Tanaka Precious Metals to start operation of Sodegaura plant on Jan 5

Tanaka Holdings Co said Saturday that Tanaka Kikinzoku Kogyo Co, which operates the Tanaka Precious Metals' manufacturing business will start operation of the Sodegaura plant for recovering and refining platinum group metals on Jan 5.

With a capital investment of 6.5 billion yen, the company will recover and refine platinum group metals (platinum, palladium and rhodium) that are contained in spent automotive exhaust purification catalysts. Until now, the company has been recovering and refining platinum group metals only at the Ichikawa plant, but by establishing a two-plant system with the addition of the Sodegaura Plant, it will be able to enhance its BCP (business continuity plan) for emergencies such as natural disasters and damage to social infrastructure with regard to the supply chain for platinum group metals.

The main raw materials used in automotive catalysts are rare platinum group metals, which are produced in small quantities, and recovering platinum group metals from spent automotive catalysts for recycling is important for the establishment of a recycling-based society.

In particular, 7.3 tons (approx. 30%) of the 27.1 tons of global annual demand is accounted for by recovery from spent automotive catalysts, and as 22.5 tons (approx. 80%) is demand for use in automotive catalysts(*1), it is the precious metal playing the vital role in determining trends within the automotive industry.

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