(Reuters) - Europe's biggest copper smelter Aurubis will invest around $700 million to build a smelter for complex recycling materials in North America, the company said on Wednesday.
The commissioning of the secondary smelter in Augusta, Georgia, is planned for the second half of 2024.
On Wednesday, U.S. first lady Jill Biden toured the facility.
An expansion of the plant is already under way, which will allow the site to process 180,000 tons of complex recycling materials, such as printed circuit boards and insulated copper cable, from 2026, Aurubis said.
"Aurubis is creating long-term, secure jobs for more than 200 people here in an industry that is strategically important to U.S.," the company's COO of multimetal recycling Inge Hofkens said.