Aurubis completes EUR 60 mln update of its production facilities in Pirdop

As part of the planned maintenance shutdown, Aurubis, a global leading provider of non-ferrous metals, updated its production facilities in the Pirdop plant with state-of-the-art technologies and executed additional improvements. The investments implemented will allow the site to achieve even better environmental standards in the future while also creating ideal conditions for maintaining the Pirdop plant’s exceptionally high operative performance from recent years.

“The successful completion of the large-scale shutdown in Pirdop demonstrates our ability to execute complex, major projects on schedule and within the planned budget. This is an essential skill for realizing our comprehensive strategic agenda. The regular maintenance shutdown also represents a considerable investment in the reliability and sustainability of our facilities. This project will help us uphold the exceptionally high plant availability achieved after the previous shutdown in 2021. And it is a clear signal that we are continuing to develop our important site in Bulgaria”, said Heiko Arnold, COO Custom Smelting & Products of Aurubis AG.

During the 40 days of the maintenance shutdown, more than 130 maintenance and repair activities were carried out in all the major production areas at the plant. A large number of components were renewed and repaired as part of the technically and logistically extremely complex large-scale project. With a total investment volume of around EUR 60 million, the project was completed in the planned timeframe and budget.

Additionally, a second anode casting wheel with all the feed lines to the anode furnace was installed. This will further improve plant availability and production stability along with it. The large-scale standstill in Pirdop also focused on enhancing the site’s environmental performance: efficiency measures realized as part of the ongoing project will lower the plant’s CO2 emissions by another 2100 tons per year while also improving the energy efficiency of production.