The Aurubis stock was in the focus of investors last year. You probably remember: In 2023, it became known that the Hamburg-based copper processor had been involved in large-scale theft and fraud for years. As a result, Aurubis had to make high million write-downs and dismiss almost the entire board of directors.

But today, we will not focus on the ongoing fraud scandal, but on a new cooperation that the German company announced a few days ago. This cooperation sharpens the long-term future perspective of Aurubis away from recent turmoil. The focus is on the world’s largest copper producer: the Chilean state corporation Codelco.

Aurubis and Codelco: What’s behind the mega-cooperation? In any case, Aurubis has signed a comprehensive agreement with the Chileans. The overarching goal of the cooperation is to improve the sustainability of the copper value chain. Specifically, the metal producer Aurubis and the mining company Codelco have six areas of work in their sights:

– Technical projects for environmentally friendly production in Chile
– An employee exchange program, including promoting understanding of a sustainable supply chain
– Expansion of commercial activities to secure more metals for the European energy transition
– Exchange on ESG development with a focus on the sustainability label „The Copper Mark“
– Innovations and new processes for decarbonization
– Expansion of circular economy and recycling in Chile

The new agreement is expected to have an immediate effect. In the first step, more than 15 projects are planned. This includes, among other things, further reducing emissions in key process steps of copper production. Codelco will reduce its scope 1 emissions (i.e. direct emissions), which in turn will reduce Aurubis‘ scope 3 emissions (indirect emissions). The Hamburg-based company will provide technology for this purpose – for example, in the areas of air and water protection and fine dust filtration.

Not only ecologically, but also economically important But the cooperation is also expected to bring advantages for economic development. Codelco wants to provide the German copper smelter with more raw materials (especially more copper). This will allow Aurubis to increase its metal production in the long term to meet the growing demand for the energy transition.

In its European smelter network, Aurubis produces more than 1 million tonnes of copper cathodes per year and processes them into numerous copper or copper alloy products. These include, for example, continuous cast formats, cast and rolled wire, profiles, or flat rolled products. At the same time, copper products are crucial for solar parks, wind turbines, electric cars, or the new power lines that are important for the energy transition.

In this context, the topic of circular economy is also interesting. Due to its chemical properties, copper can be recycled very well. Aurubis has been active in the recycling sector for around 30 years and wants to massively expand this business in the coming years – not only in terms of copper. The circular economy is seen as an important lever for meeting future metal demand.

Aurubis stock: My conclusion for you In my opinion, the cooperation with the mining giant Codelco is a positive signal for the recently struggling Aurubis stock – even if this may only become fully apparent later on. Currently, however, the (not so bad) business figures and forecasts, as well as the ongoing investigation of the fraud scandal, are still in the focus of the stock market.

What you should not underestimate as an investor: The turn towards sustainability and recycling is also enormously important from a business perspective. If Aurubis continues to reduce the CO2 footprint of its copper products and other metal products, the company can demand hefty premiums from its customers in the long term, as they too can improve their climate balance with the more sustainable copper. The cooperation with Codelco is therefore not only a symbolic act to appease climate protectors, but a logical step towards the long-term maintenance of the business.