Tikomet Oy

Tikomet Oy is a company specializing in the recycling of hardmetal scrap by the zinc process. Our new state of the art recycling facility is located at Jyväskylä in central Finland. We have a dedicated team of 44 employees to serve our customers.

We buy high quality hardmetal scrap and process it into tungsten carbide-cobalt powders. We also provide a scrap conversion service to customers. Our recycled powders are used as raw material in the production of new hardmetal products thus conserving limited tungsten resources and protecting the environment.

Tikomet Oy is part of Global Tungsten & Powders (GTP), a corporate division of the Plansee Group.

Company Profile

Roots in the tire stud market

Tikomet Oy was founded in 1994 and the initial focus of the company was the market for tire studs which are used in Nordic winter tires to provide grip on ice and snow.

Since 1995 Tikomet has been employing the zinc process to produce tungsten carbide powders for the production of hardmetal pins for tire studs and until 2007 most of the sales went to this market. New plant after boom in tungsten prices since 2005

The tungsten prices tripled in 2005 and have almost doubled since then. This dramatic price increase has created a renaissance for the zinc process and it has now become a very attractive recycling option also outside the tire stud market.

Tikomet responded to this market opportunity by building at Jyväskylä, Finland a new plant employing latest state-of-the-art technology for the recycling of hardmetal scrap by the zinc process. The inauguration of the 3 400 m2 plant took place in June 2008.

At the same time Tikomet targeted new applications for powders produced by the zinc process and successfully developed several new products so that today only a small part of the sales goes to the traditional tire stud market.

Market and technology leader in recycling by the zinc process

Tikomet operates the largest European production unit recycling hardmetal scrap by the zinc process and is the only European company offering in the open market tungsten carbide powders produced by zinc reclamation.

A key to the success of Tikomet has been the further development of an old process originally invented already in the 1970’s by professor Kiefer. Thanks to this work by Tikomet we are today able to produce by the zinc process tungsten carbide-cobalt alloy powders which are the best in the market in terms of chemical purity and powder characteristics so that our products can now be used in applications where it was earlier considered impossible to use powders produced by zinc reclamation.

Key pieces of equipment used in the production have been developed and built in-house by Tikomet technicians and further improvements in the technology are being pursued by our R&D. Thanks to a well equipped laboratory Tikomet is also able to carry out extensive application research where the addition of zinc reclaim tungsten carbide powders to virgin raw materials and the effect of such additions on the processing and properties of hardmetal is being investigated.

Our mission

In the future recycling will play a more and more important role in our efforts to conserve natural resources, save energy and reduce the environmental impact of industry.

The strength of the zinc process is in the recycling high quality scrap generated in the production of new hardmetal products or in the recycling of clean and well sorted end-of-life tools collected from end users, but due to the low level of technology in the past the full potential of the process has not been realized. The process development work carried out at Tikomet has changed this.

Tikomet is committed to promoting the zinc process as a cost efficient and environmentally friendly recycling option to hardmetal producers and looks forward to working with customers to allow them to benefit from the advantages provided by our technology.