Precious metal utilisation in the industry has grown tremendously over the past twenty years. Now most high technology manufacturing operations require precious metal materials in the supply chain. For example, pharmaceutical drugs, plastics, sealants, fertilizer, OLED screens and fibreglass are just some of the industries which rely on precious metal use. High demand and limited mining sources leads to sustained high prices, with Palladium hitting a record high in 2019. It is now more important than ever that industrial users of precious metals recover the maximum amount from their process.

ECO-Mastermelt’s thermal treatment process ensures all the moisture, plastics and solvents are removed from the materials before they are processed into a homogeneous powder, which is then sampled and assayed to determine the exact precious metal content. Induction furnaces are used on Metallic materials to produce a homogeneous molten bath from which a sample is taken.

ECO-Mastermelt’s experience in treating these materials enables a tailored process to be applied, which maximises the metal recovered and hence the value returned to the customer.

A close relationship has been formed with the Singapore National Environment Agency resulting in the facility being granted a Toxic Industrial Waste Collector license. This enables collection and processing of precious metal materials designated as hazardous under local regulations.

The significant investment in the Singapore facility includes an emission control system which is designed to meet existing and future legislation requirements. With the expansion of the melting facilities now completed, further investment is being made to expand the thermal facility to accommodate the increasing materials being received for processing at the Singapore site.

All material is assayed in their state of the art laboratory, using the fire assay technique for precious metal determination.

Precious metal catalyst characterisation based on the Group’s extensive knowledge base and experience, will enable ECO-Mastermelt to determine a tailored treatment process for specific material, which will deliver industry leading precious metal returns.