Legend Smelting and Recycling

What Legend Smelting and Recycling does

Legend Smelting and Recycling, founded in 1982 and headquartered in Hebron, United States, is a private non-ferrous metals recycler specializing in catalytic converter processing and precious-metal recovery. The company recovers platinum, palladium, and rhodium from end-of-life catalytic converters and related industrial scrap streams, processing these metals for downstream reuse in electronics, solar panels, medical treatments, and automotive components. Pricing and contract terms are not publicly disclosed.

The company's core technical capability is the full-cycle recycling process — covering collection, decanning, sampling, refining, and smelting — which is unusual in the U.S. market where most converters of catalytic substrates rely on third-party refiners. Legend Smelting and Recycling operates as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Elemental North America, a strategic operating group that consolidates four leading U.S. recycling companies (Legend, PGM of Texas, Maryland Core Inc., and Daniel Ball Converter Recycling) under Elemental Holding Group. This consortium structure grants Legend access to integrated group-level sourcing, logistics, and refining capacity that independent scrap processors typically lack.

The business model is B2B: the company purchases catalytic converters and industrial non-ferrous scrap from scrap yards, industrial suppliers, and businesses with end-of-life converter inventories, then sells refined PGMs to downstream industrial buyers. The company positions itself against supply-chain risk in primary PGM mining, which is geographically concentrated in South Africa and Russia. Revenue mechanics rely on commodity-linked margins tied to PGM spot pricing, and customer-acquisition is executed through the parent's digital properties and group-level brand presence rather than a dedicated sales apparatus at the Legend subsidiary level.

Name

Legend Smelting and Recycling

Legal name

Legend Smelting and Recycling

Website

https://legendsmeltingrecycling.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1982

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Legend Smelting and Recycling is a U.S. non-ferrous metals recycler that recovers platinum, palladium, and rhodium from catalytic converters and industrial scrap, serving scrap yards and industrial suppliers as a subsidiary of Elemental North America.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Precious Metals Recycling and Refining

NAICS

Materials Recovery Facilities (562920), Nonferrous Metal (except Aluminum) Smelting and Refining (33141), Primary Metal Manufacturing (331)

SIC

Secondary Smelting & Refining Of Nonferrous Metals (3341), Primary Smelting & Refining Of Nonferrous Metals (3330)

akta.pro primary industry

Catalytic Converter Recycling & Precious Metals Recovery (PGM) (EUAIAJAG)

akta.pro secondary industries

Catalyst & Precious Metal Scrap Recycling (Auto Catalysts, Refinery/Petrochemical Catalysts) (IMAKAMAI), Precious Metals Smelting & Refining (IMAKAEAE), Process Residue & Catalyst Handling/Recycling (BPALAHAJ)

Keywords

• Non-ferrous metals recycling
• Catalytic converter recycling
• Precious metals refining
• Platinum group metals recovery
• Scrap metal smelting

Headquarters

HQ city

Hebron

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Operations, Personnel, Infrastructure, Supply Chain

Core offering

Legend Smelting and Recycling specializes in catalytic converter recycling and precious metals recovery, processing spent catalytic converters and non-ferrous scrap to extract platinum, palladium, and rhodium. Operating as part of Elemental North America's four-company U.S. consortium, it provides vertically integrated services spanning collection through refining and smelting to deliver recovered strategic industrial and precious metals.

Product overview

Legend Smelting and Recycling operates as a subsidiary brand within Elemental North America's integrated recycling platform. The company functions as part of a four-company consortium (alongside PGM of Texas, Maryland Core Inc, and Daniel Ball Converter Recycling) that represents the only catalytic converter recyclers in the U.S. owning the entire recycling process from collection through refining and smelting. The product portfolio centers on catalytic converter recycling services with full-service precious metals recovery and refining capabilities for platinum, palladium, and rhodium.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Catalytic Converter Recycling Services End-to-end recycling of spent catalytic converters for industrial scrap sellers, scrap yards, and businesses holding catalytic converters. The service feeds recovered platinum, palladium, and rhodium into downstream applications including electronics, solar panels, medical treatments, and automotive components.
• Precious Metals Refining and Recovery Integrated refining and smelting service recovering platinum, palladium, and rhodium from catalytic converters and non-ferrous scrap. The full-cycle process covers collection, processing, refining, and smelting, delivered as part of the Elemental North America four-company consortium.
• Non-Ferrous Metals Recycling Recycling of non-ferrous metals for industrial suppliers and businesses with recyclable metal materials, supporting supply of strategic industrial and precious metals.

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Elemental North AmericacoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLegend Smelting and Recycling is one of four leading U.S. recycling companies that formed Elemental North America. This collaboration enables the company to offer complete catalytic converter recycling with refining and smelting capabilities.

Recent moves2 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Direct peers

• PGM of Texas: Sister company under Elemental North America performing catalytic converter purchasing and PGM recovery with refining capability; operates the same integrated business model as Legend across a different U.S. geography.
• Maryland Core Inc: Sister company under Elemental North America engaged in catalytic converter recycling and precious metal recovery on the U.S. East Coast; directly comparable service offering and customer base to Legend.
• Daniel Ball Converter Recycling: Sister company under Elemental North America specializing in catalytic converter collection and processing; shares the parent group's vertically integrated PGM recovery capability.

Broad incumbents

• Elemental Holding Group: International parent group operating precious-metals recycling and refining facilities (including the Zawiercie plant); broader geographic and metal footprint than Legend but overlapping PGM recovery technology and customers.
• Heraeus Precious Metals: Global precious metals refiner and recycler of PGMs from automotive catalysts and industrial scrap; competes with Legend for converter feedstock and serves overlapping downstream industrial customers.
• Umicore: Belgian materials technology group with a major precious-metals recycling business that recovers PGMs from spent automotive catalysts; directly comparable end-of-life converter processing capability.
• Johnson Matthey: Historically a leading PGM autocatalyst manufacturer and refiner with closed-loop recycling of spent converters; competes with Legend for converter scrap and supplies recovered PGMs to industrial markets.
• BASF Catalysts: Major autocatalyst manufacturer that operates precious-metals recycling operations to recover PGMs from spent converters; overlapping feedstock sourcing and refining capabilities with Legend.

Others

• Sibanye-Stillwater: Primary PGM miner and recycler with U.S. recycling operations; competes indirectly as both a primary PGM supplier and a buyer of spent autocatalyst material, influencing the recycling market in which Legend operates.

Regional players

• Tanaka Precious Metals: Japanese precious-metals refiner with autocatalyst recycling capability; comparable PGM recovery technology and customer base to Legend but operates primarily in Asia rather than the U.S. converter market.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/LegendSmelting
• Facebookfacebook.com/LegendSmelting
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/legend-smelting-recycling

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Legend Smelting and Recycling