Slag Containment in Emerging Copper Converting Technologies

Calcium ferrite slag has gained prominence in the copper smelting industry over the last decade due to the emergence of continuous converting as an established technology. As smelters move towards processing which is higher in intensity, more efficient and more environmentally acceptable, its use is likely to increase because it has technical advantages over conventional iron silicate slag, which include a higher magnetite-holding capacity, lower copper losses to slag and a lower viscosity. Calcium ferrite is currently the converting slag of choice in the Mitsubishi process at operations in Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, Canada and Australia, and in the Kennecott/Outokumpu flash converting process in USA. However, users of this slag have experienced problems in containment due to its highly corrosive nature and low viscosity. As use of this slag becomes more widespread the containment problem will assume greater importance. Consequently, work has recently been carried out to establish the mechanism of refractory attack and devise means to retard it. This work will be critically reviewed in this paper.