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By A. E. Boudreau

It has long been recognized that platinum-group-element (PGE) deposits in layered intrusions preferentially occur in intrusions that crystallized from high-Mg parent magmas. Recent studies suggest that evaluation of any given intrusion for economic PGE potential should also include assessment of the PGE, sulfur and chlorine concentrations in the cumulates and potential parent liquids. PGE: Magmas that contain relatively abundant Pt and Pd are the best candidates for forming economic deposits. Although analyses of coeval sills and dikes are the best indicators of primary magmatic PGE concentrations, analysis of the cumulates themselves is also valuable. For example, within the Stillwater complex, background PGE values in cumulates from the ultramafic sections of the complex contain, on average, several 10s of ppb Pt and Pd. Background concentrations of this order are suggestive that the magma was not depleted in the PGE. Sulfur: Conventional petrogenetic models for the formation of PGE deposits in layered intrusions require the PGE to have been concentrated during a magmatic sulfide-saturation event. In contrast, some hydro thermal models suggest that sulfur and the PGE were mobilized from footwall cumulates by upward-migrating, high-temperature hydrothermal fluids. Both models suggest that significant PGE deposits are likely to occur at and below the level where stratigraphic increases in whole rock sulfur concentrations occur. Chlorine: In both the Stillwater and Bushveld complexes the cumulate sequences below the major PGE-bearing zones contain anomalous Cl-rich apatite. The chlorapatite component of apatite in these rocks may exceed 40% and, in the Stillwater complex, typically exceeds 90%. It is stressed that pristine igneous mineral analysis and not whole rock data be used, as whole rock Cl concentrations may be affected by very localized (grain boundary), low-temperature alteration. Intrusions that crystallized from high-Mg, high-Cl magmas appear to have the best potential to host significant PGE deposits.

Jan 1, 1995

By Ken G. Stowe, Stephen L. Chryssoulis, Christian Bendel, Joe Y. Kim, Ewald Niehuis

"TOF-SIMS (Time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry) was used to detect collectors sorbed onto the surface of mineral particles in concentrate and tailings samples from the Brunswick, Matagami and Kidd Creek concentrators. This technique uses ion beams from either Cs or Ga sources to sputter the particle surface, a method which reduces fractionation of the collector molecule during sampling.In the Brunswick Zn circuit, sphalerite particles lost to the scavenger tails had less amyl xanthate and isobutyl xanthate compared to sphalerite recovered to the Zn final concentrate. Xanthates were detected on the surface of sphalerite particles floating to the CuPb final concentrate.At Matagami, significantly more isopropyl xanthate and isobutyl dithiophosphate were detected on sphalerite recovered to the Zn final concentrate, compared to sphalerite lost in the Zn rougher tails.In the Zn circuit of Kidd Creek, sphalerite lost to the tails had on average ten times less xanthate compared to sphalerite recovered into the Zn final concentrate. Xanthate was also detected on the floated pyrite particles. In addition to isobutyl xanthate, amyl xanthate was also detected on the floated sphalerite and pyrite particles.This preliminary investigation has (a) demonstrated the ability of TOF-SIMS to detect individual collectors on particle surfaces from plant samples and (b) shown that TOF- SIMS is an excellent tool, complimentary to TOF-LIMS, in establishing the surface chemistry of minerals as related to mineral processing."

Jan 1, 1995

By K. Konigsman

"Representatives of various industries and the Canadian coast Guard formed a Bulk Cargoes Committee three years ago. In 1976 and 1978, I have attended the meeting which take place once per year here in Ottawa as representative of the Canadian Mineral Processors, Dave Hendricks from Granisle accepted the charge in 1977. Our Secretary, Bob Bruce, has suggested repeatedly that I report to the Membership on the deliberations to this group. Twice I found good excuses; this year I did not. I was reluctant to address you since the Committee's deliberation proceeded at a pace which might be identified as Government squared. The Committee advises a Government agency which in turn negotiates with foreign Government agencies.At the outset, I will describe the developments which led to the formation of the Committee and its purpose.The Canadian Mining Industry ships annually millions of tons of products to overseas customers; be it iron ore, coal, fertilizer, or base metal concentrates. Most loadings are in vessels of foreign registry and all will be directly affected by Canadian or International regulations of the transport of such bulk commodities. The major shipping nations are members of an Intergovernmental Maritime Consultative Organization (IMCO). This organization elaborates regulations which govern shipment of all cargo, bulk materials and concentrates included. At IMCO'S deliberations, Canada has one vote, one voice on the Consultative Committee and is represented by our Coast Guard. The Coast Guard has over the years been in contact with industries when discussions concerned shipment of bulk cargoes. In the early sixties, a ""Concentrate Committee"" did exist. It consisted of metallurgists from a number of mining companies and Government representatives. This committee was instrumental in the development of what became known as the ""Concentrate Code"", legislation which has evolved into the Canadian Bulk Cargoes Code as it is known today. The concepts of the flow moisture point and transportable moisture limit originated from its work. Incidentally, both criteria are widely accepted and utilized world-wide. The Concentrate Committee faded away once the Concentrate Code has been adopted."

Jan 1, 1979

By Robert K. Jonas

Mining companies can improve production and reduce costs by using the best available technology to control their operations. Many mines are challenged to use multivariable predictive control due to limited experience or staffing, as well as being concerned over the robustness and sustainability of predictive controls. As a result many mines are not realizing optimal performance from their assets, and thusly are not realizing the production increases or cost reductions that this technology can deliver. Over the past few years, the application of multivariable model-based predictive control has gained acceptance in many mining processes and has proven to be robust and sustainable for some of the most challenging mining processes. New automated modeling and performance monitoring software have greatly simplified the effort to implement and maintain these solutions. In addition, many progressive companies have chosen to co-source the implementation and service of these solutions to assure project success and continued benefits stream. This technology has been successfully applied to a wide variety of processes; grinding mills, alumina digestion, CCD washer and thickeners, kilns, calciners, roasters, flash smelters, heat exchangers, evaporators, and most recently in the demanding process of flotation. This paper discusses the state-of-the art in advance control technologies in the mining industry, including the impact of these technologies on maximizing benefits, and implementing best practices for long term sustainability. Benefits from recent multivariable predictive control applications in copper mining will be reviewed, and the use of the latest predictive control technologies and practices in mining will be discussed.

Oct 1, 2009

By K. Sasaki

Ventilation measurements were carried out in a shallow underground-quarry space with relatively large internal volume of 14,600 m3 in order to evaluate its effective ventilation characteristics. Based on air velocity measurements with an ultrasonic anemometer in the exhaust airway connected to the space, it was found that the space was ventilated by natural ventilation airflow with intermittent changes in direction. It was difficult to measure the ventilation flow with typical methods of flow measurement provided from the intake portal and throughout the mine, because the cross-sectional area and volume of the openings were too large and the flow was variable. In the present study, a tracer gas method was applied to evaluate the effective ventilation airflow rate in the space. A photo-acoustic infra-red gas monitor, highly sensitive to SF6 gas used as a tracer gas, was set in the space to determine air exchange rates from gas concentration-time decay curves. The seasonal variations of airflow and thermal environment in the space were investigated through 13 sets of measurements taken over 15 months. Airborne rock dust concentrations were also measured at same time in the opening. The correlations between the effective ventilation airflow rate, thermal environment and dust concentrations in the opening space were analyzed and are discussed based on the presented measurements taken during year. It is concluded that seasonal variations in effective ventilation flow and the dust concentration are mainly due to differences in air temperature in the space, as affected by the rock?s surface temperature and atmospheric temperature. In summertime, the air temperature and associated air density difference generated lower natural ventilation flows resulting in higher dust concentrations.

Aug 1, 2013

The hydrometallurgical treatment of copper ores and concentrates continues to be an active field of innovation. The direct extraction of copper from ores containing chalcopyrite is an important development to provide an alternative to flotation-smelting and refining. Jetti Resources (with the University of British Columbia) and the JX Nippon Group have developed process options for chalcopyrite heap leaching. Biological heap leaching developments for chalcopyrite are also continuing in parallel. These direct leaching technologies are also very attractive for arsenical ores. The atmospheric leaching of copper concentrates is an attractive option along with autoclave processing. The Galvanox™ Process is the focus of commercialization by InCoR Galvanox Holdings under exclusive license by the University of British Columbia. The Galvanox™ Process can be used to treat chalcopyrite or enargite containing concentrates to high copper extraction with simultaneous precipitation of arsenic as atmospheric scorodite. FLSmidth has continued development of the Rapid Oxidative Leach (ROL) and associated technologies for chalcopyrite leaching. The Glencore Albion Copper Process using ultra fine grinding of copper concentrates and atmospheric leaching has found application in central Africa. The pressure leaching of copper concentrates continues to be attractive for rapid, complete oxidation of sulfide minerals with high copper extraction and arsenic stabilization of iron-arsenate minerals and precipitates. The Ecometales PLCC project is designed to use high temperature total pressure oxidation for treatment of an arsenical copper concentrate with use of existing copper SX-EW facilities for copper cathode production. The excess acid from the autoclave process will be used to make up the acid demand for associated copper ore heap and dump leaching operations. INTRODUCTION The recovery of copper from ores is dominated by the flotation of copper concentrates followed by smelting—converting and electrorefining. This process has been enabled by the development of froth flotation and progressively made more efficient by advances in smelting and converting technologies.

Jan 1, 2019

By Haibin Wang, Zhiwei Huang, Zhixiang Cui, Wenzhao Cui, Zhi Wang

Fangyuan Two-Step copper smelting process was commercialized in October, 2015 and has been operating for 3 years and 5 months. As the unique continuous copper smelting process with simplified flow in the world, production parameters have been significantly improved after three years. In the first half of 2018, the feed rate was above 200t/h, availability reached 97.5%, operation cost was about 20% lower than the conventional three-step processes showing obvious economic advantages. The Two-Step process in Fangyuan is composed of 1 Submerged Lance Smelting furnace (SLS) and 2 Submerged Lance Converting& Refining furnaces (SLCR). Two SLCRs work alternatively to ensure continuous production. High grade and liquid matte from the SLS is introduced to the SLCR by sealed launder to complete converting and refining. The SLCR is an original and independent innovation of Fangyuan, for which Fangyuan completed lots of development and improvement. This paper will introduce the process and experience. INTRODUCTION China is the largest producer and consumer of refined copper. Most of the processes adopted in China are conventional "Three-Step" copper smelting processes, which are comprised of smelting, converting and refining. There exists some problems in the conventional processes, such as high energy consumption, large heat loss, low altitude emission of SO2, etc. To deal with these problems, Fangyuan developed the new copper smelting process with simplified flow, low cost, clean and high efficiency. The SLCR that combines converting and the refining process was also developed, which shortens the process flow from conventional three steps to two steps. The SLCR is of great significance in promoting the development of the copper industry. Development and industrialization of SLCR At present, copper concentrates are treated in three steps: smelting, converting and refining. Anodes are also produced by continuous converting processes such as the Mitsubishi process and the Double Flash process. Problems like matte transportation by ladle, capacity limitation, and low altitude pollution exist.

Jan 1, 2019

By M. Roy, Y. Roux, R. McIvor

"La Compagnie Minière Québec Cartier at Port Cartier. Quebec, utilizes six parallel wet grinding open circuit ball mills to grind iron ore concentrate for the pellet making process. In an attempt to improve grinding efficiency, a mix of 605 25 mm (1 in.) and 405 38 mm (1 ½ in.) grinding balls was charged to mill D while the opposite mix was used in all the other mills. Because media costs were higher for mill D, it was necessary to find out if the smaller balls provided a net economic benefit. Therefore, a test program was undertaken to determine the relative efficiency of the charge in mill D compared to the other grinding mills. Mill F was chosen for comparative efficiency measurements.The first problem was to choose a suitable definition of grinding efficiency. In management's view, previous attempts to quantify milling performance using population balance modelling were ineffective because they were unable to relate breakage rate functions to grinding circuit economical in any meaningful way. Work index analysis was also not favoured because of a number of complicating effects, including the fineness of the feed and product streams and open circuit grinding.It was decided to adopt a recent innovative approach which had been successfully applied to closed-circuit ball milling. For ""functional performance analysis of ball milling"" (McIvor et al., 1990; McIvor et al., 1991), a size criterion is first chosen to define ""fines·' and ~'coarse particles"". In this case 45 microns (325 mesh) was chosen to distinguish fines from coarse material. The relative grinding efficiency of each ball mill environment would then be ~e cumulative grinding (disappearance) rate of coarse (plus 45 nucrons) material per kilowatt hour of energy applied to the coarse material in the mill, divided by the grindability (measured in the laboratory) of the coarse material in the mill feed.Because the disappearance rate of coarse particles is also the production rate of fines, the following equation can be written for the efficiency of the mill environment, Effe, as defined above:"

Jan 1, 1994

By Jacob Wood, Robert Matusewicz

The Outotec® Ausmelt Top Submerged Lance (TSL) Process has achieved widespread commercial acceptance over the past 40 years for the processing of copper, nickel, lead, tin, zinc and precious metal bearing feeds. The continual development and evolution of the technology during this period has resulted in a more intense smelting process with higher energy efficiency and lower operating costs. More recently, considerable effort has been invested in decarbonisation of the process through improvements such as increased oxygen usage, dry feed injection and use of low-carbon auxiliary fuels. This paper covers a number of these recent advances to the technology and highlights their impacts on energy consumption and CO2 emissions for a range of non-ferrous smelting flowsheets. INTRODUCTION Relentless demand for improvements in the profitability, safety and environmental performance of non-ferrous smelting plants has driven a continual development and evolution of processing technologies in this industry. In response to these demands, a number of bath smelting technologies have emerged over the past 40 years and have been implemented for the treatment of primary and secondary feedstocks. The Outotec® Ausmelt Top Submerged Lance (TSL) Process (henceforth Ausmelt Process) is one such bath smelting technology which has been widely adopted in a large number of greenfield projects and brownfield plant modernisations (Wood & Hughes, 2016). Emissions of CO2 from the production of non-ferrous metals represent approximately 4-5% of global totals (Rankin, 2012), comparable with the almost 10% attributed to iron and steel production. Despite significant improvements in the energy efficiency of modern smelting technologies (Coursol, Mackey, Kapusta & Cardona Valencia, 2015), primarily through increased oxygen usage, further innovation and development is still required to address their reliance on fossil fuels such as coke and coal. Transformation of the non-ferrous smelting industry to low-carbon technologies and process flowsheets is lagging behind the power and transport sectors, which have witnessed significant growth in clean/renewable energy technologies to reduce CO2 emissions and address the issue of anthropogenic climate change (IRENA, 2018; IEA, 2018).

Jan 1, 2019

By M. Hashemzadeh

The efficiency of water use is a top priority for the global minerals industry, especially in regions with limited freshwater supplies. In these areas, the freshwater shortage has prompted mining companies to search for alternatives to freshwater sources. Seawater has been proven to be a potential water source for mineral beneficiation and metal extraction processes. This study compares chalcocite leaching behavior with ferric chloride to that with cupric chloride. We carried out leaching tests with a highly pure chalcocite sample in jacketed reactors under fully controlled pH and solution potential. The effect of chloride concentration, oxidant concentration, and temperature on copper extraction was quantified in both cupric and ferric chloride systems. In the ferric chloride system, increasing ferric concentration showed a positive effect on the first stage of chalcocite leaching. In the second stage, increasing temperature markedly enhanced copper extraction. In the cupric chloride system, chloride concentration presented a considerable effect on both the first and second stages of leaching, while temperature had a remarkable effect only on the second stage. The findings of this study would be beneficial to mine operations aiming to replace fresh water with seawater for heap leaching of chalcocite. INTRODUCTION Mineral processing operations/plants are normally operated adjacent to mines which are often located in remote and arid area, such as northern Chile, southern Peru and Australia with limited access to fresh water (Liu, Moran, & Vink, 2011, 2013). Water scarcity in these areas has prompted mining companies to invest in sustainable technologies to reduce the water use and/or increase the water use efficiency. One of the current sustainable approaches in mineral processing operations is to replace fresh water with seawater. Seawater is now being increasingly used for mineral beneficiation and metal extraction processes (Hernández et al., 2015). Another application of seawater could be for heap leaching of copper secondary sulfides, mainly chalcocite. However, the high concentration of chloride ion in seawater may significantly affect leaching kinetics of copper sulfide concentrates and ores (Watling et al., 2014). Therefore, it is essential to develop a fundamental understanding of the leaching of chalcocite in chloride media.

Jan 1, 2019

By Xian Jian Guo, Lei Li, Hua Wang

Direct smelting of copper concentrate to blister copper has the advantages of energy saving and environmental protection. There has been a lot of effort invested in process development including test work and theoretic analysis in the past half century. However, the process has only been applied commercially to a few smelters that treat chalcocite types of copper concentrate. The main limitation to treating chalcopyrite types of copper concentrate is high copper content in smelting slag and low direct copper recovery. Thus intensive slag cleaning is needed. In this paper, the thermodynamic analysis was mainly carried out for the multiphase equilibrium of direct to blister copper smelting for both chalcopyrite and chalcocite concentrates. The practical problems in direct to blister copper smelting, which are mainly in copper content in slag, are clarified. The operational window of slag composition for different temperatures and oxygen partial pressure for the treatment of chalcocite type concentrates is identified. The process operation optimization for the blending of chalcocite, pyrite and chalcopyrite concentrates was done. INTRODUCTION The extractive metallurgy of copper can be divided into two broad groups of processes, namely, pyrometallurgy and hydrometallurgy, and the former is dominant. About 80% of copper in the world is produced by pyrometallurgy (Christopher et al., 2006). The first stage of conventional copper pyrometallurgy processing is to smelt copper concentrate to copper matte composed of FeS and Cu2S with slagging to remove a proportion of the iron (Gargul, Boryczko, & Bukowska, 2017). The smelting processes include bath and flash smelting. The second stage of the process is to convert copper matte to blister copper. In most cases, the copper matte is converted in Peirce Smith (P-S) converters, which are batch operations (Kubiszewski, 2015). The P-S converting can be divided into two periods, slagging and copper blowing. During slagging period, FeS in copper matte is oxidized to FeO, which reacts with silica flux forming slag. When the iron content in matte is less than 1%, copper begins to oxidize and reduce to form blister copper (Kucharski, Sak, Madej, Wędrychowicz, & Mróz, 2013).

Jan 1, 2019

By T. Hidayat

The distributions of minor elements between slag/metal and slag/matte in equilibrium with tridymite in the Cu-Fe-O-S-Si-Al-Ca system have been investigated in the range of conditions of interest to the high- temperature copper production, refining, and recycling processes. An improved experimental methodology has been used involving high temperature equilibration in controlled gas atmospheres, rapid quenching, and quantitative microanalysis techniques using Electron Probe X-ray Microanalysis (EPMA) and Laser Ablation Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrum (LAICPMS). The effect of oxygen partial pressure on the distributions of minor elements between slag/metal and slag/matte has been accurately measured. The effects of slagging components (Al2O3 and CaO) on the distributions of minor elements between slag/metal have also been experimentally determined. The present study is a part of a larger integrated experimental and thermodynamic modelling research program in the systems relevant to high-temperature copper processing. INTRODUCTION In the high temperature processing of copper, minor elements are distributed between different phases, i.e. liquid slag, liquid matte, and liquid metal. From a processing perspective, it is desired to have the valuable minor elements distribute predominantly in the metal and matte phases rather than in the slag phase, and to have the non-valuable minor elements distribute predominantly in the slag phase rather than in the metal and matte phases. Knowledge of the distributions of minor elements between phases in the smelting, converting, and refining processes is required if the distributions of minor elements between phases in these processes are to be optimized.

Jan 1, 2019

By T. Junne, L. Eltrop, S. Moreno-Leiva, J. Haas, W. Kracht

The energy systems of the future will be highly renewable. The flexibility that is consequently required can be provided with many options, the main ones being energy storage, transmission reinforcement, and demand side management. The role of the latter is explored for the copper industry, using the scheduling of maintenance services as an example of Solar-Paced Design - the coupling of energy demand with solar resource availability. We used a linear energy optimization model to define the minimum-cost configuration for a fully renewable energy system of a copper concentration plant under different scenarios for the scheduling of maintenance services. For the case we studied, (total) costs were 4% lower when the maintenance was scheduled in winter. We expect that exploring the potential of such Solar-Paced Design in the copper industry will allow new potentials for a more cost-effective full renewable energy supply of this critical industry. INTRODUCTION The mitigation of climate change requires a worldwide transformation of the energy system by the significant expansion of renewable energies and the electrification of various sectors and processes (Teske et al., 2015)(International Energy Agency IEA, 2018). Moreover, considering the decreasing costs of renewable energy technologies and the intensive use required to deliver the goals in the Paris Agreement, we can expect to have highly renewable energy systems in the near future. However, to rebuild and expand our energy systems, we need certain materials, including copper. Also, energy systems based on renewables are more copper-intensive than conventional ones (Kleijn, van der Voet, Kramer, van Oers, & van der Giesen, 2011). The mineral industry, in turn, needs clean energy to achieve a better environmental performance (e.g. solar energy for copper production (Moreno-Leiva et al., 2017)) and to avoid negative secondary effects induced by the strong expansion of clean technologies. But there is something else the minerals industry can offer in this bi-directional relation with energy systems.

Jan 1, 2019

By J. A. Meech

"The technology known as Expert Systems is being used within the minerals industry in a wide variety of problem areas. Applications include diagnosis, prediction, training, monitoring and control. Expert Systems provide a way to program computers to imitate human thinking. The construction of such systems is a straight-forward task that can be quickly learned by novices but can require a lifetime to master.To assist in the understanding and utility of this technology, a special manual bas been prepared which operates on a microcomputer under the MS-Windows environment. The manual covers all aspects of Artificial Intelligence of relevance to Expert Systems. A hypertext system allows users to probe as d•~ply as needed to achieve understanding or to simply skim the surface of the knowledge to obtain a quick overview of subjects. The manual was developed under the sponsorship of the Mineral Sciences Laboratory of CANMET and is available from the Mining and Mineral Process Engineering Department at the University of British Columbia. Annual updates are planned to keep abreast of new developments in this rapidly changing technology. RESUMELa technologie: des Systèmes Experts est utilisée par l'industrie minière pour résoudre une grande variété de problèmes. Les domaines d'application comprennent le diagnostic, la prédiction, la formation, la surveillance et le contrôle des procèdes. Les Systèmes Experts permettent d'écrire des programmes d'ordinateur qui imitent le processus de la pensée humaine. La construction de tels systèmes e:st une tâche qui peut être apprise rapidement mais qui peut prendre des années à maitriser.Pour aider à mieux comprendre et utiliser cette technologie, un manuel spécial opérant sur microordinateur dans l'environnement Windows a été développe. Le manuel couvre tous les aspects de l'intelligence artificielle qui concement les Systèmes Experts. Un système ""hypertexte"" permet à l'utilisateur d'étudier un sujet en profondeur ou de simplement couvrir une grande variété de sujet en surface. Le manuel a été développe avec l'aide financière du Laboratoire des Sciences Minérales de CANMET et est disponible au Département de Génie Minier et Minéralurgique de l'Université de la Colombie Britannique. Des mises à jour annuelles sont prévues de manière à couvrir les changements et nouveautés de cette technologie en évolution."

Jan 1, 1993

By H. Y. Sun, Q. Y. Tan, X. P. Niu, L. Li, Y. Jia, R. M. Ruan

During bioleaching processes of sulfide minerals, the sulfide minerals act as the natural habitats for acidophiles, of which, most are autotrophic iron and sulfur oxidizing microbes. These microbes acquire energy by oxidation of sulfide minerals, and play crucial role in bioleaching processes. In the industrial bioleaching heaps, microbial community and their activity are highly related to engineering configurations, while the optimized industrial operation can help to fast dissolution of aim minerals and acid/iron balance under optimized microbial condition. Microbial community succession and activity formation, the function of microbes to mineral dissolution, the mechanisms to promotion and inhibition of sulfide minerals oxidation, and the industrial instances for microbial community regulation were reviewed. For these instances, promoted microbial activity helped to fast pyrite oxidation for sulfuric acid generation, which realized zero sulfur acid addition to the irrigation solution in the initiation of a bioleaching heaps. High microbial activity by optimized operation parameters improved Cu leaching efficiency during the heap bioleaching process. And also by inhibition of microbial activity, especially the iron oxidizing microbes, the excessive pyrite oxidation can be inhibited, which helped to the acid/iron balance during heap bioleaching. INTRODUCTION Around the world, high grade copper ore are exploited, while barely new high-grade deposits are succeeded, the copper grade of ore deposit is constantly decreasing. The increasing copper demands worldwide requests to process these low-grade ore deposits. Processing of low-grade ores are not economical by usual extraction processes. Heap leaching is a cheaper process for recovery of low-grade ores, and has been applied to extract valuable metals from sulfide minerals worldwide, such as copper, gold, uranium and nickel (Gericke et al., 2009). Heap leaching process has greatly decreased the economic grade and expanded the recoverable ore reserve worldwide (Brierley, 2008). It is usually carried out in the open environments, and could process huge amount of ore (usually in millions of tonnes in one reactor) in the heap reactor (Gericke et al., 2009). For copper sulfide, especially the secondary copper sulfides, heap (dump) bioleaching is successfully applied. Heap bioleaching process is cost saving, and sometimes can be achieved without adding chemical into heaps, by microbial fixing of the atmospheric N2 and CO2, and generating oxidant Fe3+ and sulfuric acid in heaps from oxidation of sulfide minerals. Also heap bioleaching is environment friendly by cycling use of the leaching solution, and without exhaust emission.

Jan 1, 2019

By K. Raht

LEAD poisoning is perhaps the oldest and, until recent years, the most misunderstood of all industrial diseases. Hippocrates appears to have recognized a relationship in the colic experienced by a patient who worked with metals, and the ancient literature is filled with references to the colics and 'dry bellyaches'. The colic and other sequalæ following drinking of lead-bearing waters and, particularly, wines has excited possibly more comment in the older medical literature than any other ætological factor. It was not until1656, when Stockhusen definitely connected the colic of the workmen with the fumes given off in the process, that the true danger to those working with lead was recognized. Unfortunately, something over 200 years elapsed before industry took any note of Stockhusen's discovery; it remained for Legge and Goodly and investigators of the early 1900's to forcibly educate their profession and industry to the manner in which lead gained entrance to the body. The work of Legge and Goodly was published in 1912 and the clearness with which these investigators presented the scientific data which they had accumulated will mark this volume as perhaps the first and most important contribution to our modern knowledge of the subject. It also ushered in a period when, in the short space of thirty years, lead poisoning has been reduced from one of the most baffiing and widespread o industrial diseases to one which can be anticipated and controlled. The next great contribution came in 1926 with the publication of the work of the Harvard group. Here, for the first time, was the physiological behaviour of lead laid bare, and it is to the discoveries of these authors that we owe our modern treatment of lead poisoning.

Jan 1, 1941

By I. Mc Dougall, H. Joubert, G. de Villiers

The use of sidewall copper cooling systems to prolong furnace campaign life is becoming an accepted technology solution in the base metals industry. Tenova Pyromet has designed and installed a number of sidewall copper cooling systems in base metals furnaces, including the platinum industry. Apart from increasing the furnace campaign life through the formation of a stable freeze lining, a well-designed copper cooling system enables the plant operator to focus more on optimizing the process to achieve throughput and recovery targets, and to accommodate more varied and available concentrate feed blends. The paper discusses the design of sidewall copper cooling systems for copper smelting and converting furnaces to achieve the above objectives. More specifically, the design of copper cooling systems for top submerged lance furnaces are discussed. An overall increase in furnace heat losses has been raised as a concern for intensively cooled sidewalls. The paper explores the overall heat loss expectations for copper cooled furnaces versus traditional refractory lined furnaces. In addition, the potential use of alternative cooling media is discussed. INTRODUCTION Base metal smelting and converting furnace technologies have been evolving continuously over the past century to satisfy the need for higher throughput, improved efficiency, and longer campaign life. To accommodate these demands, in particular higher smelting intensity and throughput, furnace bath containment systems had to improve. The use of pure refractory lining systems has slowly made room for the use of more intensively cooled lining systems (Joubert, Nikolic, Bakker & Mc Dougall, 2016). These cooling systems evolved from external shell cooling, such as shower or film cooling, to copper plate coolers extending into the furnace refractory lining, and high intensity stave or panel coolers (Verscheure, Kyllo, Filzwieser, Blanpain & Wollants, 2006). Consequently, an increasing number of base metal smelting and converting furnaces are equipped with copper cooling systems, including flash furnaces (Bryk, Ryselin, Honkasalo, & Malmstrom, 1958; Yasuda, Motomura & Kawasaki, 2014; Marx, Shapiro & Henning, 2010), top submerged lance primary smelting and fuming furnaces (Bhappu, Larson & Tunis, 1994; Kim, Lee & Lee, 2000; MacRae & Steinborn, 2018), top submerged lance converting furnaces (Viviers & Hines, 2005; Nikolic, Hogg & Voigt, 2018), primary platinum smelting electric furnaces (Nelson, Stober, Ndlovu, De Villiers & Wanblad, 2005; Jones, 2005; Hundermark, De Villiers & Ndlovu, 2006; Mc Dougall, 2013), and electric slag cleaning furnaces (Joubert, Nourse, Masters & Hundermark, 2005).

Jan 1, 2019

By S. Eckert, M. Reuter, D. Obiso, S. Kriebitzsch, M. Akashi

The present paper focuses the application of CFD techniques to investigate the Top-Submerged- Lance (TSL) gas injection in liquid metal. Previous works of the authors have shown that up- and down- scaling procedures based on the modified Froude number have some shortcomings, as this approach does not take into account the interfacial and viscous forces. Indeed, surface tension and dynamic viscosity of the smelting slags (σ = 0.4-0.5 N/m, μ = 0.2 Pa·s) are higher than the operating fluids that have been used in literature (water, paraffin oil) to study TSL injection in down-scaled furnaces. In order to get closer to real systems, the authors study the TSL injection of Argon in a liquid metal. An experimental campaign was carried out in the X-ray lab at Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR), where the eutectic alloy GaInSn was used as liquid phase. The alloy is liquid at room temperature, and X-Ray imaging is used to picture the multiphase flow in a quasi-2D vessel. The aim of the present work is to demonstrate the applicability of CFD techniques to model multiphase flows involving liquid metals, and validate the model using the data produced at HZDR. The commercial software ANSYS Fluent® was used together with the Volume of Fluid model to directly resolve the gas-liquid interphase. Some features of the flow, such as the void fraction distribution and bubble detachment frequency are tracked with CFD and compared to the experimental data. INTRODUCTION In the last thirty years the TSL smelting technology has increasingly been used for industrial non- ferrous smelting processes and is now one of the significant pyrometallurgical processes. Developed in the early 1970’s at CSIRO, the furnace is nowadays commercialized in different market sectors, including copper and lead smelting, zinc fuming, waste treatment and slag recovery (Floyd, 2005). Despite the wide application of these reactors in the pyrometallurgical market, some aspects of the process are still not fully clarified, since in-situ measurements and optical accesses are prohibitive because of the high temperatures and aggressive conditions. Phenomena such as the bubbling regime, the slag solidification and the submerged combustion still need a deeper scientific investigation to obtain a better understanding of the process.

Jan 1, 2019

By Ling Wu

The development of pyrometallurgical technologies has been focused on new smelting reactors, but the proposal for new converting reactors has been substantially lower. Up to today about 80% of copper matte is treated by the traditional P-S converters which have the weakness of pollutant fugitive emissions. Therefore, the continuously converting processes for treating molten matte have been studied and developed. In July 2017 the "oxygen-rich side blowing smelting + multi-lances top converting & fire refining" continuous copper treating process was commissioned. This process was designed by ENFI and YanTai GuoRun Copper Smelter. In this process, oxygen rich side blow technology is adopted for smelting, which is a new type of side blowing smelting furnace to produce high-grade copper matte. The converting adopts the horizontal multi-lances top-blowing continuously converting process, which eliminates the transportation of molten melt and the SO2 fugitive emission. The intermediate products of this process, copper matte and blister copper is fed into the furnaces respectively through launders. This new process is more advanced, more reliable and more environmentally friendly. Until now, this process in the GuoRun copper smelter is operating smoothly. An increasing number of projects which use this process are under design and construction in China. INTRODUCTION At present, there are many advanced smelting technologies for copper concentrate, such as oxygen bottom blowing smelting, flash smelting, top lance smelting (including ISA and Ausmelt furnaces smelting), side blowing smelting, Mitsubishi smelting, etc. At the same time, there are many copper matte converting technologies such as oxygen bottom blowing continuous converting, flash converting, Ausmelt top lance converting, horizontal multi-lances top blowing converting, Mitsubishi converting, P-S converter converting, etc. The final blister copper fire refining technology mostly adopts rotary anode furnace. Therefore, in the process of processing and extracting the copper from concentrate to produce anodes, there are dozens of technology combinations. Among them, the non-continuous converting technologies for molten or cold matte are often adopted in the converting process. The traditional P-S converting technology had been utilized for over one hundred years, with a mature, reliable and simple operation, also has advantages in the secondary scrap smelting of a wide range of quality. However, due to its batch operation, frequent roll in and out, poor sealing, considerable air infiltration, needs for ladles for molten phases transportation and other characteristics, the technology has a serious pollution problem due to fugitive SO2. At the same time, in the cold matte converting technology, the molten matte needs to be cooled and then processed. The sensible heat of the molten matte cannot be recovered, and the preparation process is needed in the process. Therefore, both energy consumption and investment are relatively higher.

Jan 1, 2019

By Steven R. McCutcheon

"The Bathurst-Newcastle district, a subcircular area approximately 50 km in diameter, contains 37 massive-sulfide Zn-Pb-Cu deposits that have defined tonnages, and has 58 additional significant occurrences. The largest deposit is Brunswick No. 12, with total reserves (including past production) of 148 million tonnes grading about 12.5% combined Pb-Zn. The deposits/ occurrences are spatially associated with a felsic volcanic pile that contains a significant sedimentary component. In the vicinity of the Brunswick deposits the pile is divisible into lower and upper sequences. The lower is characterized by megacrystic rhyolite (QFAS) and coarse- to fine-grained quartz (± feldspar) wackes and/or tuffites (QAS); the upper sequence is characterized by aphyric to sparsely porphyritic rhyolites (HWR), micro-breccias, and acid hyaloclastites with interbedded dark gray sedimentary rocks. A greenish gray to dark gray siltstone (GGS) separates the two sequences and hosts the sulfide deposits. Lithogeo chemistry of least altered samples shows that the QFAS and HWR have an igneous character, whereas the QAS and GGS have a sedimentary signature. The two types can be distinguished on the basis of total alkalies (Na2 + K2O) versus SiO2/Al2O3 and Ti02 versus Fe/(Fe +Mg). Some trace elements, such as Sr and Y, also help differentiate the two types. The QFAS differs from HWR by having higher La/Yb ratios but lower Zr and Th. The Bathurst deposits do not show a close spatial association with rhyolites but rather are stratiform bodies Oacking clastic textures) within fine-grained sedimentary rocks. The scarcity of barite and other sulfates indicates that there was little mixing between the metal bearing fluids and cold seawater. High Fe/(Fe+Mg) ratios in chlorites also indicate the fluids did not contain a significant seawater component. These features and the large size of many deposits suggest that the deposits formed from metal-rich pore waters that were released catastrophicallyfrom an acquifer in the footwall stratigraphy."

Jan 1, 1992