Bare unalloyed copper wire granulated into nodules, min. 99% copper. Free-flowing granule charged directly on continuous casting lines.

ISRI Grade Name: Clove

ISRI Description and Specification

Clove covers bare, unalloyed copper wire nodules — i.e., copper wire that has been chopped or granulated into small pieces (nodules) through a wire chopping or granulation process, typically as part of a cable recycling operation. The minimum copper content specification is exceptionally high at 99%, reflecting the purity achievable through mechanical granulation and density separation of clean bare copper wire. Clove must be free of tin, lead, zinc, aluminium, iron, insulation, and plastic granules. The nodular form results from the wire chopping and vibrating-table or air-table separation process used in cable granulation plants, which produces a dense, free-flowing copper granule suitable for direct charging into melting furnaces.

Who Uses Clove Scrap

Copper rod continuous casting lines (Southwire, Contirod, and similar processes) can charge Clove directly alongside copper cathode due to its high purity and consistent granule size. Copper alloy producers, brass ingot manufacturers, and fire-refining operations also use Clove as a premium-purity scrap input. Cable granulation plants — which strip and granulate insulated copper cable to recover clean copper — are the primary producers of Clove. In India, cable granulation operations are growing rapidly in the Greater Noida, Jaipur, Pune, and Bangalore regions, processing retired telecommunications cable, power cable, and automotive wiring harness scrap.