The new facility has been designed to process up to 25,000 tonnes of copper-bearing waste each year.
Councillor Jenny Wallace, Mayor of Gravesham, opened the plant on 17 October 2025, marking an expansion of BRM’s operations beyond its lead refining operations.
Paul Odendaal, Development Engineer at Britannia Refined Metals, said: “We are proud to have made this investment here in Kent, where BRM has been part of the local community for nearly a century.
“We are confident that BRM can continue to play an important part in the global critical minerals supply chain and look forward to continuing to work with local suppliers and businesses.”
Investment into UK recycled metals
The Northfleet site will serve as a sampling and preparation facility, where copper-rich materials will be shredded, roasted and analysed to recover copper and other critical minerals.
Incoming material will first be passed through a series of shredders to reduce its size before being treated in tray and induction furnaces.
This process allows the material to be divided into smaller samples ready for chemical analysis.
Marc Bedard, Head of Zinc and Metallurgical Assets at Glencore, commented: “BRM’s new sampling plant signals our commitment to working with our customers in recovering critical minerals from waste and producing materials like copper which can be used for infrastructure, mobility, energy, and security technologies.
“The plant offers real potential to increase the lifecycle of critical minerals.”
The plant’s operations will support Glencore’s global network by taking on work previously handled at its Canadian facilities, with the aim of boosting the UK’s capacity for metal recovery from waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE).
Justin Greenaway, SWEEEP Kuusakoski Commercial Manager, added: “SWEEEP Kuusakoski has for many years been a major supply of ‘smelter concentrate’ to Glencore in Canada. It is an honour that our material was the very first delivery to this major Kent based facility.
“An investment of £41 million is a huge vote of confidence in the UK being a reliable supplier of recycled copper, gold, silver and other technology metals.
“That confidence does not happen without good e-waste legislation and faith that continued growth in the recycling sector will happen.”
BRM said the facility has already received its first three loads of material, with full operations expected to create around 20 new roles across operations, engineering and management.
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