Aurubis on track to open U.S. copper recycling plant by year's end, CEO says

HOUSTON, April 17 (Reuters) - Aurubis is on track to open its U.S. copper recycling plant in Georgia by December as part of a plan to boost production and processing of the metal in North America, its CEO said on Wednesday.

The $700 million facility, which is supported by U.S. President Joe Biden's administration, will have an initial capacity of 90,000 metric tons per year that will grow to 180,000 metric tons in a second phase, CEO Roland Harings told the World Copper Conference in Santiago.

"We are finalizing the installation now of a first-of-its-kind recycling facility in the U.S.," he said. "It's very significant and it has room for growth." (Reporting by Ernest Scheyder)