Umicore history

By the end of the decade, the company constructed refining facilities in Belgian Congo, and by 1911 began casting copper at Elisabethville, later renamed Lumbumbashi.

1921: UMHK begins gold and silver refining.

1924: UMHK begins cobalt smelting operation.

In response, UMHK added another important unit, that of zinc production, which began operations in 1937.

1942: UMHK begins production of uranium.

The chaos and violence that followed independence, temporarily abated by the arrival of U.N. peacekeeping forces, came to a head with the rise to power of Joseph Mobutu in 1965.

1968: UMHK's Congo operations are nationalized by the Zaire government under the Mobutu dictatorship.

1970: UMHK becomes a subsidiary of Belgian conglomerate Société Génerale, which groups all of its smelting and mining interests under reformed Union Minière.

By 1992, the company simplified its name, to Union Minière.

1995: Union Minière undergoes far-reaching restructuring, selling off 12 divisions.

1998: Suez acquires Société Générale and announces its intention to spin off its holding in Union Minière.

An example of this came with the 1999 launch of a lithium cobalt oxide plant in South Korea.

2000: Union Minière becomes an independent, publicly listed company.

To symbolise this trend of moving away from mining and the production of commodities and base metals, the Group changed its name to Umicore in 2001.

Among the company's plans was the doubling of its Advanced Materials division in 2002.

Launched in 2003, the platform is mainly used for professional networking.

In 2005 Umicore spun off its copper business into a separate company, Cumerio, which was separately listed on the Brussels stock exchange.

(in million €, in 2017)