Aurubis Ribbon Cutting: Germany’s Largest Investor in Georgia Focuses on American Security, Sustainability 

With a 40-foot American flag as the backdrop, Germany’s largest investor in Georgia declared last week that while its origins are from beyond the Atlantic, its intentions for an $800 million investment in the state have U.S. interests at heart. 

Aurubis AG is focused on “metals for America” at a new smelting operation just south of Augusta that held a ribbon-cutting Sept. 20 with patriotic flair including a marching-band welcome, a national anthem rendition by a classically trained singer and a James Brown impersonator who started his set with “Living in America.” 

The Hamburg-based company’s roots got a small nod in the German flags embroidered on employees’ shirt sleeves, but the ceremony, held in an open space that will soon house equipment for sampling material to determine its metal content, was decidedly domestic in emphasis. 

Aurubis Richmond, joining a network of plants employing 7,000 people from Germany to Bulgaria and beyond, is a transformative facility for the county that will also help the U.S. meet both security and sustainability goals.

“As the first major secondary smelter in the U.S. it allows us to keep strategically important metals in the loop for the U.S. economy and its customers. In short, our investment will make your supply chains more independent,” said new Aurubis global CEO Toralf Haag. 

Aurubis’s shredding and smelting technology, punctuated by massive rotating furnaces installed by German supplier SMS, can separate copper and other metals from printed circuit boards and insulated copper wire, turning trash into treasure while using the resulting slag material to fuel up to half of the facility’s own fuel needs. 

“This means American copper stays here, powers our lives here, and drives our futures here, and it means that American industry and entrepreneurship is strengthened,” Mr. Haag said. 

Because copper can be “infinitely” recycled, creating a closed-loop system with the right energy mix can cut emissions drastically versus mining.

“Today’s penny could be tomorrow’s transmission line mobile phone or medical device. Our metals will drive economic growth across Georgia and the U.S.,” Mr. Haag said.

Already, Aurubis claims that its smelters emit half the greenhouse gases of competitors, but it also aims to be carbon-neutral before 2050 with the use of new hydrogen technology. 

Even before opening the first phase, the company in December 2022 announced its second in Augusta, doubling capacity to 180,000 tons of copper through the commitment of a second $400 million that brought the investment to its record-breaking level. Third and fourth phases are possible, with the company currently only using about a third of the 150 acres it purchased. 

During a panel discussion, officials with a nationwide remit put the local investment into perspective. 

Colin Kelly, chair of the Recycled Materials Association, or ReMA, said during a panel that the rebranding of his organization from the Institute of Scrap Recycling reflects how the industry is now being viewed: “sustainable, resilient and essential.” 

“There is no decarbonization, there is no clean economy,” without this sector, Mr. Kelly said. “You need those materials from us, and that’s what this facility brings.” 

The Biden administration’s top official for SelectUSA, the U.S. government initiative to recruit foreign investors, said Aurubis exemplified the impact of policies prioritizing the intersection of clean-energy and national security. 

“Over the last few years, you’ve seen sort of that industrial policy, for the first time, of the U.S. government make its way out. We’ve seen some mega announcements,” said Jasjit Singh, the organizations executive director. “So while the U.S. has been the No. 1 (foreign investment) destination for 12 years running, I think it’s no coincidence that Georgia has been really wonderfully placed over the last several years.” 

Despite national attention, the company seemed to have its strongest allies locally, where it has already hired more than 150 of the 230 people it plans to employ. 

Aurubis has invested heavily in community engagement, helping set up an apprenticeship program and hosting oversubscribed job fairs that have helped grow local technical college enrollment and change perceptions around manufacturing. 

The company has already put $200,000 into workforce training and has been an ally in promoting manufacturing as a career path, not just a job, said Augusta Technical College President Jermaine Whirl.

“They’ve been right at the table, really hammering that message home with parents and counselors,” Dr. Whirl said, noting that Augusta Tech faculty spent time in Germany learning processes they could teach a growing pipeline of students.

That workforce readiness is now critical for Augusta, which has been a beneficiary of federal policies aimed at driving domestic resiliency in the clean-energy sector. 

The Inflation Reduction Act, with its incentives for domestically sourced materials for electric-vehicle batteries, has been a key driver for companies like Denkai, a Japanese producer of copper films, and Syensqo (formerly Solvay), the Belgian plastics firm that got a $178 million U.S. Department of Energy Grant to make separator films for EV batteries.

“Transformative,” is how Augusta Chamber of Commerce President Angie Cox described the influx of foreign firms, noting that the lifestyle of Augusta, set to welcome an estimated 100,000 guests for the Arts in the Heart festival over that weekend, continues to meet the needs of executives and their families. 

“As Augusta positions itself as clean energy, EV battery and recycling hub, especially with the (Workforce Hub) designation from the Biden-Harris administration, we’re seeing more and more of these subsidiary companies coming in and investing from the international space, and we welcome that,” Ms. Cox told Global Atlanta. 

She added that the city known globally for the Master’s golf tournament enjoys a strong industry mix, especially with the designation of Fort Eisenhower (formerly Fort Gordon) as a U.S. cybersecurity hub. 

Gov. Brian Kemp, who returned to the Aurubis plant two years after a groundbreaking under the hot Georgia sun, said the investment is evidence of the business-friendly environment his government has helped create. Area Development magazine recently named Georgia its top spot for business for the 11th straight year. 

“I talk about this company and this project all the time, because it really is one of my favorite projects, and it is great to see today happening,” Mr. Kemp said, noting that it shows the value of the state’s international relationships and the diligence of its local communities. 

Giving a nod to German Consul General Melanie Moltmann in the audience, Mr. Kemp said hearing the American national anthem in the echoing factory building reminded him of going to the symphony in Hamburg while visiting the Aurubis facility on a European mission. 

David Schultheis, president and managing director of Aurubis Richmond, said the company’s American employees join a team with 61 nationalities around the world, many of which were represented at the ribbon-cutting, both featured in a subtitled welcome video and among the workforce employed at the new site. 

“I love working with you. Being both German and American, I have a foot in both cultures, and very much enjoy this international and diverse team,” Mr. Schultheis said.

Aurubis Richmond by the numbers: 

• 4,000 tons of structural steel used in the building process
• 1 million working hours spent since the groundbreaking two years ago 
• 130 feet the tallest structure on the premises