Copper Industry

1. PRODUCTION
PROCESS OF
COPPER
Selim HOŞTUT

2. Facts about Copper
 Copper has been used for over 10,000 years.
 The discovery of copper dates from prehistoric times. There are reports of
copper beads dating back to 9000 BC found in Iraq.
 Part of the reason for it being used so early is simply that it is relatively easy to
shape. However it is somewhat too soft for many tools and around 5000 years
ago it was discovered that when copper is mixed with other metals the
resulting alloys are harder than copper itself.
 Brass is a mixture of copper and zinc
 Bronze is a mixture of copper and tin.
 Prior to 3,000 BC, the supply of copper was almost never adequate for all the
needs people had for it. Because of this, its value increased; and by 3,000 BC
civilizations in the Middle East and Asia were actually exploring far beyond
their known borders, seeking new sources of copper
 Copper's use in the period from 2500 BC to 18th century, remained less
important since other metals like iron, gold and silver became more prominent.

3. Facts about Copper
 With the beginning of the Industrial Age in the late 18th century, and use of
electricity, the new Copper Age began.
 Up to the 19th century, copper demand all around the world was relatively
limited, and mines in Spain, North America and Europe were small and
sufficient to handle the demand for copper. However, with new applications of
copper in electric wiring, in light bulbs, and in electrical generation; and its
use in building homes and other structures, the search for copper reserves
and mine sites increased tremendously
 Arizona became one of the best new sources for copper in the world, and
miners flocked to the state to look for the mineral in places. The technology
and equipment used to search for copper and determine the concentration of
copper in the rock began to improve.
 Copper has made possible the continued, efficient development of the
electrical industry because it has the highest conductivity of the commercial
metals. From high voltage transmission cables to microcircuits, and from
megawatt generators to computers, copper is the metal of choice in many
aspects of electricity generation, transmission, and use.

4.  Every year there is a need for 10
billion pounds of copper
worldwide
 A child born today will use
approximately 1,750 pounds of
copper in his or her lifetime in
housing, transportation, electrical
use and consumer products.
 Building construction is the
largest end-use market for copper
products of total U.S.
consumption.
Consumer and general
products
10%
Transportation
equipment
9 %
Building construction
45%
Industrial machinery and
equipment
10%
Electrical and
electronic products 26%
Facts about Copper
 The cost to develop copper mines is very expensive and requires up to 9 years
before mines yield a profit.
 Mine production is essentially concentrated on Chile, USA, NIS, Canada, Zambia,
Zaire ( 70 % of total) and the production of refined copper is shared among 7
countries: USA, NIS, Chile, Japan, Canada, China, Germany, Zambia.

5. Copper has many very important characteristics that have led to its use as a vital
component in many industries throughout the world.
 Copper is second only to silver in its ability to conduct electricity (and is far
cheaper and more abundant).
 Copper is biostatic which means bacteria will not grow on it.
 Copper is essential to human beings as a micronutrient in our diets. It is used by
the body to form bone cartilage, tendons and the sheathing around nerves. It is
also a critical element in the manufacture of hemoglobin in the blood of higher
animals.
 Copper's melting point is 1083 Centigrade and boiling point is 2570
 Copper is perpetually recyclable, meaning that it can be used over and over again
without losing its original form or composition.
 Copper does not corrode, rust, or damage easily.
Facts about Copper

6.  The copper mineral found naturally in the crust of the Earth that can
be mined and eventually refined is called copper ore.
 Copper ore occurs in two basic forms in nature:
 Sulfide ore: Natural mixture of rocks containing copper, iron and
sulfur. This mixture requires a grinding process to separate the
copper from the rest of the materials
2CuS + 3O2 --> 2SO2 + 2CuO
 Oxide ore: Ores that contains copper and other minerals in oxide
form and require a somewhat simpler and newer refining process
Cu2O (cuprite) 2Cu2O + C --> CO2(g) + 4Cu
CuO (tenorite) 2CuO + C --> CO2(g) + 2Cu
Facts about Copper

7. Copper Production Process
Basic Description:
• Copper is produced from various primary and secondary raw materials.
• The primary process uses sulphidic concentrates or sulphidic/oxide mixed
ores.
• The Secondary processes employ recycled oxidised or metallic products.
(25 % of total consumption)
• The industry can be divided into two sections, secondary copper
production and primary copper production with the additional use of
secondary material.

8. Concentrating
Grinding
Mining, Crushing
Copper Production Process
From its original home buried
underground in a mine to its use in
a finished product copper passes
through a number of stages:
Leaching Smelting
Electrowinning Electrolytic Refining
Pure Copper
Cathodes
Cathode is
converted into..
The Primary Copper Production

9. Concentrating
Grinding
Mining,
Crushing
Copper Production Process
The beginning for all copper is to
mine sulfide and oxide ores
through digging or blasting and
then crushing it to walnut-sized
pieces
Leaching Smelting
Electrowinning Electrolytic Refining
Pure Copper
Cathodes
Cathode is
converted into..

10. Copper mining
1) Exploration: Providing information about the shape
and site of an ore deposit, geological
characteristics, average grade, and feasibility
studies.
2) Mine Development: Drilling.
3) Production: Removing ore from mine.
Typical Cost to Develop, Operate
and Reclaim a Mine Exploration
 Reclamation: Making the productivity of the land equal that of the
premine surface, leave the mined area in a condition that will not
contribute to environmental degradation

11. Copper mining methods
 Surface Mining: used when ore
deposits lie relatively near the
Earth’s surface.
 Quarrying
overlying rock and soil are removed
to expose the ore body, which is
then, blasted and
loaded into trucks
or railroad cars for
haulage from the
pit.
 Underground Mining
extraction of ore through vertical
shafts from the surface, or horizontal
tunnels, drifts or crosscuts driven
into the ore body

12. Copper mining methods
 Underground Mining
 When ore deposits are far below the earth’s surface, an underground mine
is constructed.
 It consists of a series of vertical (shafts) and horizontal
tunnels (drifts) which allow miners and their machinery access to the ore
deposit.
 Underground mines can be as deep as 4000m.
 The various stoping methods have evolved over the years. In selecting the
most appropriate stoping methods, the size and shape of the ore body,
strength of ore and enclosing wall rock, water, value of ore, and other factors
must be taken into account.
Copper Mines of Tasmania
Open Stoping
leaving no pillar of ore in place to
support the walls of the stope.
Room and pillar mining
Pillars are left in place in a regular pattern
while the rooms are mined out.
Shrinkage Stoping
allowing broken ore to support the
stope walls, but leaving a space above
the broken ore just sufficient for the
miners to stand on and drill overhead.

13. Grinding
Copper Production Process
Crushed ore becomes
powder usually containing
less than 1 percent in large,
rotating, cylindrical
machines. Sulfide ores are
moved to a concentrating
stage, while oxide ores are
routed to leaching tanks. Concentrating
Mining,
Crushing
Leaching Smelting
Electrowinning Electrolytic Refining
Pure Copper
Cathodes
Cathode is
converted into..

14. Grinding
Copper Production Process
• Minerals are concentrated into a slurry that is
about 15% copper.
• The ground ore is then mixed with water,
chemicals, and air. This mixture causes the copper-
bearing minerals to stick to air bubbles in the cells.
• When the bubbles float off the top, they're
collected as a liquid called concentrate, which is
now 28% copper.
• Waste slag is removed. Water is recycled.
• Tailings (left-over earth) containing copper oxide
are routed to leaching tanks or are returned to the
surrounding terrain.
Concentrating
Mining,
Crushing
Leaching Smelting
Electrowinning Electrolytic Refining
Pure Copper
Cathodes
Cathode is
converted into..

15. Grinding
Copper Production Process
Concentrating
Mining,
Crushing
Leaching Smelting
Electrowinning
Electrolytic
Refining
Pure Copper
Cathodes
Cathode is
converted into..
Once copper has been concentrated
it can be turned into pure copper
cathode in two different ways:
• Leaching & electrowinning
or
• smelting and electrolytic refining

16. Grinding
Copper Production Process
• Leaching:
Oxide ore and tailings are leached by a
weak acid solution, producing a weak
copper sulfate solution.
• Electrowinning:
The copper-laden solution is treated and
transferred to an electrolytic process
tank. When electrically charged, pure
copper ions migrate directly from the
solution to starter cathodes made form
pure copper foil. Precious metals can be
extracted from the solution.
Concentrating
Mining,
Crushing
Leaching Smelting
Electrowinning Electrolytic Refining
Pure Copper
Cathodes
Cathode is
converted into..
Cathode: a flat plate of
99.99+% pure copper

17. Grinding
Copper Production Process
Concentrating
Mining,
Crushing
Leaching Smelting
Electrowinning
Electrolytic
Refining
Pure Copper
Cathodes
Cathode is
converted into..
Extraction of copper from sulphide
ores
Sulphide copper ores are normally treated
in two stages:
 the matte making stage: matte and slag
are produced by smelting
 the converting stage: iron and sulphur
in matte are progressively oxidised for
the production of blister copper.

18. Grinding
Copper Production Process
Smelting:
• Several stages of melting and purifying the
copper content result, successively, in matte,
blister and, finally, 99% pure copper.
• The concentrates are blended with a binding
agent, sulphite liquor, and the resulting material is
fed into furnaces where it is smelted, producing
copper "matte" and waste "slag".
• Matte contains approximately 60 % copper. The
slag can be further treated and used in road
construction.
• The matte is transferred to siphon converters
where sulphur is oxidised, impurities are
vaporised and iron is removed.
• The blister copper produced from the
converters contains approximately 98.5 %copper.
• Blister copper is further refined in an anode
furnace before being cast containing 99 %.
copper which are then transferred to the
electrolytic tank house for further refining.
Concentrating
Mining,
Crushing
Leaching Smelting
Electrowinning Electrolytic
Refining
Pure Copper
Cathodes
Cathode is
converted into..

19. Grinding
Copper Production Process
Electrolytic Refining
• In the electrolytic tank house, anodes are
suspended in tanks containing electrolyte, which
is a solution of sulphuric acid, copper sulphate
and additional agents.
• Thin copper plates ("cathode starting sheets")
are placed between the anodes and a low voltage
electrical current is passed between them,
dissolving copper from the anodes and
depositing it evenly on the cathode starting
sheets.
• The copper cathodes resulting from the build up
of copper the cathode starting sheets contain at
least 99.99 % copper.
Concentrating
Mining,
Crushing
Leaching
Smelting
Electrowinning
Electrolytic
Refining
Pure Copper
Cathodes
Cathode is
converted into..

20. Mitsubishi Process
Three- furnace system comprising
 continuous smelting,
 slag cleaning,
 converting.
An anode casting stage is then used to produce copper anodes.
Copper Production Process

21.  Mitsubishi Process
Copper Production Process
Converting
(C) Furnace.
Slag Cleaning
(CL) Furnace
Smelting
(S) Furnace
• The mixture of matte and slag formed in the S-Furnace flows continuously to the CL-
Furnace, where the denser copper matte separates from the discard slag.
• The matte is then siphoned to the C-Furnace, to be continuously converted to blister
copper.
• The latter is water granulated, dried, and recycled to the S-Furnace, while blister copper is
siphoned continuously from the C-Furnace to the Anode Furnace.

22.  Mitsubishi Process Smelting Furnace
Copper Production Process
•
a continuous-operation furnace that produces a high-grade copper sulphide matte
as well as a fayalite (silaceous) slag.
The smelting reactions are:
2 CuFeS2 + 4 O2 Cu2S (matte) + 2 FeO + 3 SO2
FeS (matte) + 3/2 O2 FeO + SO2
FeS2 + 9/2 O2 FeO + 2 SO2

23.  Mitsubishi Process Slag Cleaning Furnace
Copper Production Process
The intimate mixture of slag and matte produced by the S-Furnace flows to the
slag cleaning furnace (CL-furnace), where that separate from each other by
density difference into two distinct layers.
The matte syphons continuously from the electric furnace and flows via a sloping
launder into the converting (C) furnace. The discard slag continuously overflows
and is water-granulated delivery to slag storage.

24.  Mitsubishi Process Converting Furnace &
Anode Furnace
 Matte is continuously converted to blister
copper.
 Inputs to this furnace includes oxygen enriched
blowing air (30-35%)
The blister copper (99% Cu and 0.5% S) is
steadily syphoned from the C-Furnace then
delivered to the anode furnace for further
processing. The C-slag contains 12-18% copper,
mostly as Cu2O, overflows the furnace and is
water-granulated then recycled to the S-Furnace
Copper Production Process
•The converter reactions are:
Cu2S (matte) + O2 2 Cu (blister) + SO2
3 FeS (matte) + 5 O2 Fe3O4 (slag) + 3 SO2
CaCO3 (flux) CaO (slag) + CO2
In addition, some Cu2S is oxidized to Cu2O:
Cu2S (matte) + 2 O2 2 Cu2O (slag) + SO2
2 Cu2O + Cu2S 6 Cu + 5 O2

25. Copper Production Process
Electrolytic Refining
• Electrorefining is an age-old process (1847).
• Electrorefining utilizes the electrochemical dissolution of an impure copper
anode in an electrolytic cell containing a copper sulfate-sulfuric acid solution.
• Copper ions are transported to the cathode where they are deposited with
suitable purity.
• The basic electrochemical reactions involved are:

26. Grinding
Copper Production Process
Cathodes of 99.9% purity may be
shipped as melting stock to mills or
foundries. Cathodes may also be
cast into wire rod, billets, cakes or
ingots, generally, as pure copper or
alloyed with other metals.
Concentrating
Mining,
Crushing
Leaching Smelting
Electrowinning
Electrolytic
Refining
Pure Copper
Cathodes
Cathode is
converted into..

27. Grinding
Copper Production Process
• Wire Rod to make pure copper wire
of all gages.
• Billet drawn as tube, rod and bar
stock of many varied sizes and
shapes.
• Cake to produce plate, sheet, strip
and foil.
• Ingot: Bricks of pure copper may
be used by mills for alloying with
other metals or used by foundries
for casting.
Concentrating
Mining,
Crushing
Leaching Smelting
Electrowinning
Electrolytic
Refining
Pure Copper
Cathodes
Cathode is
converted into..

28. Copper Production Process
• Depending on the metal content and the
type of feed, the smelting step to produce
copper metal from secondary materials
may comprise several stages, like
reduction, oxidation/slagging and
volatilisation, for upgrading the metal
content and separating other
components from copper.
• The subsequent fire and electrolytic
refining is analogue to the primary copper
production.
• Depending on the purity and composition
of the copper containing materials, they
are added at different stages of the
process.
The Secondary Copper Production

29. Copper Production Process
• Copper cathodes and recycling copper are melted in a shaft furnace.
• The molten copper is fed continuously via a launder to the grooved periphery of
the casting wheel.
• After being shaved, the cast bar is fed to a rolling mill. The rolled rod is treated in
a pickler with isopropanol, dilute sulphuric acid, water or steam rinsing to remove
the oxidised surface and then coated with wax
Fabrication of Wire rod

30. Copper Production Process
• Another process to produce wire rod is the CONTIROD process. There, the copper is melted
in a furnace and caste in a Hazellet-Caster. The caster is followed by a hot-rolling mill to
produce wire rod which is sent to a coiler after being treated in a pickler.
Fabrication of Wire rod

31. Effect on Environment
• Fugitive emissions: arise from gases or particulate matter emitted to the surrounding air without being
captured, purified or treated in any other way and caused by open handling and storing of materials. Fugitive
emissions should be avoided by hoods, closed transport systems and good housekeeping.
• Stack emissions: arise when
captured offgases are emitted after
purification (clean gas) can usually
be captured and cleaned by
appropriate gas cleaning devices.
• Particulate matter: a small discrete
mass of solid or liquid matter that
remains individually dispersed in
gas or liquid emissions (usually
considered to be an atmospheric
pollutant)

32. Effect on Environment
The potential sources of water pollution

33.  Production is started in 1937 by Etibank
 Visible copper metal reserve in world = 550,000,000 tonne in Turkey = 1,658,715 tonne. This
amount will be sufficient in 1015 years with current usage.
 Most important regions : Eastern Black-Sea, Southeast Anatolia and Thrace
 Export in 2001 = 33 million $ to Bulgaria, Japan, China, Finland
 Copper consumption is 1,8 kg per head in Turkey while 10 kg in developped countries.
Copper Production in Turkey
• KBİ Karadeniz Bakır İşletmeleri A.Ş. (Samsun, Artvin)
• founded in 1968.
• Unique blister copper producer in Turkey.
• Privitisation is in progress
• Mine Capacity = 2.500.000 tonne / year (0,80 % Cu)
• Concentrated Cu Capacity= 75.000 tonne / year (23 & Cu)
• Blister Copper capacity= 38.760 tonne / year (99.2 % Cu)
• Çayeli Bakır İşletmesi (Rize)
• founded in 1983.
• 45 % of shares are blong to Eti Holding A.Ş.
• Mine Capacity = 800.000 tonne / year
• Concentrated Cu Capacity = 150.000 tonne / year 23 & Cu
• Etibank Küre Bakırlı Pirit İşletmeleri (Kastamonu)
• Mine Capacity = 700.000 tonne / year
• Concentrated Cu Capacity = 42.000 tonne / year15 % Cu