Umicore

Regulatory Filings • Nov 12, 2012

Press release 12 November 2012 CP-2012-33-R 08:00 CET

Umicore to construct dedicated catalyst production facility for heavy duty diesel in China

Umicore announced today the construction of a production facility in China for automotive catalysts used in heavy duty diesel (HDD) vehicles. The new facility will be built close to Umicore's existing automotive catalysts plant and technology development centre in the Suzhou Industrial Park and is planned to be operational in early 2014.

The facility will produce Selective Catalytic Reduction systems (SCR) for NOx aftertreatment for the new China IV emission standards, which will come into force in July 2013. The Chinese HDD market is the largest in the world in number of vehicles, with an annual production of more than 2 million units. Umicore has secured a number of contracts for HDD engine platforms complying with the new standards and this investment will add significant capability to Umicore's existing production of HDD catalysts in China.

Jörg von Roden, Senior Vice-President for Umicore's Asia Pacific automotive catalysts business, commented: "This investment demonstrates our commitment to further serve the growing Chinese emission control market. Combined with our recently-opened technology development centre in Suzhou, we can now offer a full range of automotive catalyst development and production services in China for both the light duty and heavy duty market."

Umicore Group Communications

Naamloze vennootschap/Société Anonyme phone +32 2 227 71 11 VAT BE0401 574 852 Broekstraat 31 Rue du Marais fax +32 2 227 79 00 Company number 0401574852 B-1000 Brussels e-mail info@umicore.com Registered office Broekstraat 31 Rue du Marais Belgium web www.umicore.com B-1000 Brussels

Note to editors

Combustion engines intrinsically produce toxic emissions. National and regional authorities impose limits on these emissions in order to obtain good air quality. Car companies typically comply with these limits by installing a catalyst system in the exhaust system of the vehicle, which transforms toxic emissions into harmless ones. The vast majority of passenger cars produced today have such a catalyst system on board and this is more and more the case for heavy duty vehicles as well. The catalyst system has to reduce the NOx (nitrogen oxide) one of the targeted toxic emissions, to harmless N2 (nitrogen gas). A diesel engine operates with excess oxygen which makes NOx reduction directly in the exhaust system not possible. A dedicated catalyst is therefore needed. This can either be a Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) system, which uses a urea additive, or a NOx storage catalyst.

For more information

Investor Relations
Geoffroy Raskin	+32 2 227 71 47	geoffroy.raskin@umicore.com
Evelien Goovaerts	+32 2 227 78 38	evelien.goovaerts@umicore.com
Media Relations
Elcke Vercruysse	+32 2 227 71 29	elcke.vercruysse@umicore.com

Umicore profile

Umicore is a global materials technology group. It focuses on application areas where its expertise in materials science, chemistry and metallurgy makes a real difference. Its activities are centred on four business areas: Catalysis, Energy Materials, Performance Materials and Recycling. Each business area is divided into marketfocused business units offering materials and solutions that are at the cutting edge of new technological developments and essential to everyday life.

Umicore generates the majority of its revenues and dedicates most of its R&D efforts to clean technologies, such as emission control catalysts, materials for rechargeable batteries and photovoltaics, fuel cells, and recycling. Umicore's overriding goal of sustainable value creation is based on an ambition to develop, produce and recycle materials in a way that fulfils its mission: materials for a better life.

The Umicore Group has industrial operations on all continents and serves a global customer base; it generated a turnover of € 14.5 billion (€ 2.3 billion excluding metal) in 2011 and currently employs some 14,600 people.