TANAKA MEP breaks ground for its Batu Kawan refinery

Refinery construction in Penang

TANAKA MEP Refinery Sdn Bhd broke ground at Batu Kawan Industrial Park on Oct 8, 2026. The RM70 million project brings together Japan-based TANAKA Precious Metal Technologies Co Ltd and Malaysia-based MEP Enviro Technology Sdn Bhd.

The site covers three acres, with a planned built-up area of 45,000 square feet. Commercial operations are expected in the first quarter of 2029. The RM35 million first phase will produce materials for electronics and semiconductor customers:

• 4N high-purity gold, with 99.99% purity;
• potassium gold cyanide, also known as PGC.

MEP director Sean Ong aims to connect material recovery, high-purity refining and the return of valuable metals to manufacturing. TANAKA chief operating officer Tomoyuki Tada expects the facility to strengthen Penang’s precious-metal processing capabilities.

Earlier technical cooperation

The partners’ cooperation preceded the refinery project. MEP inaugurated a recovery plant at Bukit Minyak Industrial Park in Penang on Aug 8, 2024. A signing ceremony for its precious-metal recovery technical-assistance agreement with TANAKA took place at the same event.

Under the arrangement announced in September 2024, MEP collected waste within Malaysia and carried out preliminary processing to concentrate its precious-metal content. TANAKA provided recycling technology support, while its Japanese facilities performed high-purity refining of the concentrated material for reuse.

The recovery scheme covered discarded electrical and electronic equipment and production scrap from electronics and semiconductor manufacturing. The latter included metal fragments, offcuts and other discarded manufacturing materials. This historical arrangement involved collection and concentration in Malaysia followed by refining in Japan.

Recovery technology and industrial materials

In April 2026, TANAKA director and executive officer Yasutaka Ihara identified low-concentration recovered materials and minor metals as technically difficult recycling streams that had often been discarded. The company was pursuing technological development in those areas.

Ihara also outlined materials research intended to reduce precious-metal consumption while maintaining performance and to replace expensive metals with cheaper alternatives. He linked overseas recycling partnerships to careful partner selection, because recycled-product quality problems could affect customers and the company’s reputation.