Refinery Process Captures Precious Metals
Published Nov 21, 2008
It gives new meaning to the oil term “black gold.”
Catalyst material used in refining contains not only gold, but also platinum, rhenium and germanium, precious metals that can be extracted once the catalyst is spent. It’s a specialty of Gemini Industries, a company that has opened a second processing plant in Caldwell.
The new venture, Zodiac Enterprises, went on line in fall 2008. The 39,000-square-foot facility is just the first of three phases that eventually will employ up to 100 people, says John Larch, vice president and general manager.
The first phase, which broke ground in July 2007, represents a $6 million investment by California-based Gemini, the largest processor of spent catalyst material in North America. Its California plant processes 8 million pounds a year; Zodiac is aiming for 2 million pounds in its first year.
Larch says the company was attracted by the region’s proximity to the Texas petroleum and petrochemical industries, as well as a pool of potential employees from nearby Texas A&M University.
Gemini is building the facility in the Burleson County Industrial Foundation business park. Zodiac has 21 acres in the park; the first phase covers five of them and will employ about 20 people, Larch says.
“We are an environmentally clean operation and want to stay that way,” Larch says.
Story by Pamela Coyle
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