The ARE Group collects and recycles scraps containing precious metals from several industrial sectors. By recovering and then selling gold, silver, platinum, palladium and other precious metals—indispensable to modern manufacturing—we are contributing to the effective use of resources and the development of industry.
Business Fields
Strengths and responses to potential risks
Precious Metals Recycling Business
Business fields supporting precious metals recycling
Electronic substrates used in personal computers, smartphones, and home appliances contain gold, silver, and palladium. We collect manufacturing process scrap and electronic substrates from used products. We process them, including crushing and sorting, to recover and recycle precious metals. Our precise sampling and advanced analysis techniques are two of our strengths.
Gold
Silver
Platinum
Palladium
We ensure the quality of customers’ equipment by regularly and carefully cleaning the electronic components and semiconductors that they manufacture. Customers entrust us with their equipment, and we strip and recover all the precious metals. The recovered precious metals are then returned to customers.
Since precious metal plating is an exceptional way to prevent corrosion and improve conductivity, it is used in numerous applications from industrial to decorative products. Using a proprietary electrolytic recovery system for precious metals, we recover and recycle the precious metals remaining in plating solutions. We also return the recovered materials to customers as a precious metal compound as requested.
Platinum
Palladium
Rhodium
Automobiles have catalytic converters that detoxify harmful substances in exhaust gases, and some precious metals, such as palladium and platinum, are used in these devices. We apply our original technologies to recycle precious metals from automotive, chemical, and other catalysts.
Gold
Silver
Platinum
Palladium
Gold-silver-palladium alloys are some of the key materials used in dental prostheses such as crowns and inlays, and the percentage of precious metal content varies by type. Customers, such as dental clinics and laboratories, provide us with waste containing these metals and we recycle them. Our unique centralized management of collection, analysis, and reporting ensures a high level of return for value.
Gold
Silver
Platinum
Palladium
We collect and recycle precious metals from jewelry and ornaments, coming from purchasers, manufacturers, and processors, that are no longer needed as well as precious metal scrap generated during manufacturing. In addition to accurate analysis, we produce high-quality precious metal bullion, while returning raw materials to customers for manufacturing and processing.
Process of collecting and recycling precious metals
Our manufacturing operations in Japan and elsewhere in Asia ensure the most efficient recovery of precious metals and the optimal processing of recyclable materials, depending on the characteristics and admixtures in the business fields where we collect materials. We also meet customer requirements by fully using the best methods and most efficient refining plants for the type of precious or rare metal.
Retail business
In 2024, we established the Retail Business Division and launched an official online store, beginning the sale of precious metals to the general public. While our business has traditionally focused on B2B, we aim to expand the appeal of precious metals as tangible investment assets by delivering high-quality products, made possible by our advanced technology, directly to our customers.
Official Online Store (Japanese version only)
Global Expansion
Our precious metals recycling operations in Asia have been growing steadily since 1994, focusing on dentistry and electronic waste (e-waste). We tailor business models to local market conditions, while using the proprietary technology we have developed in Japan. We have expanded our operations into North America with the addition to the Group of Asahi Refining in March 2015.
North American Refining Business
The ARE Group refines gold and silver from mines in the United States and Canada with one of the highest refining volumes in the world.
Gold and silver raw materials from mining companies differ significantly from the raw materials handled in Japan and in Asia for precious metal content, makeup of impurities, and the volume received. In North America, dry refining technologies are principally used for raw materials, which are smelted at high temperatures to separate out the precious metals. As we use our refining business as a basis for developing new services, we respond to the diverse needs of our customers with financial services and high-value-added products.
Overall Business Model
Click to enlarge
Process of financial services and warehousing business
Prepayment Transactions
Key points of revenue structure
- Shorten the delivery time from receiving raw materials to returning the finished products to customers.
- Receive interest for the prepayment days from customers by delivering products before the contract’s delivery date.
- Since the prepayment is made after receiving the raw materials, there is no risk of bad debt.
Warehousing Business
Key points of revenue structure
- Manufacture products according to NYMEX (COMEX) standards at Asahi Refining.
- Deposit the products at Asahi Depository and execute futures sales.
- Deliver the products to the futures buyers and receive monthly storage fees.
