Inteligência Financeira by Raphael Coraccini - 12/07/2024
By Writing Team
Posted in December 7, 2024
Ambipar (AMBP3) vehicle, a stock market-listed company specializing in sustainable solutions. Photo: Raphael Coraccini/Inteligência Financeira.
Ambipar (AMBP4) sent 4 million kilograms of iron to Gerdau (GGBR4) and expects to increase these numbers with a new urban mining plant.
One of the world’s leading steelmakers, Gerdau (GGBR4) produces part of its own iron ore but also purchases the commodity from other companies to make steel. Some of the iron used by the steelmaker comes from an unlikely source: the urban mining plant of Ambipar (AMBP3), a stock market-listed company specializing in sustainable solutions.
“Last year (2023), we sent over 4 million kilograms of iron to Gerdau. That made us the 13th largest supplier (of iron to the steelmaker),” says Marcelo Oliveira, head of urban mining at Ambipar.
The outlook is to close 2024 with an even higher volume of iron sold to Gerdau. Additionally, the steelmaker is not the only major client of Ambipar for purchasing reprocessed materials.
CBA (CBAV3) also sources part of its raw material from Ambipar’s urban mining process. The company is one of the largest aluminum producers in the country.
Challenges of the urban mining process
Oliveira explains that the relationship with Gerdau (GGBR4) is mutual. Ambipar (AMBP3) also buys aluminum, brass, and copper aggregates from the steelmaker.
Ambipar provides Gerdau and other partners with technology and know-how in the urban mining process, which companies generally do not specialize in. For this reason, these companies need to sell their waste and outsource the task.
Oliveira recalls discovering that the urban mining process could be more challenging than he imagined when signing a contract with a major company in the telecommunications sector. This happened early in the operations when his company, GM&C, was not yet part of Ambipar.
At that time, Oliveira’s mission was to give new life to cell phone chips. However, dismantling the parts initially proved to be expensive and inefficient.
Over time, process improvements allowed GM&C to become operationally viable. Later, the company was acquired by Ambipar to handle the entire urban mining process.
Productivity expected to increase by 200%, says Ambipar
Ambipar’s urban mining plant in São José dos Campos, in the state of São Paulo, cost approximately R$ 100 million. Currently, it has the capacity to mine 80,000 tons of waste per year.
At the facility, large appliances such as refrigerators and stoves are separated from smaller electronics like cell phones, tablets, and laptops.
Today, the plant processes 10,000 tons and is expected to reach 30,000 tons by the end of 2026, according to the company.
This would mean a 200% productivity increase for the São José dos Campos unit over the next two years.
