Authors: V. “Ram” Ramachandran, C. Diaz, T. Eltringham, C.Y. Jiang, T. Lehner, P. Mackey, C.J. Newman, A. Tarasov
5th International Copper Conference, Pyrometallurgy of Copper, Santiago, Chile, November 2003
Abstract
Since the last survey of copper smelters in 1988, the copper industry has gone through considerable changes. Technological innovations, along with stringent environmental regulations, have caused major changes in many areas. Hence a new survey was made to review the progress in technology for copper recovery in the last decade and update data on all the operating copper smelters in the world. Data summarizing the operations and equipment of 52 copper smelters have been tabulated and reviewed. Information has been included on all standard aspects of smelter operation from feed preparation, feed analysis, through to casting and sulfur fixation. The questionnaires, on which this paper is based on were completed by the respective smelter personnel during 2002 and 2003.
