Turning waste into gold – literally

NEXT LEVEL: By moving into metal reclamation and refining, Advanced Chemical has been able to diversify outside of the jewelry industry. From left are company Vice President of Operations John Jendzejec II, co-owner Rozlynn Smith and Sales and Marketing Director John Antonacci. / PBN PHOTO/TRACY JENKINS
NEXT LEVEL: By moving into metal reclamation and refining, Advanced Chemical has been able to diversify outside of the jewelry industry. From left are company Vice President of Operations John Jendzejec II, co-owner Rozlynn Smith and Sales and Marketing Director John Antonacci. / PBN PHOTO/TRACY JENKINS

The jewelry industry doesn’t just throw away the used rags, floor mats or spent metal-plating solution involved in manufacturing.
Because these materials often contain traces of the precious metals manufacturers work with, factories send their waste to reclamation experts like Advanced Chemical Co. in Warwick.
Originally a specialist in chemical plating for jewelry production, Advanced Chemical began pivoting to metal recovery under Gerald Smith Jr., son of the founder.
Smith saw basic manufacturing heading overseas in search of cheaper labor and realized the company would be better served by leveraging its expertise in chemical processes to avoid the fate of many other local jewelry producers.
“[Smith Jr.] was a brilliant chemist and started looking ahead at what else the company could do,” said John Antonacci, director of sales and marketing at Advanced Chemical. “He realized there are precious metals here in this process that can be reclaimed and that is what they started doing.”
In particular, Advanced Chemical found a niche in dealing with the hazardous chemical solutions used in metal plating.
Manufacturers sell Advanced Chemical their old plating solution in exchange for a share of whatever value can be extracted from the spent material. In addition to gold and silver, Advanced refines platinum, palladium and rhodium.
Last month, Advanced began offering customers the option of taking their share of the proceeds in 10-ounce silver bars instead of cash. For companies that work in silver, being paid in bars eliminates the complication of fluctuating metal values.
Advanced Chemical is also considering its own line of gold bars in the future, Antonacci said.
By moving into metal reclamation and refining, Advanced has been able to diversify outside of the jewelry industry and take advantage of electronics production, which has increasingly come to rely on precious metals.
In addition to plating solutions and materials from the jewelry industry, Advanced refines a wide array of material, including cathodes, wire, dental crowns, vacuum bags, polishing dust and sludges. Antonacci said Advanced gets about half of its business from some part of the jewelry industry and half from other industries, primarily electronics.
Advanced is the largest refiner of hazardous metal solutions in the country, with four trucks operated by a third-party constantly making pickups and bringing waste materials and plating solutions back to Rhode Island, he said.
That’s allowed the company to grow even during a difficult time in the Rhode Island economy and for many manufacturers.
Antonacci said Advanced has grown about 10 percent annually over the last decade.
Last year the company hired five workers and expects to add between three and five new people again in 2014.
Part of the growth is directly related to electronics and last year Advanced opened a new facility in 12,500 square feet of leased space near T.F. Green Airport for processing the shredded materials that come out of circuit boards and other electrical components.
In addition to the U.S., Advanced has a lot of customers in Canada and Mexico.
There’s more potential business overseas, but Antonacci said working with foreign companies and governments to get materials out of Asia has so far proven difficult.
“Overseas, it depends on where it is coming from and in some places it is difficult to get material out because they don’t want gold to leave,” Antonacci said.
On the state government side of things, Antonacci said Advanced has received a lot of help from staff at the R.I. Commerce Corporation, but has been frustrated in some of its dealings on environmental regulation.
As you would expect for a company that works with hazardous chemicals, Advanced routinely navigates a thicket of workplace safety and environmental rules.
Since it opened its new electronics processing facility near the airport, Advanced has been fighting an order from the state Department of Environmental Management for a $10,000, five-year permit for “circuit-board recycling operations.
“We’re a growing company but not so big that $10,000 isn’t significant,” Antonacci said. “I don’t know what the reason for the permit is.” •

COMPANY PROFILE
Advanced Chemical Co.
OWNERS: Gerald Smith III and Rozlynn Smith
TYPE OF BUSINESS: Precious metals refining
LOCATION: 131 Bellows St., Warwick
EMPLOYEES: 52
YEAR ESTABLISHED: 1972
ANNUAL SALES: NA

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