Pending verification.
Umicore's corporate lineage traces back further than any other refiner on this site: to 1805, when Napoleon Bonaparte granted control of the Vieille-Montagne zinc mine, in what's now Belgium, to Jean-Jacques Dony. The company operated for nearly two centuries as Union Minière before rebranding to Umicore in 2001, reflecting a broader shift toward precious metals as technological components alongside its traditional bullion and base metals business. Umicore became an LBMA-accredited gold and silver refiner in 2013, relatively recent compared to its 19th-century industrial origins, and now runs its primary refining operation at Hoboken near Antwerp — one of the largest and most technically advanced facilities in the world.
Umicore's defining characteristic is sheer scale: it processes more than 2,400 tonnes of high-purity silver and 100 tonnes of gold annually, among the largest production volumes of any refiner covered on this site. Unlike a boutique refiner built primarily around retail bar design, Umicore's bullion bars are one output of a much larger industrial precious-metals operation that also handles complex recycled materials and technological components — a different kind of institutional backing than a refiner whose business is bars alone.
Log weight, purity, and purchase price alongside your coins, with live valuation — one place for the whole collection.
Start tracking freeIts corporate roots trace back to 1805, though it operated under other names (most recently Union Minière) for most of that history before rebranding to Umicore in 2001.
Very large — it processes more than 2,400 tonnes of high-purity silver and 100 tonnes of gold annually, among the highest production volumes of any refiner on this site.
2013 — relatively recent compared to its much older industrial origins, since its gold and silver refining accreditation is just one part of a larger, centuries-old industrial metals business.