Inge Hofkens (Aurubis) elected President of European Metals

Election and mandate

Inge Hofkens, COO Multimetal Recycling at Aurubis, has been elected President of European Metals for a two-year term, effective July 1, taking over from Evangelos Mytilineos at the end of his maximum four-year term.

Policy priorities

Hofkens frames recycling as central to Europe's industrial competitiveness and independence. She says the technology to recover far more metals exists, and wants to drive a conversation on changing framework conditions—permitting timelines, how secondary raw materials are classified and regulated, energy costs for processing, and keeping high-value scrap within European supply chains—to raise recovery rates for several strategic metals that remain low today.

Operational experience and capacity

Hofkens brings long operational experience in multimetal recycling to the role. She began in 1993 as a scrap purchaser at Metallo, progressed through purchasing, processing, trading, sales and hedging, moved into strategy and chief sales leadership, led Metallo's integration after its acquisition by Aurubis, became Managing Director of Aurubis Olen and joined the Aurubis Executive Board in 2023. The article notes Aurubis' recycling assets—ASPA in Beerse, BOB in Olen, CRH (Complex Recycling Hamburg) adding roughly 30,000 tonnes, and Aurubis Richmond in the U.S., designed for up to 180,000 tonnes once fully ramped—illustrating the operational background she brings to shaping European framework conditions.