

RESOURCES

Catalytic Converter Recycling
Blog

The One Big Beautiful Bill could Affect Your Car, Wallet, and Next Vehicle Purchase

President Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” is more than just a headline — it’s 879 pages of sweeping changes that could reshape…

Converter Theft
Blog

They’re Using Platinum Like This Now?

At the 49th Annual IPMI Conference in Scottsdale, AZ, Ed and Rich sat down with Lyle Peluso Jr., Director of Business Development North…

Converter Theft
Blog

States Say They’re Cracking Down on Theft (But at What Cost?)

After looking at the federal PART Act and how close it came to shutting down catalytic converter recycling, Ed and Rich sat down with…