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By John Jiang, Yeonuk Choi, Olivia Wang, Gus Van Weert

"As part of a general review of processing double refractory ores through Barrick Gold's autoclaves/CIL facility at Goldstrike, Nevada, blanking the gold cyanide adsorbing native carbon in the ore with hard (m.p. >55°C) paraffin wax was proposed. To avoid interference from other ore constituents in the exploratory testwork, commercial activated carbon was substituted for native carbon in the ore to establish the best conditions for de-activation of carbon with molten wax.IntroductionDouble refractory gold ores present two barriers to gold extraction. The first is generally a physical barrier: the gold is encapsulated or dispersed in a matrix which is impervious to the gold lixiviant. In most cases, including the Goldstrike deposit, this involves a pyrite or arsenopyrite matrix, although minor gold may also be dispersed in competent silica (quartz) or iron oxides. Gold can be rendered accessible by oxidative destruction of such sulphide matrices. At Goldstrike this is practised by roasting and autoclave oxidation (POX). It is the latter route to which this paper refers.The second barrier refers more correctly to gold recovery. Gold may be extracted from the autoclave oxidized solids with cyanide, forming a gold cyanide complex. One characteristic of this complex is that it adsorbs on graphitic surfaces. This behaviour is used advantageously on a large scale by gold millers, who use man made activated carbon particles to remove the gold from solution during leaching: the Carbon-In-Leach, or CIL process. The gold bearing carbon particles are larger than the ore solids and can be separately recovered by screening. Goldstrike uses the CIL technology to recover gold after autoclave oxidation."

Jan 1, 2012

By Chang Wei, Fan Zhang, Zhigan Deng, Minting Li, Cunxiong Li, Gang Fan, Xingbin Li

Marmatite is an important resource of zinc, which exist in forms of high iron and high indium. In order to recycle the valuable metal from these ores, the testwork of simultaneous leaching on neutral residue mixed with zinc concentrate of high iron and high indium has been conducted. The primary objectives are to leach the zinc and indium remaining in the neutral leach residue as ferrite using acid, and to reduce the ferric iron in solution to the ferrous by zinc concentrate, thereby extracting the zinc and indium in the zinc concentrate. The results indicated that in the following conditions, mass ratio of neutral residue to zinc concentrate of 1:0.25, particle size of 74-58 μm, initial sulfuric acid concentration of 150 g/L, liquid to solid ratio of 8 L/kg, temperature of 90°C, reaction time of 4h, the leaching efficiency of zinc and indium were over 95%, nearly 90% Fe was Ferrous in the leaching solution. This process effectively extracted zinc and indium and converted Fe3+ into Fe2+ in solution, and simplified the traditional process of reduction after leaching.

Jan 1, 2016

By Truan-Sheng Lui, Li-Hui Chen, Hao-Wen Hsueh, Fei-Yi Hung

"Since Ag wires have similar hardness and bonding properties to Au wires, they can be applied in some pads. In the present study, the annealing effect (at 225°C~275°C for 30min) on the tensile mechanical properties of silver wires with f=23µm was investigated. In addition, the micro-structural characteristics and the mechanical properties before and after an electric flame-off (EFO) process were also studied. Experimental results indicate that with annealing temperatures of more than 250°C, the silver wires possessed a fully annealed structure, the tensile strength and the hardness decreased, and the elongation was raised significantly. Under the thermal effect of EFO, the necks of the Ag balls underwent recrystallization and grain growth was induced, and the annealed Ag wires had a shorter zone of HAZ (220µm). The bonding strength and the neck-strength of the Ag wires were more than 7gf and possessed excellent bonding properties.IntroductionThermosonic ball bonding is one of the preferred processes for electronic packaging to connect a semiconductor chip and a lead frame by a thin metal wire. At present, gold wire and copper wire are the preferred interconnect materials to bond with the aluminum metallized wafer pads [1, 2]. Since gold is expensive and the reliability of copper is poorer [3], the study of silver wire has attracted a lot of attention already. In addition, the inherent properties of high ductility and low hardness of silver as well as its workability effectiveness compared to gold, have made it a preferred alternative .[4, 5]"

Jan 1, 2012

By Roberto Parra, Roberto Parada

"A novel process for minor elements control in copper pyrometallurgical production is proposed based on a theoretical analysis and the results of an experimental program. Its application can solves operational problems related to volatile elements that determine pollutants gas emissions and the final quality of anodes. The process considers a calcination of mixtures of the dust with sulfidizing agents such as dirty copper concentrate or elemental sulfur at temperature under 800 °C. The product are a clean calcine that recovers all the Cu content on the dust and a gas stream that collect the minor elements as sulfides species. The calcine can be returned to the smelter avoiding the As increasing in the circuit and so on, the capacity for the treatment of dirty concentrates for the smelter can be higher. The possibility to apply vacuum in the calcinations step can decrease the operation temperature. The solid condensed from the gas has different options for its stabilization, with the advantage that this stream represents few mass with high As content.IntroductionThe control of undesired minor elements (IVIES) in conventional pyrometallurgical copper production is especially relevant for ore deposits associated to Andes region. The concentrates that are being produced present every time higher levels of volatiles and harmful elements: group Va (As, Sb and Bi), Pb, Zn, and Sn."

Jan 1, 2008

By Hideyuki Itou

Municipal wastes are mainly incinerated in Japan. Both bottom ash and fly ash from the incineration treatment are smelted recently to decrease the volume. Direct smelting of municipal wastes is also becoming popular. The smelting treatment generates fly ash which contains concentrated heavy metals such as Zn, Pb and Cu, and the harmfulness is causing concern. The smelter fly ash is mainly landfilled after stabilization. An effective treatment process of the smelter fly ash is required to recover the metals. For the treatment process, an application of chloridizing volatilization technique is considered. Chloridizing volatilization experiments were carried out to determine the effects of various factors on the volatilization behaviors in this study. A pretreated ash was mixed with a main raw material which mainly consists of hematite. Calcium chloride water solution was added into the mixture. The mixture was pelletized, dried and used as samples for the volatilization experiments. The sample was placed in the reaction tube heated in an electric resistance furnace. 5%02-95%N2 gas with controlled humidity was introduced into the reaction tube. Effects of humidity in the carrier gas, addition of calcium chloride and mixed ratio of the ash to the main raw material were investigated on the volatilization of Zn, Cu and Pb. To determine the volatilization behavior, samples were taken from the furnace at specified temperatures on the heating stage. In addition, experiments at specified holding temperatures for 15 minutes with shortened heating time were conducted. The two series of experiments revealed the effect of heating temperature on the volatilization behavior of Zn, Cu, Pb and Cl.

Jan 1, 2006

By Wenshan Zhang

The industrial production experiments on Zn, Mn simultaneous leaching, impurity removal and ZnMnO2 simultaneous electrolysis were carried out. The process flow, technical requirement and research results about the experiments were discussed and the good technical quail-fixation and high quality of products were obtained. Reactions for each major technological process have been expatiated based on the thermodynamic analysis.

Jan 1, 2006

By Nagy El-Kaddah, Thinium T. Natarajan

A modeling strategy is presented for computing the electromagnetic field and the shape of the molten metal in electromagnetic confinement systems. This strategy involves the use of a hybrid finite element/integral technique to calculate the electromagnetic field and force distribution in the melt. The free surface shape is determined from minimization of electromagnetic, gravitational and surface tension energies using the Lagrange method of multipliers. This approach was applied to model the electromagnetic levitation melting process. The model was found to accurately predict the measured shape of levitated droplets.

Jan 1, 2014

By Tiejun Chun, Marcus Emrich, Jian Pan, Deqing Zhu, Vinicius Mendes

"Joint projects of studies of hematite acid pellet have been implemented to develop technological solutions for using Vale hematite pellet feed in Chinese palletizing plant. Beneficial improvements on the pellets quality were achieved by adjusting the blends composition and using new technology of pre-treating the blended pellet feed with HPGR (High Pressure Grinding Roller) on rotary kiln pellet technology. The drop strength of green balls increased from 3.4 to 6.0 times from 0.5m height, at the same time, the bentonite dosage decreased from 1.5wt% to 0.7wt%. The compressive strength of roasted pellets reaches 2500 N/pellet. The reduction swelling index of roasted pellets is below 15%.IntroductionWith the fast development of steel industry in China, the production of pellets has been further expanded. Pellets are used as a high quality charge for blast furnace and the annual output is around 80Mt pellets [1]. According to the developmental trend, sinter will be replaced by pellets due to the larger environmental impact of sintering plants when compared to pelletizing plants. For example, the specific CO2 emission in sintering process is around 2.5 times higher than in pelletizing process. However, the steel industry of China has been confronted with a serious shortage of domestic pellet feed due to the low iron grade of Run-of-Mine ore despite of huge reserves of iron ores [2]. Therefore, more pellet feed, mainly hematite, has been imported to make pellets."

Jan 1, 2011

By Ronald L. Bruening

IBC Advanced Technologies, Inc. (IBC) has developed and commercialized SuperLig® materials based on Molecular Recognition Technology (MRT), which have proven to be very effective for the removal of bismuth from hydrometallurgical sulfuric acid process streams. The most common application is its removal from copper refinery electrolytes, where bismuth control is extremely critical. IBC has also developed an MRT system for extraction, recovery and refining of palladium from a copper refinery by-product stream originating from the treatment of copper tankhouse slimes. A high purity palladium salt is produced which meets market specifications. Results are reviewed and discussed.

Jan 1, 2003

By Hideki Yamamoto, Shigeno Matsumoto, Junji Shibata

"Some fundamental studies were carried out in order to produce composite powders comprising of two or three metal oxides ~y using liquid-liquid extraction and to develop the control technology of the particle size. The combination of samarium and cobalt was selected as the two component composite powders. Both stripping and crystallization occurred at the same time by emulsifying the organic phase loading the two metals extracted with Versatic Acid 10 and the aqueous solution containing oxalic acid. The effect of aqueous pH, oxalic acid concentration and agitation speed was examined on some properties such as crystallization percent, particle size and shape of each metal oxide powders obtained in this process. The analysis by using EDX showed that the two metal oxides were distributed uniformly.IntroductionComposite metal and metal oxide powders with high purity are indispensable as industrial materials in the fields of electrical engineering, electronics and metallurgy. It is difficult to mix metal powders or metal oxide powders uniformly for the production of alloy powders. If insoluble metal salts are allowed to collect as crystallization products in the crystallization-stripping process, the conventional melting and crushing process can be avoided. After mixing of the organic phase containing metals in fixed composition, fine metal and metal oxide powders of alloy composition are produced by using a crystallization-stripping method. Versatic Acid 10 and D2EHPA, both acidic extractants, were chosen in this experiment, and the metal oxide powders were produced by using oxalic acid as a crystallization reagent. Mixed metal oxalates containing samarium and cobalt were precipitated from the mixed organic phase containing these metals. Furthermore, the physical properties of the powders, such as particle size, shape and thermal decomposition, were measured in order to evaluate them for industrial purposes."

Jan 1, 2000

By Thomas Buenger

The Hamburg smelter of Norddeutsche Affinerie AG is situated near the city of Hamburg’s downtown and is therefore particularly subjected to fulfill environmental requirements according to the German legal regulations. Thus, investments related to increasing concentrate throughput are always linked to packages to enhance the emission status of the smelter. This connection between environmental protection and productivity enhancement should be explained by the example of the Peirce-Smith converter plant of the Hamburg smelter. Such outstanding investments can be demonstrated by the transition from scrap charging via boat from the front side to a fully automatic and completely sucked scrap charging system.

Jan 1, 2009

By Susanne Pignolet-Brandom

Reflected light microscopy scanning electron microscope energy dispersive spectroscopic analysis and backscatter electron image and electron microprobe chemical analysis have been used to study lead sinter and lead blast furnace slag. These studies provide invaluable information on the phases present their intergrowths, and their chemical composition. Such information increases the understanding of the nature of pyrometallurgical processes and the behavior of minor elements during these metallurgical processes.

Jan 1, 1987

By Liangju He, Peixuan Ouyang, Peijie Li

Single-pulse laser ablation of aluminum and titanium alloys under glass confinement is investigated. Processing parameters such as laser intensity and gap width between targets and glass are varied. Surface morphologies and crater profiles of the alloys after laser ablation are studied by SEM and white-light interferometric microscope, respectively. The effects of gap width and laser intensity on surface morphologies and crater profiles of targets are systematically analyzed. In addition, the generation of porous surface structures in Ti target is regarded as the result of phase explosion in the molten surface layer of targets and the thermodynamic condition in our experiment for phase explosion is evaluated.

Jan 1, 2016

By W. F. Whittaker

Systematic control of process parameters during electrorefined copper cathode production and final product inspection ensures high quality of produced "ORC brand copper. Since 1986, substantial increases in tankhouse productivity have been achieved by a number of technological and process control changes. This paper reviews the changes implemented to achieve higher productivity and cathode quality.

Jan 1, 1992

By Peter J. Hancock

The pyrometallurgical .processing of non-ferrous, complex materials and wastes will be surveyed. Pyrometallurgy offers the most versatile way of processing a large variety of such materials because of its high temperatures, closely-controlled oxidation potential and the availability of commercially-proven reactor configurations. Some current industrial applications will be reviewed and possible new applications as well as future trends will be outlined.

Jan 1, 1994

By Elli Nurminen

Fouling of heat recovery process equipment may significantly decrease their heat transfer efficiency. In Copper Flash Smelting process flue dust tends to form build-ups on the heat recovery boiler walls. Thermal transportation properties of copper flash smelting flue dust and its components have been studied. The effects of porosity and temperature on thermal transportation properties have also been determined. The results indicate that dust and its components are effective thermal insulators and build-up layers on the boiler walls are likely to decrease greatly the heat transfer efficiency of the boiler. Decreasing dust layer porosity has a strong increasing effect on thermal conductivity and increasing temperature has a slight decreasing effect on thermal conductivity. The results may be used in CFD-modelling and optimisation of the process.

Jan 1, 2006

By Zhou Jiemin

A mathematical model is developed to determine the economic thicknesses of refractories and insulations in rectangular furnaces, Both the heat loss cost and the lining investment are taken into account to achieve a minimum operation cost. For the sake of calculating the heat flux, the paper is particularly concerned with the simulation of the three-dimensional transient heat conduction processes in the lining and a Douglas-Rachford method is used to solve the finite difference equations, The model has been used to design an industrial electric resistance furnace operated periodically. the values of temperatures and power consumption measured from the furnace correspond with the model results.

Jan 1, 1991

By Peter K. Eriksson

Nanofiltration is very efficient in separating heavy metals from water solutions, even if they contain strong acids. Desalination System, Inc., has many years of experience in this area, and this paper deals with three different such cases. The first case deals with concentrating the heavy metals in the pregnant leach solution from a copper dump leaching site with a surplus water problem. The increased copper concentration in the pregnant leach solution increases the capacity of the following copper extraction stage. The nanofIltration permeate is polished with a biomass adsorption column to remove the small amounts of remaining heavy metals, before being discharged. This method eliminates sludge handling and disposal, which are quite costly with the alternative precipitation process. In the second case, a complicated precipitation method was used to remove heavy metals from the waste stream of a specialty metals manufacturer. Nanofiltration was installed to increase the metals concentration four times, which greatly simplified the precipitation process. The chemical consumption and sludge production decreased by more than 80 percent, and the labor cost decreased by 66 percent. In the third case, nanofiltration was used to purify waste sulfuric acid solutions containing heavy metals, to meet the specifications for technical grade acid. Sulfuric acid concentrations above 30 weight percent were successfully purified in a multiple pass membrane system.

Jan 1, 1996

By Hua Hou, Xiaofeng Niu, Wei Liang

"The explicit finite difference (EFD) method is used for calculating the casting temperature field during solidification. Because the time step is limited, the computational efficiency of the EFD method is lower. In order to improve the computational efficiency, a fourth-order in space and second-order in time model based on the equivalent specific heat method and the alternating direction implicit (ADI) method is established. The degree of similarity between the simulation results and the experimental results is analyzed. The results show that the simulation results of this high order mathematical model are close to the experimental results.IntroductionThe 3D heat transfer equation of temperature field during solidification process is as the following: [1-3]."

Jan 1, 2013

By Yves Fautrelle, Kader Zaidat, Hervé Combeau, Miha Zaloznik, Mohammed M'Hamdi, Bachir Saadi, Xiaodong Wang, Knut Omdal Tveito

"Numerical simulations of macrosegregation formation during horizontal solidification of a hypoeutectic Sn-Pb alloy in a rectangular cavity is presented and compared to experimental results. The experiment involves a melting phase, a holding stage at constant temperature with/without application of electromagnetic stirring, and finally solidification. We simulate all stages of the experiment and study the segregation of Pb throughout the experiment. A twophase volume averaged model is used for the numerical simulations, accounting for thermosolutal convection and assuming perfect microscopic mixing (lever rule). The influence of the melting phase and the electromagnetic stirring is studied with different cases to illustrate the consequences on the flow pattern and Pb segregation. The numerical simulations are compared to the experimental data and the impact of chemical inhomogeneities prior to solidification on macrosegregation formation is discussed.IntroductionMany extensive investigations have been performed so far on the solidification of metallic alloys. However, the melting process of metallic alloy has not attracted attention in a same manner. Nevertheless, melting of alloy may put forth peculiar effects as described in the present paper. It has been observed from a benchmark experiment [1, 2] that significant stratification might arise during the melting process of Sn-Pb alloy. That effect was put forth thanks to the analysis of the experimental temperature distribution which indicated that the convective fluid flow was almost zero. The effect was enhanced when the lead composition was higher (above 6wt.%). The present paper is aimed at confirming that the melting of an alloy containing a heavier solute may be accompanied with a stratification of the solute which exerts a stabilizing effect on the convective fluid flow. Results obtained from numerical modeling are compared with experimental data obtained from the benchmark facility."

Jan 1, 2012