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May 1, 2011

By H. Fujihara, K. Uesugi, H. Toda, A. Takeuchi, K. Shimizu

"Hydrogen is trapped at a variety of microstructures, for example grain boundaries, dislocations and particles. It is thought that hydrogen trapped at trapping sites is redistributed to the other sites under loading and then brittle fracture occurs with hydrogen accumulation. In order to understand hydrogen embrittlement behavior, it is necessary to investigate the time evolution behavior of hydrogen accumulation at each trap site. In the present study, changes in hydrogen distribution are observed under stress using Kelvin force microscopy (KFM) that can visualize hydrogen concentration distribution on material surface at high resolution. Spot-like hydrogen enriched regions are observed on the surface of a material. In addition, hydrogen depleted regions are observed around those enriched regions, and the appearance of hydrogen trap due to particles existing near the material surface is revealed. On the other hand, hydrogen trapped at grain boundary can be visualized. From in this result, it was suggested that crystallographic factors influence hydrogen accumulation. The relationship between initiation and propagation of intergranular crack and hydrogen accumulation under stress will be discussed.INTRODUCTIONHydrogen present in a metal sometimes has significant effects on various properties. Hydrogen in a metal is trapped at a variety of microstructure, for example dislocations and grain boundaries. Grain boundaries, dislocations and micro pores are the major trap sites in aluminum alloys. Some researchers considered that hydrogen redistribution and accumulation between these trap sites in a material with loading plays an important role in the brittle fracture behavior. In general, in intergranular fracture and quasi-cleavage fracture, the hydrogen trapped at grain boundaries and dislocations contributes to fracture behavior, respectively. Recently some researchers have shown that the ductile fracture in aluminum alloys is resulted from growth and coalescence of hydrogen micro pores. Analysis using first principles calculation indicates that intergranular fracture occurs when hydrogen concentration reaches 20 atom H/nm2ongrain boundary. From this report, it is considered that hydrogen redistributed during deformation accumulates locally in order to cause hydrogen brittle fracture. In order to understand hydrogen embrittlement, it is necessary to investigate the time evolution behavior of hydrogen accumulation at each trap site. In the present study, we evaluate the relationship between hydrogen accumulation behavior and fracture behavior in Al-Zn-Mg based alloys. In-situ observation was made by combining the tensile test with Kelvin force microscope (KFM) that can visualize the hydrogen concentration distribution on the material surface with high resolution. We also investigate the relationship between hydrogen distribution behavior and crystal orientation."

Jan 1, 2018

By Sunil S. Gandhi

"Uranium occurrences are widely distributed in tuffaceous-argillaceous beds and abundant rhyolitic volcanic rocks of the upper Aillik group, which is more than 3 km thick and over 125 km by 40 km in areal extent. They include partially developed Kitts and Michelin deposits, containing 1560 and 7366 t U respectively.Uranium occurs mainly as disseminated fine pitchblende grains in beds and lenticular stratabound zones, and rarely as coarse pitchblende aggregates and thin veinlets. The Kitts deposit and ten other occurrences are in the argillaceous-tuffaceous beds within a steeply dipping stratigraphic zone, less than 50 m thick and over 20 km long, at the base of the upper Aillik group. The occurrences hosted by the rhyolitic rocks, numbering over fifty and including the Michelin deposit, are in elongate structural-stratigraphic belts or zones, and are characterized by a pronounced enrichment of soda and depletion of potash associated with mineralization. The mineralized zones are affected to a varying degree by Hudsonian deformation, metamorphism and granitic intrusions.The uranium mineralization is interpreted as genetically related to the felsic volcanism, involving syngenetic deposition in argillaceous-tuffaceous beds and epigenetic emplacement in rhyolites. The volcanic activity occurred 1855 ± 5 Ma ago according to a preliminary U-Pb zircon date on porphyritic rhyolite. Pitchblendesfrom the Kitts and Michelin deposits and a few other occurrences in rhyolites have yielded nearly concordant dates in 1810 to 1730 Ma range. They reflect resetting of isotopic equilibrium at the time of Hudsonian deformation. Other isotopic data on pitchblendes and galena from veins and aggregates .in the south near the 'Grenville Front' indicate local redistribution of uranium and radiogenic lead at the time of Grenville Orogeny approximately 1100 Ma ago."

Jan 1, 1986

By W. L. Brown

"The Normetal mine is about 7 miles east of the Ontario-Quebec boundary, and 13 miles north of the town of Dupuy on the Canadian National railway. The mine workings are largely on lots 44 and 45 in the south half of range 10, Desmeloizes township.The surface outcrop is reported to have been discovered by a trapper previous to 1925, but the details are obscure. The property was originally owned by the Canadian Exploration Company of Amos, Quebec, and was later transferred to Abana Mines, Limited. The latter Company carried out underground work from two shafts down to the 550-foot level. The property was acquired by Normetal Mining Corporation in 1931 and was reopened in 1933, when development work was carried down to the 800-foot level. The mine was closed down in 1935 because metal prices did not justify production at that time. It was reopened early in 1937 and milling commenced in September of that year. To the end of 1945, a total of 1,497,- 169 tons of ore was milled from which was produced 184,533 tons of copper concentrates containing 84,738,368 lb. copper, 2,744,100 oz. silver, 26,230 oz. gold, and 153,524 tons of zinc concentrates containing 163,752,433 lb . zinc."

Jan 1, 1954

By W. R. Bacon

"MAGNETITE HAS BEEN found in many .parts of the coastal area of British Columbia, but the more important deposits are on Vancouver Island and Texada Island. The locations of these deposits are shown on Figure 1.Interest in the magnetite deposits dates back to the 1870s, when land was acquired on the southwest coast of Texada Island by the Puget Sound Iron Company. This ground included the Prescott, Paxton, and Lake deposits. During the years 1885 to 1903, and 1908, 28,898 tons of magnetite ore was shipped to the company's blast-furnace plant at Irondale, Washington, U.S.A. This production was almost entirely from the Prescott open-pits.In the years following the Texada Island discoveries, other magnetite deposits were found in the coastal area, and various plans were proposed to utilize the local ores in the establishment of a steel industry in the Pacific Northwest. None was carried to fruition but, in 1951, open-pit mining was begun at Iron Hill, Vancouver Island, to furnish iron concentrates for steel mills in Japan. In 1952 mining of the Texada deposits was resumed to supply the same market. Production figures for these recent operations are as follows:"

Jan 1, 1949

By M. H. Moys, J. A. Finch, A. R. Laplante

"A detailed review of ball milling circuit control practices in industry has been carried out. Based on fundamental process performance objectives, a standard system for base-level control of most ball mill installations is presented. This system is simple, inexpensive, and provides the major economic benefits available from contemporary automatic control technology.Value Analysis of Grinding OperationsValue analysis (or engineering, or management), originally developed by Lawrence D. Miles of the General Electric Company (1), focuses on the identification of value (product or process worth versus cost) and provides a systematic procedure for its improvement. A recent research and development project involving the application of the principles of value engineering to grinding operations has provided a basic technoeconomic model of grinding processes (2). The functional objectives of the ball milling process and the means to achieve value based grinding circuit control originate from this study.The Need for Grinding Circuit ControlThe economic effectiveness of a process is determined by the quality or value of the product and the related processing costs. If the inputs (both the raw feed and the applied processing work) are absolutely constant, the product characteristics and the process efficiency will be determined only by the engineering design. The need for and degree of process control is therefore determined by the nature of variations or upsets in the process inputs, and the extent to which these effect product value and operating costs."

Jan 1, 1988

By A. N. Veltmeyer

"INTRODUCTIONTeck-Corona Operating Corporation's David Bell Mine is located 35 Km east of Marathon, Ontario. In conjunction with its 1000 tonne per day gold concentrator, the company operates an effluent treatment plant for the treatment of mill, mine and site effluents prior to environmental discharge. This paper provides a brief overview of treatment strategies and methods, employed to detoxify final effluent.WATER MANAGEMENTThe tailings impoundment basin, located 3 Km south of the plant site, provides storage capacity for all process effluents and site run-off. Basin supernatant (reclaim water) is recirculated to the plant for reuse as process water, in order to minimize fresh water consumption. As site run-off and limited fresh water intake exceed natural losses due to evaporation, reclaim water in excess of process requirements is passed through the effluent treatment (ET) facility to control tailings basin level by providing regulated discharge of environmentally acceptable effluent. (Figure 1)PASSIVE TREATMENTTo reduce treatment costs and burden on the ET facility, reclaim water is fed to the plant to take maximum advantage of natural destruction processes occurring in the tailings basin.These include: volatilizationphotodecompositionbiological oxidation and precipitationstorm water dilutionConcentrator recovery techniques (Figure 2) are directed toward maximizing gold recovery while limiting the addition and extraction of contaminants requiring disposal and eventual treatment.Currently ore ground to 90% -200 mesh is pre-aerated at pH 9.0 with lime for 18 hours prior to 30 hours cyanidation at pH 9.5 with low cyanide ion excess (70 ppm).Pre-aeration passivates cyanicides prior to cyanide contact. This reduces cyanide consumption and the formation of cyanide complexes. In conjunction with recovery requirements low pH is maintained to retard the dissolution of stibnite into its antimony and sulfide components."

Jan 1, 1989

By G. W. H. Norman

"The Indian Molybdenum deposit occurs in granite near the centre of Indian peninsula, Kewagama lake, in Preissac township, Abitibi county, Quebec, about 40 miles east of Noranda. Quartz veins containing molybdenite were discovered in the vicinity of the deposit in 1901 by J. F. E. Johnston of the Geological Survey of Canada. Innumerable trenches and a few pits were excavated during and prior to the first great war, but there was no production. During the second great war systematic drilling along a favourable zone disclosed by the earlier trenching outlined an orebody of 225,000 tons with a molybdenite content of 0.46 per cent.A 500 on mill was built in 1943, and 91,489 tons of ore underwent treatment, from which 699,568 lb . of molybdenite was recovered. The mill closed down early in 1944 when the wartime need for Canadian molybdenum production eased .GEOLOGYThe general geology in the vicinity of the deposit is shown in Fig. 1. The deposit lies at the north edge of a muscovite-biotite granite mass about 2 miles wide and several miles long. West of Kewagama lake this granite is cut by great swarms of quartz veins . The only other granite in the district known to contain similar swarms of quartz veins, and which similarly has become a source of mo!ybdenite, occurs 20 miles east in La Corne township. The non-molybdenite-bearing granites of the district are either more basic and contain frw dykes except aplite or are distinctly pegmatitic types and contain up to 50 per cent pegmatite dykes with molybdenite only here and there in small amount."

Jan 1, 1954

By R. B. Humphrey

Cut-and-fill mining methods at the Thompson Mine have undergone significant changes since production began in 1961. Changes have been introduced in almost all aspects of the mining operation, from the original timbered chutes and air-operated slushers to the present-day bored raises, footwall ore passes and load-haul-dump units. This paper describes the evolution of mechanized cut-and fill mining methods, highlighting the changes in design for stopes and service openings, ground support methods; hydraulic filling and ventilation systems. A mechanized stoping area is described from the initial mining concept through design, development, construction and mining cycles.

Jan 1, 1979

By Jason J. Ballentine

This case study presents the results of a maintenance review of a soot blower system at a coal fired power generation station. The power generation station was following a ?repair when it breaks? maintenance strategy for its soot blowers. The efficiency losses incurred as a result of failures in the soot blower system and the resulting interruption and out of service time was found to have a significant effect on the plant output. The maintenance strategy for the soot blowers was reviewed using Reliability Cantered Maintenance and lifecycle simulation. This methodology provided visibility to the monetary implications of failures and allowed alternative types of maintenance to be assessed and where justified were added to a maintenance schedule in the Maximo work order management system. By reducing unplanned breakdowns the predicted reduction in efficiency losses was 45%.

May 1, 2007

By S. Malopheyev, I. Vysotskiy, R. Kaibyshev, S. Mironov

"In this work, the effect of pre-strain rolling on the annealing behavior of friction-stir welded 6061-T6 aluminum alloy was studied. To this end, the as-welded material was rolled to 10 or 20 pct. of thickness reduction prior to the standard post-weld T6 heat treatment. Three rolling directions were the 3-mm thick sheet were considered: along the welding direction, perpendicular to the welding direction, and at the angle of 45° to the welding direction. At relatively low pre-strains (10 pct.), the annealing behavior was found to be very sensitive to the rolling path, and rolling along the welding direction was most effective in suppressing abnormal grain growth. On the other hand, increasing the pre-strains to 20 pct. of thickness reduction inhibited abnormal grain growth irrespective of the rolling path.INTRODUCTION Heat-treatable wrought Al-Mg-Si alloys are widely used due to attractive combination of strength, ductility, excellent corrosion resistance and low cost (Polmear, 2006). To provide the optimal balance of mechanical properties, these materials are typically commercially available in appropriately work- and precipitation-hardened conditions (Polmear, 2006). During conventional fusion welding, however, the prior strengthening effect is totally lost due to elimination of the work hardened structure and dissolution of the strengthening precipitations. An innovative friction-stir welding (FSW) technology may partially overcome this problem. Due to the solid-state character of this process, which involves very large strains, the welded material is characterized by fine-grained microstructure with moderate-to-high dislocation density, and thus the prior work hardening effect may be preserved or even enhanced (Threadgill et al., 2009; Mishra & Ma, 2005). However, heat input associated with FSW inevitably leads to dissolution and/or coarsening of strengthening precipitates, thus giving rise to the undesirable material softening. In an attempt to restore the strength of the friction-stir welded material, the standard T6 post-weld heat treatment has been applied, but this approach was found to lead to abnormal grain growth (Malopheyev et al., 2016; Mironov, 2013, Mironov et al., 2015)."

Jan 1, 2018

By Seppo Lähteenmäki, Pertti Koivistoinen, Jaakko Levanaho

"This paper describes the benefits and disadvantages of fully autogenous grinding when compared to grinding with steel grinding media. The study is a real case study based on a low tonnage, high grade mining project in a remote location in a developing country. The study compares the capital and operating costs of using either SAG mill, Ball mill, Crusher (SABC) or fully autogenous (AG) grinding circuits and produces an economical analysis of the project for both options. The economics have been developed for the overall project, including mining, processing, environmental and the infrastructure as well as for the additional cost of constructing a fully autogenous grinding circuit instead of the original plan of a SAG Mill, Ball Mill circuit.The paper also describes the development of the autogenous grinding circuit at Outokumpu Oy, Pyhäsalmi mine. This experience was used to design the autogenous grinding circuit for the case study. Pyhäsalmi Concentrator has over 30 years of experience in operating autogenous grinding circuits and therefore provides a sound base for the new circuit design.INTRODUCTIONGrinding of ore using steel grinding media is currently the most commonly used method in the mining industry. Autogenous grinding, ore replaces iron media, is also common especially in Europe and Africa. Iron ore industry in North America uses autogenous grinding in primary and/or secondary stages extensively. In gold, copper and other base metal industries, autogenous grinding is not as common, although there are operations where pebble grinding is or has been used in the secondary grinding stage. There are many variations of autogenous grinding in use in the mining industry. These variations include different mill sizes, mill length to diameter ratios, ore lump sizes, screening and pebble crushing configurations."

Jan 1, 2000

By M. Sanchez

In the last decades, the Chilean copper mining and metallurgical industry have had to modify their technological processes to meet the environmental regulations implemented by the Chilean government, and also to support the pressure of the public opinion. Thus, air quality standards for sulfur dioxide and particulate matter (primary and secondary), plans for reducing emission of arsenic by the Chilean copper smelters, effluents discharge limits, among others regulations were applied by the environmental agency. Additionally, agreements on cleaner production were carried out by mining sector and government. Now, a draft law on mine closure, and another on environmental mining wastes (abandoned mines) are being discussed by the authorities and the mining sector. In the context, production and environmental impacts in different ways to produce copper in the Chilean mining industry are reviewed and regulatory tendencies as well as abatement technologies today used are exposed and discussed in this presentation. Pyro, hydro and electrometallurgical processes employed and their current effluent and contaminants are presented showing various alternatives of treatment in the copper industry. An update of regulations established in Chile vis a vis copper production, with an especial attention to mine closure are also presented.

Jan 1, 2007

By J. E. Gill, A. R. Byers

"The property of Sladen Malartic Mines, Limited, is in the northern half of Fourniere township, Abitibi county, Quebec. The group is large, but the part so far found to be of economic interest is a strip 3,200 feet long between the Canadian Malartic property to the west and the East Malartic and National Malartic properties to the east ( Fig. 1).The original claims were staked in 1923 and 1924 by St. B. Sladen and H. S. Kennedy because gold was known to occur on claims nearby. In 1928, detailed mapping of the Malartic Gold Mines property (now Canadian Malartic) showed the presence of an east-west gold-bearing zone traceable almost to the Sladen boundary. During the winter of 1929, a hand-driven drill was used to secure short sections of core through casing pipe sunk to bed-rock. This proved the existence of the main Sladen ore zone, but it was not until the price of gold was increased, in 1934, that serious work was attempted.Underground work was started in 1935 and milling in January, 1938. To the end of 1945, 168,882 oz. of gold were recovered from 1,641,974 tons of ore, an average of 0.103 oz. a ton.GEOLOGYThe bed-rock underlying' the Sladen Malartic property consists mainly of Precambrian greywacke and volcanics that appear to form a conformable series with a general northwest strike and vertical to steep northerly dip. Except where disturbed locally by drag folds or faults, tops face north. Intrusive rocks that range in composition from diorite to granite cut the sediments and volcanics. The basic types, generally quartz diorite and diorite, form dykes or sills in the volcanic rocks. The more acidic types, mainly quartz syenite and related porphyries, intrude the volcanics and the sediments in the form of dykes, sills, and larger, stock-like bodies.The orebodies are parts of slightly shattered or brecciated zones, mainly in greywacke, but partly in syenite, diorite, and volcanics, that have been more or less replaced by fine-grained quartz, pyrite, and minor amounts of sphalerite, galena, sylvanite, petzite, and gold."

Jan 1, 1954

By Y. Kusuda

Since 1981, the Annaka refinery has recovered zinc from zinc leach residues by the Waelz Process. The important considerations of this process are the prevention of the growth of coating accretions in the Waelz kiln and the improvement of the zinc volatilization rate. In this paper, simulation predictions and the results of the industrial operation regarding the prevention of coating accretions in the Waelz kiln and the improvement of the zinc volatilization rate at the Annaka refinery are reported and compared.

Jan 1, 2006

Uranium mining remains controversial in many parts of the world, especially in a post-Fukushima context, and often in areas with significant uranium resources. Although nuclear proponents point to the relatively low carbon intensity of nuclear power compared to fossil fuels, opponents argue that this will be eroded in the future as ore grades decline and energy and greenhouse gas emissions (GGEs) intensity increases as a result. Invariably both sides fail to make use of the increasingly available data reported by existing uranium mines through sustainability reporting ? allowing a comprehensive assessment of recent trends in the energy and GGEs intensity of uranium production, as well as combining this with reported mineral resources to allow more comprehensive modelling of future energy and GGEs intensity. In this study, detailed data is reported for numerous uranium mines around the world, including production, energy and GGEs intensity and reported mineral resources. An important aspect included ? arguably unique and never before published ? is the relationship between ore grade and recovery, which is crucial in future projections of uranium mining. Overall, the paper shows the importance of continuing to improve reporting by the uranium sector as well as the ability to analyse key trends and future projections in energy and GGEs intensity of uranium production.

Aug 1, 2013

By T. R. Raponi

"The Williams Mine, Canada's largest gold mine, processes over 6,000 t/d of ore utilizing SAG/ball milling, leaching and CIP, carbon stripping, electrowinning and refining to produce gold dare bullion.Grinding accounts for over 50% of milling costs with grinding media, power and mill liners making up over 75% of grinding costs. Since 1991, several changes in these areas have been made which have significantly reduced costs, while fineness of grind and mill recovery have both been increased.This paper discusses the changes made in the grinding circuit over the past few years and assesses their impact on operating costs and mill operations.IntroductionThe Williams Mine is located in the Hemlo area of northwestern Ontario, about 40 km east of Marathon. It is operated by the Williams Operation Corporation, which is equally owned by Teck Corp. and Homestake Canada Inc. Canada's largest gold mine, the Williams Mine commenced operation in October 1985 at a rate of 3, 000 t/d. Mill throughputs have typically exceeded design, averaging 3, 397 t/d in 1986, and 3,380 t/d in 1987. In August 1988, production was increased to 6,000 t/d. Throughput averaged 4,212 t/d in 1988. Production increased over the next few years averaging 5,477 t/d in 1989, 6,248 t/d in 1990, 5,987 t/d in 1991, and 6,283 t/d in 1992. With a recovery of over 95.5%, production for the first three quarters in 1993 is averaging 6,408 t/d.GeologyThe main ore body is a steeply dipping conformable zone of microcline-quartz-muscovite rock. It occupies the contact zone between hanging wall metasedimentary rocks and foot wall felsic quartz feldspar porpyritic rocks of possible volcanic or subvolcanic intrusive origin. The ore body is enveloped by muscovite schists which are thickest on the footwall side. The schist is enriched with tourmaline, pyrite, and green mica containing vanadium and barium. The ore body contains pyrite and barite which occurs mostly in laminae and bands to veinlets and breccia fillings. The gold occurs as free (native) grains, 20 to 30 µm in size at grain junctions of the microcline and quartz. Visible gold is rare in the main zone. There are commonly two or more discernable layers of economic value which are separated by weakly gold mineralized material which usually consists of muscovite schist, barite rich zones or sulphide poor-microcline-quartz rock and in the upper and western fringes by biotite rich schist with feldspathic fragmental characteristics. Molybdenite is a common constituent as very fine disseminated grains in the microcline-quartz rock and is most prominent with gold enrichment. Stibnite and realgar are two of the more common accessory sulphides."

Jan 1, 1994

By N. Dahata

Earlier research has indicated that an addition of titanium master alloy to aluminum alloys, results in improved fillability, grain refinement and finer pores. B206 alloy differs from other alloys used in automotive industry, with lower titanium level. This paper examines the effect of alloy chemistry (copper and titanium levels) and grain refinement (A1-5`)oTi- 1%B grain refiner) on grain size, microstructure and microporosity in B206 aluminum alloy. In this study, characterization of grain size, microstructure and microporosity was carried out using light optical microscopy (LOM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Results have shown that the addition of 0.05 wt % titanium resulted in grain refinement of B206 alloy. With an increase in titanium to 0.25 wt further grain refinement, much reduced pore size and uniform distribution of pores resulted. These results suggest that B206 with proper addition of titanium has a promise as an alloy for automotive casting.

Jan 1, 2007

By Y. Nishida, Y. Nara, T. Ishida

Understanding time-dependent deformation and fracturing in rock is essential, because the information of the long-term stability of rock is required for many sub-surface structures excavated in a rock mass. Time-dependent fracture propagation has been invoked as a potential key mechanism responsible for the increase in seismicity preceding earthquake ruptures. In engineering projects and in preventing natural hazards, the study of time-dependent fracturing is necessary. Subcritical crack growth is one of the main causes of time-dependent fracturing in rock. For silicate rocks, subcritical crack growth has been investigated by various researchers. It has been clarified that surrounding environmental conditions (temperature, humidity, and existence of water) have strong influence on subcritical crack growth in silicate rocks. Therefore, the information of subcritical crack growth in silicate rocks has already been enough. On the other hand, information of subcritical crack growth in carbonate rocks is not enough. Especially, the influence of surrounding environment on subcritical crack growth in carbonate rock has not been clarified yet. In this study, we investigate subcritical crack growth in carbonate rock experimentally using a fracture mechanics testing method. Marble obtained in Skopje in Macedonia is used as a carbonate rock sample. The Double Torsion method is used to measure the crack velocity and stress intensity factor. Especially, influence of water on subcritical crack growth in Macedonian marble is investigated. It was shown that the crack velocity in water is much higher than that in air at the same temperature. Based on the results of subcritical crack growth measurements, the long-term strength is evaluated for marble. It was clarified that the long-term strength in water is lower than that in air in marble. It is concluded that water has a remarkable influence on subcritical crack growth in marble. It is also considered that the long-term stability of carbonate rock masses should be ensured in a dry environment.

Jan 1, 2015

By A. Moyano

The development of the traditional converting process performed in a PeirceSmith or Hoboken converter is limited by the investment magnitude associated to the fulfillment of the environmental regulations. Thus, the continuous converting process rather than a conceptual process alternative is becoming a necessity for a smelter facing limited converting capacity and/or lacking of fulfillment of the environmental regulation with its maximum converting capacity. The objective of this paper is to present the progress of the Codelco continuous converting process evaluated at pilot-scale level when converting solid mattes or white metal into blister copper. These tests allowed for gathering of relevant data to be considered for a new stage of evaluating the Codelco continuous converting at industrial-scale test. The pilot-scale tests were done in a Teniente Converter pilot scale unit at the Codelco Norte Smelter. The results of processing solid copper mattes (65-75% Cu) and producing low sulfur content blister copper with production of a constant S02 gas concentration, and the production of liquid slag with low copper solubility was achieved and is discussed in the present paper.

Jan 1, 2007