Bobby Boekhoud is the President of Just Refiners USA Inc. (justrefinersinc.com), a company he incorporated in 1993. With 50 years of international refining experience across three continents, he has grown the business from an 8,000-square-foot operation into a 108,000-square-foot facility with sales reaching $163 million in 2025. Today, the Just Refiners Group has an international presence through Just Refiners USA, Just Refiners Mexico, with offices in Durango and Hermosillo, and Just Refiners Canada, with an office located at 15 Rue Jos-Montferrand, Gatineau, Quebec.
Known for his hands-on leadership, transparency, and commitment to innovation, Boekhoud has built a trusted one-stop shop for mine by-products in Nevada and holds a pending patent for CARBOx. A proud American citizen since 2024, he continues to lead with integrity and a focus on people, safety, and operational excellence.
From Lab Analyst to Global Refinery Leader
Boekhoud has led Just Refiners USA Inc. since incorporating it in 1993. His refining career began in 1976 at Impala Platinum in South Africa as a laboratory analyst while studying Physical Metallurgy. After two years of conscript military service, where he became an officer and instructor, he joined Golden Dumps Research managing fire assay operations.
He then moved to GDR Refinery, turning it profitable in two months against a three-month ultimatum, becoming Refinery Manager. Over the next two years, he gained expertise in silver recovery, activated carbon gold recovery, mine by-product processing, incineration, smelting, and R&D for the largest Refiner in South Africa. He experienced tremendous personal growth during this period, particularly with activated carbon work, which was new technology.
In 1985, Boekhoud became Refinery Manager at Peterborough Refiners in the UK, later managing construction of a Platinum Group Metal Refinery at Orion Refiners, refining gold and silver to 9999 purity. In 1989, he remortgaged his home to incorporate Just Refiners & Technology Ltd in Peterborough. “It was tough,” he admits. “There were many nights that I thought we were not going to make it.”
A neighbor’s suggestion led to a contract inlaying fine silver wire into Rolls-Royce and Bentley wood panels – work he did at night after full refining days. “In those days, I was charging £100.00/panel. 20 panels/delivery. One delivery per week,” he recalls. This helped secure major clients including the UK National Health Service, Ministry of Defense, Rolls Royce, jewelry quarters, exclusive dental scrap processing from the USA and Europe, and PGM recovery from auto catalysts. “It gave us time to get established,” he notes. The company traded until 2004.
In early 1992, Boekhoud travelled to Western Australia, but poor responses led him to focus on Nevada instead. With local help, he visited Bull Frog and other mines, receiving positive feedback. In 1993, he incorporated Just Refiners USA Inc., investing $500,000 and living in the office-warehouse for six months while arranging visas, permits, and a bank account.
Three months later, they received the first of three spent carbon deliveries from Bull Frog. “We have a photograph of our first spent carbon delivery from Bull Frog in our Director’s office,” Boekhoud says proudly. He transferred Vic Edwards from the UK to manage the Sparks operation, visiting monthly during the first year. “Vic built a good company, with a solid foundation and an excellent reputation,” Boekhoud notes. “As part of our succession plan, I was able to expand on this foundation.”
Building a Foundation on Analysis & Innovation
When Boekhoud arrived to manage Just Refiners Inc. in 2014, the company faced a crisis – 350 tons of material sat in the yard, operations were on stop supply, and they had no outlet for by-products, forcing them to refuse new materials. He spent six months in the laboratory analyzing how to treat the yard materials, which ranged from low-grade to high-grade. “Some had high levels of ore, some had high levels of deleterious elements, but most of the materials were really wet. Some had been in storage for years. The sacks were decomposing!” he recalls.
The team developed a continuous drying method and built a water treatment plant, processing nearly 10,000 tons of spent carbon and 3,500 tons of water since 2017. The dried carbon is screened to separate high-grade material from ore. Relying on external laboratories, with results often taking weeks, proved a major challenge. To solve this, Boekhoud built an in-house laboratory with advanced USA-made equipment, including two ICPMS, a fire assay department, a wet chemical lab with Atomic Absorption, two Ohio Lumex 915 Mercury analyzers, and a Cyanide analyzer to ensure all cyanide is removed from incoming carbon. Boekhoud explains that an ICPMS (Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometer) is an amazing instrument, capable of analyzing 28 to 32 elements simultaneously.
Boekhoud’s guiding vision can be summed up as: Analyzing, understanding, communicating, processing. “Knowing the precise composition of each material is critical to our ongoing success, and this knowledge is used to create recipes to manufacture value-added products and manage deleterious elements,” he emphasizes.
Turning Challenges into Opportunities Through Innovation
Just Refiners USA has built its reputation on processing materials that many others consider too difficult to refine, and according to Boekhoud, the company has encountered surprises from the mines over the years. “We certainly go out of our way to find a suitable solution and a safe path forward,” he explains. “We never want to return materials to the mine. We’re here to provide a service. We take the bad with the good.”
All types of materials are thoroughly analyzed before determining a processing route, with additional equipment or chemicals purchased when needed to ensure safe and environmentally friendly treatment. This commitment to problem-solving drove major innovations, including the pending CARBOx patent. Phase I, the spent carbon processor, was commissioned in 2017, and Phase II, the CARBOx project, began in 2019.
“We have a unique way of dealing with the off-gases generated by CARBOx from processing the spent carbon in Nevada, and as soon as permitting is received to commission CARBOx, the plan is to build a commercial CARBOx company for $20 million, creating over 100 local job opportunities.” Boekhoud notes, pointing out that spent carbon has a huge amount of energy, and the company is planning to run a power plant using good, clean, spent carbon free of water and ore.
Looking ahead, Boekhoud’s key priorities include manufacturing grain and dore bars from fine silver and gold, maintaining zero-discharge operations, processing more by-products in Nevada to create jobs and keep money in the USA, advancing CARBOx, establishing mercury storage in Nevada, and developing a power plant.
“We cherry pick,” he states. “We process every single pound of materials received in-house.” Some materials are manufactured into value-added products and shipped abroad to smelters who use the spent carbon as a reducing agent in their furnaces, while high-grade materials are processed in-house for recovery. “It’s always been our objective to keep these materials in Nevada, creating many new jobs and keeping the money in the State,” Boekhoud affirms.
Building Transparency & Trust Across Borders
Transparency is central to building long-term relationships. Just Refiners attends mining shows in Nevada, Mexico, and PDAC in Canada to demonstrate safe and efficient by-product processing. They provide prompt settlement with no hidden charges and invite mine representatives or appointed inspectors to witness all sampling. “Should the mine not be able to witness the sampling of their materials, we provide the customer with a choice of reputable inspectors,” Boekhoud explains. “Every lot received at Just Refiners Inc., the sampling and the evaluation of the materials is witnessed by an independent inspector.”
Representative samples are shared with the customer. The Just Refiners lab assays the split sample and then exchanges assays with the customers. “In most cases we’re within splitting limits,” he notes. “When we’re outside splitting limits, we submit the reserve sample to an Umpire laboratory. We settle on the assay closest to the Umpire laboratory results.” He adds with pride that Just Refiners wins most Umpire results, since the commissioning of our in-house laboratory and uses this as a barometer to reflect the accuracy of the JRI assay results.
Leading with Experience, Hard Work, & People First
For Boekhoud, the essential qualities for managing global refining projects are “experience, hands-on approach, good, hard-working people, communication, implementation, and control.” He has worked on three continents and toured many of the world’s largest refiners, in Switzerland, United Kingdom, Italy, Canada, South Africa and the USA, “I’ve implemented all I’ve learned using best practice,” he states.
JRI operates as a zero-discharge facility, treating water recovered from mine by-products rather than releasing it to drain or atmosphere – especially rewarding in the Nevada desert. “We have a good team who have received good in-house training,” he says, adding that they’re strict on housekeeping because every bit of dust could contain precious metal, and every half-filled sack or drum has value.
Boekhoud’s leadership style has evolved over more than 30 years as President. “I have 50 years of international precious metal recovery and refining experience. I’ve selected what worked best at the refiners I worked for and applied my refining knowledge and experience to Just Refiners Inc,” he says. He emphasizes that there is no limit to the time he has spent making something work at Just Refiners. “Hard work is the recipe to my success. My team, every person contributed to our success!”
Boekhoud encourages curiosity: “If you don’t know, ask questions. If you still don’t know, ask again.” After six months of laboratory work, he developed a solution that worked for Just Refiners and its customers. “All of the multiple processes we have at Just Refiners are unique to this operation. There’s no other company in America that does what we do,” he asserts. “We have modified equipment in all of our operations to deal with the diverse range of by-product materials we receive from the mines. I’m happy to confirm all equipment is made in America!”
Boekhoud has evolved by taking care of his people with competitive wages, medical insurance, a 401K plan, and proper PPE. “I take an interest in their well-being,” he shares, noting weekly breakfasts, monthly BBQs, winter Steak & Cheese Rolls, and birthday celebrations. He teaches refining techniques, prevents cross-contamination with clean equipment, uses the in-house lab for daily material evaluation, and creates a morning production plan so every operator knows their daily task.
Boekhoud explains that innovation, safety, and operational excellence are the foundation of their operation. “It all started in 2014 when we decided to start processing ALL mine by-products in the JRI facility. Our growth and innovation are stimulated by identifying problems and eliminating them with practical solutions. We’ve never had fewer than four projects in progress at the same time,” he adds. “When I walk through our operations daily, I’m always asking, what we can do to improve a process, an operation, an action. If there’s anything I can do to improve the work activity of a work colleague, I action it immediately.”
Pride in People, Problem-Solving, & Phenomenal Growth
Boekhoud notes several career achievements that give him a sense of pride. As Managing Director, he can do everything his employees do, maintaining a very hands-on approach. “By understanding what my employees do, I determine and understand shortcomings and challenges. I address these shortcomings or challenges immediately,” he affirms.
Boekhoud considers his biggest achievement to be saving the Just Refiners business in 2015. His second is working with “the most incredible group of Americans,” and becoming proudly American in 2024. The third is converting and modifying a sewage processing plant into their spent carbon processor. The fourth is building a water treatment plant, where they have successfully treated 3500 tons of water in a desert environment. The fifth is building their in-house laboratory, where they are analyzing in real time and producing the most accurate assay results in the world.
“We use Umpire assay laboratories throughout the world and in most cases, we win the Umpire analysis. This is a big deal!” Boekhoud adds with pride. When he started at JRI in late 2014, sales were just over $20 million in 2015. By 2025, audited accounts show $163 million – an 800% growth. “In 1993, we started operating in an 8,000 ft2 building. Today we operate in three separate buildings, with a floor space of 108,000 ft2,” he shares.
Boekhoud notes that several JRI employees played a vital role in growing the business and deserve special recognition, including Project Manager Matt Zier, retired Business Development Manager Carmen Arbizo, Production Managers David Hoaglund and Josh Bateman, Production Supervisor and Induction Furnace Operator Tony Slate, Accountant Karyn Knobel, Sales Coordinator Beverley Boekhoud, and Laboratory Supervisor Jose Mendez.
“I could not have reached this point without my team – their loyalty, honesty, hard work, and unwavering commitment to Just Refiners have been instrumental to our success,” he acknowledges.
Hard Work, Education, and a Vision for Growth
When asked what advice he gives employees and future leaders who want to build long-term careers in industrial manufacturing and refining, Boekhoud offers straightforward guidance: “Work hard.” He explains that a chemistry or metallurgical degree is required, along with refining experience, although operators can receive on-site training if they studied science and chemistry at school.
Looking ahead, he sees a massive opportunity in refining mine by-products in Nevada, with plans to expand through CARBOx commercial. His ambitious vision includes expanding into secondary precious metal scrap, auto catalysts, electronic scrap, manufacturing 9999 purity gold and silver, jewelry manufacturing, lab diamond manufacturing, mercury storage, and running a power plant using spent carbon energy.
Conclusion
Through Just Refiners USA, Bobby Boekhoud has built a deeply respected operation with a reputation for integrity. Despite approaches from large international refiners, Nevada mines have consistently chosen to remain with Just Refiners – a compliment he considers the highest possible endorsement. The company has made a lasting impact as a one-stop shop, assisting mines with transparency in sampling, assay exchanges, prompt settlement, and no hidden charges. That trust and loyalty from clients is the legacy that matters most to him.
