Copper Worldwide Vol 8 No 4 issue

FOURTH QUARTER 2018

VOLUME 8 |4

See Directory pp25-27

n Key Words: Energy transition Chile example n News: Market forecasts FCX performs Glencore 25% EU debates n Smelting: Mackey on papers Best practice New solutions Experiences n Spotlight: Extraction 2018 full review n Rolling: Danieli tips Aurubis FRP n Thermal Processes: Annealing tips Anode lining design n Inspection: Drone power n Safety: Acid mist capture options n Events: JOGMEC / ACW IMARC / IWCC IERC / ICC / WCC n Contracts: Ecuador plans Norilsk grows New appointees n Supplier Directory New entries and new logos ISSN 2046-9438

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CONTENTS | 1

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Key Words

3

How copper is cleaning up in energy

News

4

Big wind farms; IWCC forecasts; La Farga in focus; Brazil update; New HWI facility; FCX operating to plan; Latest WBMS market statistics; Aurubis works with UN; Glencore’s new deal; Wieland on the move; EU competitiveness

Spotlight

8

Extraction 2018 review from Phillip Mackey

ASIA UPDATE

15

Jonathan Barnes from a top China Forum

Contracts & People

20

Bünger in at Aurubis; Indonesia agreements made; Norilsk Nickel’s green growth; Schenck get Thomas; Wieland solves electrical problems; Elcowire acquisition; Kamper heads Leoni; Ecuador plans mines

Metalex tells you what you need to know about Acid Mist Capture (see Pages 23 - 24)

Inside this issue 21ST CENTURY SMELTING

9-10&12

Extraction, Smelting, Action!

Paper reviews from Ottawa

THERMAL PROCESSING

13 16,17

Advice from Otto Junker on annealing methods

The Mount Isa Smelter in Australia was the first to demonstrate ISASMELTTM technology back in 1987 (see Pages 9 and 17)

refining vessel lining life

FOCUS

EVENTS

19,22

JOGMEC gives pioneering platform; Key notes from ACW in Shanghai; IMARC showcases mining; IWCC TS 2019 Preview; 32nd ICC in Amsterdam; 18th World Copper Conference

Supplier Directory

25-27

HWI improves anode

Check out the new additions

ON ROLLING

14

Optimise your cold rolling operation with Danieli expertise; Aurubis FRP sale stalled

INSPECTION

18

A different fleet of drones; saluting an inspection pioneer

Copper Worldwide Vol 8 No 4

PLANT SAFETY

23,24

Metalex details the compelling case for, and techniques for

effecting, acid mist capture

PRODUCTS

25

Fork lifts; Metal analysis; CRE machines

CANADA/RUSSIA

28

Two very different geographical superpowers compared

Front Cover

MINO is a highly experienced company specialised in the design and manufacturing of hot, cold and foil mills for rolling copper and copper alloy strips down to the minimum strip thicknesses required today by the market (as thin as 6 µm for copper strip). Founded back in 1840, MINO is one of the oldest companies in the field of rolling mills, having supplied since 1970 more than 300 mills for rolling copper, aluminium and steel. The perfect integration of mechanical equipment and automation system of its mills, which are both developed within MINO’s organisation, assures the achievement of the highest quality levels in the product strip. www.mino.it

2 | COPPER WORLDWIDE A-Z

www. c op p e r wor l d w i de. co m

Companies COMPANY NAME

Volume No: 8 Issue No: 04 Date: Fourth Quarter 2018

PAGE NO

COMPANY NAME

PAGE NO

COMPANY NAME

PAGE NO

Alex Stewart International............................... 18

Glencore Technology.................................... 7, 21

Mount Isa Smelter........................................ 1, 17

Publisher: Chris K Holding BSc BEng

Andritz Group................................................... 21

HarbisonWalker International.............. 5, 16, 17

Ningbo Jintian Copper Group......................... 13

Andritz Maerz................................................... 17

Holton Crest...................................................... 25

JX Nippon Mining & metals........................... 19

Publishing Consultant: John Clarke

Anglo American................................................ 10

International Copper Association..................... 3

Niton UK........................................................... 25

Antofagasta.......................................................... 4

32nd International Copper Conference

Norilsk Nickel................................................... 20

Contributing Editors: Phillip Mackey Jonathan Barnes IT/www Contact: webmaster@copperworldwide.com Managing Director: Chris K Holding copper@atrium5.plus.com Published by Metallic Media Ltd 5 Dennis Road Wimborne, Dorset BH21 3NF United Kingdom Tel: +44(0)7731 784798 e-mail: office@copperworldwide.com www.copperworldwide.com Distribution: free to managers involved in the various stages of the copper industry: Production of primary or secondary copper and associated refining; recycling, melting and casting operations; processing of copper by extrusion, rolling and tube/wire drawing for the manufacture of semi-finished products or fabrications; or involved in the manufacture of components and structures from copper alloys; and who are involved in the buying process for equipment and materials.

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The articles within Copper Worldwide are copyright and are the property of the publisher Metallic Media Limited and cannot be reproduced in any media form without permission of the publisher. Application should be made in writing to the above address, or by e-mail to office@copperworldwide.com Reprints of articles and advertisements are available, allow 28 days for delivery. PDF pages available by e-mail. Prices on application to the publisher.

Instead of Reader Reply cards, we are now including a contact website address with stories at the sole discretion of the Editor. You may submit your enquiries with the item titles, page and your full address, telephone, fax using the contact form on: www.copperworldwide.com

Magazine Production Toni Barrington, The Magazine Production Company Shoreham-by-Sea, West Sussex, BN43 5EG, UK Tel: +44 (0)1273 467579 info@magazineproduction.com

(MB Events)................................................... 22

14th Asia Copper Conference (Fastmarkets MB)......................................... 19

ICMM................................................................. 19

7th Asia Copper Week 2018............................. 19

IERC 2019.......................................................... 22

Aurubis........................................... 5, 9, 13, 14, 20

IMARC............................................................... 19

Beijing Antaike Information Development..... 4, 5

International Copper Study Group............. 8, 28

BGRIMM Lilan Consulting....................... 15, 19

International Wrought Copper Council

Otto Junker........................................................ 13 Pan Pacific Copper............................................. 9 Paranapanema..................................................... 4 P. J. Mackey......................................................... 8 PT Inalum.......................................................... 20 RHI Magnesita.................................................... 7

BHP ........................................................... 4, 5, 18

(IWCC)............................................. 3, 4, 15, 19

Boliden........................................................... 3, 22

IWCC Technical Seminar................................ 22

CESCO............................................................... 19

ISASMELT.................................................... 9, 17

CME Group....................................................... 18

J. Barnes............................................................. 15

Codelco........................................................... 3, 24

Jiangxi Copper Corporation.............................. 4

Combilift............................................................ 25

JOGMEC............................................................ 19

Copper Development Association..................... 3

Kansanshi Smelter.............................................. 9

CRU Events................................................. 19, 22

KGHM................................................................ 15

Danieli (Fröhling) Germany........................... 14

La Farga............................................................... 4

Dongying Fangyuan......................................... 10

Leoni.................................................................. 21

(CRU Events)................................................ 19

EcoMetales......................................................... 19

LME..................................................................... 3

TMS.................................................................. 8, 9

Elcowire Group................................................. 21

Luvata Special Products (MMC)...................... 4

Tongling Nonferrous Metals Group........... 4, 15

EU......................................................................... 7

Metalex......................................................... 23, 24

Vedanta Resources.............................................. 7

Fastmarkets MB Events............................. 19, 22

Metsoc.................................................................. 8

Wieland Group........................................ 7, 14, 20

Fitch Solutions.................................................... 5

Miami Smelter (FCX)...................................... 12

World Bureau of Metal Statistics...................... 5

Freeport McMoRan (FCX).......................... 5, 20

Minmetals.......................................................... 19

18th World Copper Conference

Glencore........................................................... 1, 5

MINO........................................................ Cover 1

Rio Tinto............................................................ 20 Roskill............................................................ 4, 15 Schenck Process................................................ 20 SIPS 2018........................................................... 19 SKS process....................................................... 10 SMS group......................................................... 13 Southwire Company........................................... 7 Sulphur 2018 + Sulphuric Acid

(CRU Events)................................................ 22

Advertisers COMPANY NAME

PAGE NO

COMPANY NAME

PAGE NO

COMPANY NAME

PAGE NO

Alex Stewart International... Cover 4, 18, 27, PW

Kopar..........................................................25, PW

Primetals Technologies.................................... 27

Andritz Maerz........................Cover 1, 17, 26, 27

Kumera Corporation....................25, 26, 27, PW

RHI Magnesita.................................... 8, 9, 11, 26

China Nonferrous Metals Processing............... 6

Küttner GmbH................................8, 26, 27, PW

Saint Gobain...................................................... 26

Combilift...................................................... 25, 26 CRU 18th World Copper Conference... Cover 3 Danieli Froehling........................... 14, 15, 26, 27 HarbisonWalker International............ 16, 17, 26

Metalex...........................................23, 25, 27, PW Mettop..................................................25, 26, PW MINO........................................................ Cover 1

Schenck Process..................................26, 27, PW SMS group (PolyMet)....................................... 26 Southwire Company................................ Cover 2 TSK.............................................................25, PW

Heath & Sherwood (1964) ............................... 27

Niton UK........................................................... 25

UrbanGold................................................... 25, 26

Holton Crest...................................................... 25

Otto Junker........................................................ 12

Weir Minerals.................................................... 26

hpl-Neugnadenfelder........................................ 26

PolyMet Solutions.....................................26, PW

Wieland Group.................................................... 7

Another interesting year in prospect – Discover the ISSUES affecting copper now!

The next Vol 9 No 1 issue of Copper Worldwide is published in February 2019. Scheduled features include Electrowinning / Electrorefining, Refinery Technology, Melting and Casting / Molten Metal, Copper Rod, Tube and Wire, Safety and Maintenance, Africa Insight, CESCO Week Preview, Profiles and Reviews, and more. Supporting website www.copperworldwide. com will feature more up-to-date content and event details in 2019, after a ‘quiet’ 2018. Thank you to all advertisers once again. All correspondence welcome.

Copper Worldwide Vol 8 No 4

KEY WORDS | 3

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Copper provides sustainable energy transition The Copper: The Building Block of the Energy Transition workshop took place in London on 5 October, jointly presented by the International Copper Association and the International Wrought Copper Council.

The International Copper Association (ICA) President Anthony C. Lea welcomed nearly 100 attendees to the Churchill Hotel, saying the estimate for the EU to achieve a clean energy transition will require around 25 million tonnes of copper. Mark Loveitt, Secretary General of the International Wrought Copper Council (IWCC), said they were launching their new look website at the end of October.

The workshop’s main theme was ‘Energy Transition Technologies’, with Gu Liangmin of Shanghai MarchWIN Consulting Co., Ltd. first delivering ‘The Impact of China’s One Belt One Road Initiative on Material Demand’ on behalf of China Minmetals.

Belt and Road

New research commissioned by the ICA says China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) will likely increase demand for copper in over 60 Eurasian countries. The research carried out by Shanghai MarchWIN predicts the development strategy will increase copper demand to a total of 6.5 Mt by 2027, a 22% increase on 2017 levels. Wang Yadong, author of the research, explains the development of power infrastructure and transport will require a significant amount of copper: “With annual electricity consumption expected to grow to 2,024 kilowatt-hours per capita, and copper a critical material in power cables and other intensive power equipment, demand for the material will escalate.”

Combined, the direct and indirect impact of the Belt and Road Initiative is projected to account for 2.8 Mt of copper between 2023 and 2027.

Whilst 43.5% of the world’s population live in the 64 countries presently involved with BRI, they only account for 16.1% of world GDP (2016).

Material of choice

A ‘Competitive Analysis of the 2 Million Tonne Appliances Market’ was then presented by Keith Miller, Business Director, The Martec Group. Copper continues to be viewed as the domestic appliance industry’s preferred material, with a predicted 1.9 Mt being used annually by 2022, according to new research by The Martec Group commissioned by the ICA. When it comes to heat transferability, ease of welding, corrosion resistance and much more, copper outperforms potential alternatives. Copper is also embedded in the design of a number of components such as the wire harness and power cords.

The research highlights ovens as an example of where alternative materials are finding it difficult to compete. The global average copper use for an oven is 0.8 kg. The figure consists of a number of components, such as fan motor windings, induction coils, contacts for controls and wiring. With over 39 million large cooking appliance units sold in China alone in 2017, the impact on overall copper demand is significant.

Growth in appliances is predominantly occurring in countries with a developing middle class, namely China and India. Over the last five years, these two countries have experienced a 6 - 10% annual growth rate in appliances. In the next five years, India’s annual growth rate could reach

9 %. Global annual use of equipment wire in appliances was forecast to reach 673 kt, and motors 469 kt respectively, by 2022.

Your motors running

Krisztina Kalman-Schueler, Managing Partner at DMM Advisory Group, spoke on behalf of MetalsPlus on ‘Challenges Affecting Copper in the US$ 120 Billion Motors Market’. She said the Motors & Generators market volume was an estimated 2.13 Mt in 2017, and that MetalsPlus research commissioned by the ICA found copper demand for motors could grow to 2.73 Mt per year by 2022. The largest proportion of material (28%) is found in industrial motors, followed by domestic appliances (19%) and HVACR (17%) respectively.

According to Paul Dewison, Managing Director of MetalsPlus and author of the research, the push towards a low carbon economy is driving change in motor design. Motors use 38% of the total energy of production, so increasing motor efficiency means lower energy consumption.

Responsible sourcing

Georgina Hallett of the London Metal Exchange covered the new ‘LME Position Paper on Responsible Sourcing’, saying the aim of the LME was to help all (copper) brands (currently 92 are listed from 49 producers) and support improvement, without in any way being punitive. The change timeline would be from early 2019 into 2021.

In the introductions, ICA Vice President Steve Kukoda had talked about the LME position paper outlining new proposals for responsible sourcing of metal by listed brands, which sought feedback by 30 November from the market on proposals including a requirement that all brands undertake an OECD “red-flag” assessment to determine “higher” or “lower” focus classification (except for “automatic higher-focus metals” which include cobalt and tin).

Role of copper

Lastly Andrea Vaccari, Director, Health, Environment & Sustainable Development delivered a presentation on ‘Copper’s Role in Sustainable Development’ to the delegates. Sustainable means from mine to Endof-Life and all stages inbetween. Copper contributes to all 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Investment by ICA members in sustainable operations was over US$ 2 bn in 2016, with US$ 1.4 bn going on environmental protection. Examples given included Antofagasta’s Zaldivar mine using 100% renewable energy, and Codelco’s 43,920 m2 solar plant providing 80% of power for the EW plant at Gabriela Mistral.

Boliden Aitik mine automation (CO2 reduction) and FCX Cerro Verde concentrator expansion (energy efficiency) also received honourable mentions. Water-wise, BHP has had a US$ 3.4 bn desalination plant producing 2,500 l/s for Minera Escondida since April 2018. www.copperalliance.org www.coppercouncil.org

Chile cited as good example The ICA’s sustainable copper.org website says much can be learned from Chile regards countries with significant natural resources planning how to achieve the SDGs. Key to Chile’s robust economic development is its inclusive growth, enabling people to earn the wages they need to thrive. Through reforms and policies, Chile reduced its poverty from

40.5 percent just a few decades ago to 8.5 percent today, while quadrupling per capita income. Mining, particularly copper mining, is a central pillar of Chile’s sustainable economic development. Copper mining represents a US$ 24 billion industry, 10 percent of the country’s GDP and an average of 7.8 percent of tax revenue. Copper mining also

Copper Worldwide Vol 8 No 4

employs close to 400,000 people in Chile.

Impressively, copper-mining companies are among the most innovative in the country, with processes and organisational management at double the national average and with significant positive indirect impact on supporting industries. www.sustainablecopper.org

4 | NEWS In brief…

May’s IWCC General Assembly appointed Erwin Mayr, CEO of Wieland-Werke AG, as a Vice-Chair, and CEO of Aurubis, Jürgen Schachler, as a Director. North American copper tube firm Virtus Precision Tube, and Chinese flat rolled products company Ningbo Xingye Shengtai Group became IWCC members in February and May 2018 respectively.

www. c op p e r wor l d w i de. co m

Walney offshore wind farm becomes largest to date

www.coppercouncil.org

Antofagasta Group copper production in Q3 2018 was 188,300 tonnes, 15.4% higher compared to the previous quarter as a result of higher production at all its operations. Production for the first nine months of the year was 505, 500 tonnes, 4.0% lower year-on-year as a result of lower grades. Centinela grades are set to rise in Q4. www.antofagasta.co.uk

Luvata Special Products, a group company of Mitsubishi Materials Corporation (MMC), changed its name to Luvata in June. The company’s website address is below and the email format is now: firstname.lastname@ luvata.com. Visits to the old ‘mmluvata’ website and e-mails sent to xyz@ mmluvata.com will automatically be redirected until the end of 2018. www.luvata.com

In the first half of 2018, Tongling Nonferrous Metals Group Co., Ltd. (TNMG), produced 15,900 tonnes of copper foil, self-produced copper concentrate with copper content of 26,200 t, cathode copper of 650,100 t, sulphuric acid of 1,198,900 t, gold of 4,649 kilograms, silver of 172.37 t, iron concentrate of 204,300 tonnes. www.antaike.com

Olympic Dam copper production decreased by 21 per cent to 33 kt in Q3 as a result of an unplanned acid plant outage in August 2018. Surface operations were suspended for remediation works on the gas converter, sulphur burner and waste heat boiler in the acid plant. Surface operations were expected to ramp up to full capacity during November.

The first Walney wind farm began commercial operation in 2012.

The world’s largest working offshore wind farm - covering an area equal to 20,000 football pitches - has opened off the coast of Cumbria. The £1bn Walney facility already had 102 turbines before the completion of a further 87 earlier this year, dubbed the Walney Extension.

Each turbine stands 623ft (190m) high, about twice the height of London’s Big Ben, with the wind farm covering an area of 55 sq miles

(145 sq km). It can generate 659 megawatts, which is enough power for 600,000 homes. Sitting in the Irish Sea 12 miles (19km) off Barrow-inFurness, the wind farm overtakes the current largest operational facility, London Array, in the Thames Estuary. Danish owner Orsted began onshore construction of the project in 2015. www.orsted.co.uk www.bbc.co.uk

IWCC short-term forecasts The International Wrought Copper Council (IWCC) released its latest six-monthly review of the copper market, and finalised its latest forecasts for copper supply and demand, in mid-October. The forecasts suggest that in 2018 copper mine production might be 20.16 million tonnes. In 2019 mine output is expected to decrease to 19.97 Mt. Refined copper production in 2018 is forecast to be 23.6 Mt. For 2019, refined copper production is forecast to be 24.28 Mt. Demand for refined copper in the EU-28 in 2018 is forecast to be 3.27 Mt, up 3.0% compared with 2017. A further increase of 0.3% is expected for 2019 when refined copper demand might be 3.28 Mt. For China, in 2018 the IWCC now expects reported (or real) demand for refined copper toincrease by

4.7% to 11.72 Mt. For 2019, the forecasts currently suggest reported demand in China might be 12.03 Mt, up 2.7% compared with 2018. The latest forecasts for Japan suggest that refined copper demand in 2018 might increase by 4.6% to 1.044 Mt, with a further increase of 0.8% expected for 2019 taking demand in that year to an expected 1.052 Mt. For the USA the IWCC expects demand for refined copper to increase by 2.8% in 2018 and by a further 2.2% in 2019, taking demand to a possible 1.860 Mt. Taking these and other changes into account, global reported refined copper demand in 2018 is expected to increase by 3.0% to 23.849 Mt. For 2019 the forecasts suggest that refined copper demand might be increased by a further 2.5% to 24.445 Mt. Some of the increase in refined copper demand in 2018

www.bhp.com

Paranapanema shows tentative recovery in Brazil

Reported Jiangxi Copper Co., Ltd. production in H1 2018 includes: 723,900 tonnes of cathode copper, up by 12.26% year on year; 101.8 kt of copper-in-concentrate, down by 2.76% y-o-y; around 2.08 Mt of sulphuric acid, up by 21.58% y-o-y; 472.9 kt of copper rods, up by 2.32% y-o-y; Other copper processing products were 81,700 t, up 9.64% y-o-y.

Cathode output from Paranapanema was broadly unchanged at 103 kt in the year to September compared to the same period of last year.

Aside from processing more of its cathode internally to make wire rod and drawn wire, the Group’s strategy is now focussed o n e x p o r ting m o re re f in e d copper overseas. The company’s production of wire rod and drawn wire expanded by a healthy 7.8%

www.antaike.com

year-on-year in Q1-Q3 2018 to 76 kt against 70 kt in the prior year.

Paranapanema’s strategy for its rod and wire business is now to sell more domestically rather to chase lower margin export sales. It aims to expand its home market share and regain customers that it lost during the economic turmoil of the past couple of years. The Group’s brass mill products output rose 4.8% year-on-year to 31 kt

Copper Worldwide Vol 8 No 4

La Farga to simplify its operational structure Spain’s La Farga announced in October the restructuring of the Group’s trading companies under the La Farga Yourcoppersolutions brand, a merger of the metallurgy Group’s trading companies into a single company, namely LA FARGA YOURCOPPERSOLUTIONS SA. La Farga is restructuring the industrial companies of the family-run business with the main goal of strengthening its strategic positioning and simplifying its operational structure. The new YOURCOPPERSOLUTIONS SA comprises Corporación Metalúrgica Catalana, La Farga Lacambra, La Farga Tub, La Farga Rod, La Farga Tertub AIE, Hidroelèctrica del Voltregà, La Farga Intec and Metalúrgica Catalana.

Inka Guixà, Chief Executive of La Farga, listed the main advantages: “In addition to making operational functioning more agile, the newlymerged Group will facilitate better brand positioning”. The new structure does not involve any changes in terms of production. In 2017, La Farga achieved a turnover of 1,019 million euros (an increase of 32% in respect of 2016). The company has an international presence with a production plant in the USA and two copper tube distribution centres in the UK and France respectively. Thanks to its 383-strong workforce and its philosophy of constantly innovating to improve, La Farga has become one of the world’s leading companies in copper solutions and copper recycling technology. www.lafarga.es

may be attributed to the shortage of high-grade scrap which is used by the fabricators as direct-feed. The latest IWCC forecasts suggest that for 2018 and 2019 the refined copper market might be in a small statistical deficit in each year. www.coppercouncil.org

relative to 29 kt in the same months of 2017.

Roskill view: The Brazilian State Bank had forecast a 2.6% expansion for 2018, but it cut its projection to just 1.6% mid-year due to the nationwide truckers strike in May. More recently, the economic stress in Argentina has adversely affected Brazil as it is one of its most important trading partners. www.roskill.com

NEWS | 5

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New HWI monolithics refractory plant in Ohio HarbisonWalker International (HWI) has opened a state of the art monolithic refractories manufacturing plant in South Point, Ohio. HWI announced in Februar y 2017 that it was investing US$ 30 million to build a technologically advanced refractories plant as the next step in its strategy to continuously improve performance. The plant began shipping products in spring 2018, within its planned schedule and budget. The plant features

and production. Led by Tom Roberts, Plant Manager, the South Point team of 40 highly-trained and highly-skilled technicians and staff operates in a team-based environment. The facility also employs form, fill, and seal advanced packaging technologies that are new to the Nor th American The new HWI monolithic refractories manufacturing plant in South Point, Ohio. refractory market. HWI will also new processes and technology launch a new ERP system in the and utilises lean manufacturing Autumn, which will support every techniques throughout its operations aspect of the company. to maximise material flow efficiency www.thinkhwi.com

Steady outputs for FCX in the Americas Freeport-McMoRan reported thirdquarter 2018 copper sales up 8% at 1.04 billion pounds, a 12% rise on Q3 2017 sales, primarily reflecting higher ore grades and operating rates in Indonesia. Consolidated sales for the year 2018 are expected to approximate 3.8 bn pounds of copper, including 790 M lb of copper in Q4 2018. Average unit net cash costs in third-quarter 2018 were US$ 0.93 per pound of copper and are expected to average US$ 1.06 per pound of copper for the year 2018.

Capital expenditures totalled US$ 0.5 bn (circa US$ 0.4 bn for major mining projects) in third-quarter 2018 and US$ 1.4 bn (circa US$ 0.9 bn for major mining projects) for the first nine months of 2018. Capital expenditures for the year 2018 are expected to approximate US$ 2.0 bn, including US$ 1.2 bn for major mining projects primarily

associated with underground development activities in the Grasberg minerals district in Indonesia and development of the Lone Star oxide project in Arizona.

North America

Through exploration drilling, FCX has identified a significant resource at its wholly owned Lone Star project located near the Safford operation in eastern Arizona. An initial project to develop the Lone Star oxide ores commenced in first-quarter 2018, with first production expected by the end of 2020. Total capital costs, including mine equipment and preproduction stripping, are expected to approximate US$ 850 M and will benefit from the utilisation of existing infrastructure at the adjacent Safford operation. As of 30 September 2018, approximately US$ 200 M has been incurred for this project. Production from the

Lone Star oxide ores is expected to average approximately 200 M lb of copper per year with an approximate 20-year mine life.

South America

FCX Cerro Verde in Peru’s (in which FCX owns a 53.56 percent interest) expanded operations benefit from its large-scale, long-lived reserves and cost efficiencies. The Cerro Verde expansion project expanded the concentrator facilities’ capacity from 120,000 tonnes of ore per day to 360,000 t of ore per day.

During 2018, Cerro Verde received a modified environmental permit allowing it to operate its existing concentrator facilities at rates up to 409,500 t of ore per day. Cerro Verde’s concentrator facilities have average mill throughput rates of 384,800 t of ore per day for the first nine months of 2018. www.fcx.com

WBMS reports resumed China trade data The copper market recorded a deficit of 6.3 kt in January to September 2018, which follows a surplus of 93.8 kt in the whole of 2017. Reported stocks fell during September and closed 72 kt lower than at the end of December 2017. These decreases included net deliveries of 63 kt out of LME warehouses in Asia and Europe.

A sian LME stocks reached a peak for the year so far of 217.8

kt in March 2018. No allowance is made in the consumption calculation for unreported stock changes, particularly in the Chinese government stockpile.

Global consumption for January to September 2018 was 17.53 million tonnes compared with 17.49 Mt for the same months of 2017. Chinese trade data has just become available following a sixmonth delay for technical reasons.

Chinese apparent demand for the period January to September 2018 was 9,228 kt, which was 5 per cent higher than the first three quarters of 2017. EU28 production fell by 1.4 per cent and demand was 2,551 kt, so 0.9 per cent above the January to September 2017 total. In September 2018, refined copper production was 1,963.2 kt and consumption was 2,004.3 kt. www.world-bureau.com

Aurubis implements UN Global Compact principles In July, Aurubis AG published its Communication on Progress 2017 for the ten principles of the UN Global Compact. These principles are divided into the areas of Human Rights, Labor, Environment, and Anti-Corruption. The report shows Aurubis’ progress in carrying out the principles. The company also

documents a variety of measures and activities, as well as the pledges, policies, and management systems established in the Group that are related to the ten principles. For example, Aurubis made significant progress in February 2017 when it entered into a contract to deliver industrial waste heat to enercity.

The energy provider uses it to heat the newly constructed HafenCity East neighbourhood in Hamburg.

Aurubis thus reduced its CO 2 emissions by about 20,000 tonnes beyond its plant boundaries annually.

Aurubis earned EUR 328 M before tax in FY 2017/18. www.aurubis.com

Copper Worldwide Vol 8 No 4

In brief…

World mine production in January to September 2018 was 15.36 million tonnes which was 1.9 per cent higher than in the same period in 2017.

Global refined production for January to September 2018 was 17.52 million tonnes, up 0.3 per cent compared with the previous year with a significant increase recorded in Zambia (up 97 kt) and in Chile (up 61 kt). www.world-bureau.com

BHP Billiton Limited and BHP Billiton Plc changed their names to BHP Group Limited and BHP Group Plc respectively on 19 Nov, and BHP Group Plc’s LSE and JSE ticker changed to ‘BHP’ on 23 Nov, then BHP announced a potential new iron oxide, copper, gold (IOCG) system 65 km SE of its Olympic Dam operations in South Australia on 27 November. www.bhp.com

Glencore’s own-sourced copper production for the first three-quarters of 2018 was up 12% to 1,063,100 tonnes, and own-sourced cobalt output was up 44% to 28.500 tonnes. The restarted Katanga operations had contributed 102,600 t copper in the period. Collahuasi produced 176,800 t copper (+6%), reflecting improved processing plant recoveries. www.glencore.com

On 6 September 2018, the (16th) China International Copper Forum hosted

by Beijing Antaike Information Co., Ltd. was held in Xining City, Qinghai Province. More than 500 delegates gathered around the theme of ‘new era, new economy and new development’.

Participants discussed sustainable development of China’s copper industry. www.glencore.com

As part of its strategic growth plan, Fitch Solutions has announced the launch of its Macro Intelligence Solutions which integrates BMI Research into the Fitch Solutions content suite and combines Fitch Ratings credit insights with BMI expertise, providing clients with one authoritative voice for credit and macro intelligence. www.fitchsolutions.com

Qinghai Copper Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Western Mining Group, officially put into operation its 100,000 tonne cathode copper project on 6 September. Chen Quanxun, President of China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association, attended the ceremony. The project is designed to produce 100,000 tpy of cathode copper and 440,000 tpy of sulphuric acid. www.antaike.com

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Be first for a Glencore Technology 25% guarantee Glencore Technology has introduced the its first 25% performance guarantee, eclipsing the seldomme ntione d 5% pe r form a nce guarantees offered by some of the world’s major-asset mining technology providers. Performance guarantees are used quietly to und e r wr ite p e r for m a nce on major assets in a flowsheet like comminution, flotation and leaching.

Most are quietly negotiated in the contract stages of a project. Most performance guarantees are minor, falling between 5% and 10%.

Glencore Technology Lead Mike Hourn says “GT technologies are developed in the real world. If you look at things like the IsaMill, it came from the need to develop the McArthur River lead-zinc deposit. It needed finer grinding so that the p80 was sub 7 microns. Nothing existed, so it had to be created. From that

Glencore Technology has introduced its first 25% performance guarantee

came the world’s only horizontal fine grinding system. Safe, reliable and delivering what was needed.”

Hourn says it’s the same with the Jameson Cell and that even the relatively new Albion Process atmospheric leaching had been proven and re-proven before being promoted broadly.

“We’ve looked at past installations and put some thinking into it, but the fact remains that the core performance requirements we

Wieland wants you to know With its new branding, Wieland is positioning itself as a partner to its customers: ‘Outstanding m e t a l com p e te nce , a b ro ad product portfolio and effective, future-oriented services are the cornerstones of what Wieland stands for. Modern design, reduced to the essentials, builds on Wieland’s most valuable capital - an excellent reputation and name - confirmed by the daily commitment of its employees worldwide.’

Brand focus

Beginning a new financial year, Wieland is focusing on offering a strong global umbrella brand. The Wieland Group’s acquisition in November of Diversified Metals, Inc., a leading specialty metals distributor based in Massachusetts, USA, and serving customers all

should and do deliver for our technologies are supported by evidence,” he affirms. The result is that for the most popular and demanded technologies, IsaMill fine grinding, Jameson Cell flotation and Albion Process leaching, Glencore Technology has introduced a 25% capital-back performance guarantee.

“In round figures, we have 130 metalliferous installations of IsaMill, all performing as they should; 350 Jameson Cells and they remain best in class; and Albion Process has exceeded expectations in delivering value, ramp-up and performance.

We feel these guarantees are appropriate for a market leader to provide to our clients”, concludes Hourn. The performance guarantees are being rolled out on future projects, for these technologies, from October 2018. www.glencoretechnology.com.au

Sterlite defends record

Southwire releases 2017 Sustainability Report

Building upon the company’s strong commitment to sustainability, Southwire recently launched its 2017 sustainability report, written in accordance with the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Standards: Core option. The online report covers all areas of sustainability a t S o u t hw i re , i n c l u d i n g t h e company’s most significant impacts, opportunities, sustainability goals and strategies, which align with its five tenets - Growing Green, Living Well, Giving Back, Doing Right and Building Worth. “At Southwire, we want to go from good to great,” said President and CEO, Rich Stinson.

Full access to the 2017 sustainability report is available at the below site. southwiresustainability.com

Scrap not just a copper issue

across North America, is also part of its strategy to provide a superior service and extensive product portfolio worldwide. Furthermore, buntmetall amstetten Ges.m.b.H., with locations in Amstetten and Enzesfeld and part of the Wieland Group since 1999, becomes Wieland Austria Ges.m.b.H. as of 1 December 2018 (Wieland Austria Ges.m.b.H., Werk Amstetten, Fabrikstr. 4, 3300 Amstetten. Tel. +43 (0) 7472 / 6060. Email: info.austria@wieland.com).

Wieland’s unceasing research into new and improved copper alloys, products, and processes provides answers and solutions in the fields of power, refrigerating technologies, electromobility, connectivity, and electrical equipment, leading to its justifiable conclusion that ‘Nothing works without Wieland!’. Founded in Ulm in 1820, Wieland today has 485 kt sales, EUR 3 billion turnover and 7,000 employees.

Vedanta Resources issued an updated FAQ document in September which states that its Sterlite Copper plant has been operating within all applicable environmental regulations and standards. The plant has followed Zero Liquid Discharge since inception, and all the effluent is treated and recycled back into operations. The regulator, TNPCB, carries out regular monthly sampling across all village bore wells and has found no abnormalities.

The company has spent over US$ 74.5 million on environmental mitigation measures, particularly flue-gas desulphurisation units with bag filters, modern technology based reverse osmosis plants and evaporators. Interested parties are invited to visit the Thoothukudi plant to see its environmental measures firsthand. See ‘Know the Truth’ / Know the Facts page at the www. sterlitecopper.com website.

The Aluminium Association of India has recently had to refute charges levelled by secondary producers that it was only considering primary producer interests by pressuring the government for increasing import duty on aluminium and scrap by giving wrong figures of shipments.

The Aluminium Secondar y Manufacturers Association and p a r t n e r s M a te r i a l R e c yc li ng Association of India and the All India Non Ferrous Metal Industries Association made the allegations.

A recent report ‘Need for Aluminium Policy in India’ by government think tank NITI Aayog highlights that “(Aluminium) scrap usage in India is diffused and not regulated through standards or end-use restrictions with heavy reliance on imports.

Domestic scrap generation has to be our priority”.

Only five legal car shredding centres will be operating in India in 2019.

www.wieland.com

www.vedantaresources.com

www.business-standard.com

Debators said there are numerous companies in Europe that are fit for global competition, but presentday Europe industrially as a whole lacks ambitious strategic targets, and a long-term industrial vision not only for 2030, but also for 2050.

In the opinion of Reinhold Steiner, international competitiveness is the most crucial issue. Referring to the example of the refractory industry, he expressed his concern about the entire European high-temperature

industry ending up in long-term, strategic dependence on nonEuropean players. “The European refractory industry is currently at risk of suffering collateral damage from the European CO2 trading regime. Despite a strong innovation agenda, we are bound by the fundamental laws of nature, which, by definition, do not permit a reduction of natural, geogenic process emissions,” he said.

Expert discussion on EU industrial strategy The EU is one of the world’s three most important economic-policy actors, alongside the USA and China. If the EU is to strengthen its competitiveness in relation to the USA and Asia, it needs a long-term industry-policy vision, a consistently implemented strategy and substantial efforts on the parts of all stakeholders. This position was endorsed by RHI Magnesita’s Chief Sales Officer (CSO) Reinhold Steiner in a

discussion with Barbara Kappel, Member of the European P a r l i a m e n t , a n d Wo l f g a n g Bur tscher, Deput y Director General of DG Research and Innovation, as well as Markus Beyrer, Director General of BusinessEurope, in a discussion organised by the Federation of Austrian Industries on 11 October in Brussels on the topic of “Europe reloaded - the EU’s industrial strategy in a global economy”.

Copper Worldwide Vol 8 No 4

www.rhimagnesita.com

Introducing…

The driving force of the refractory industry

8 | SPOTLIGHT - EXTRACTION 2018

Modern extractive metallurgy showcased in Ottawa The enthusiasm and interest in metals at the recent upbeat Extraction 2018 conference, which took place from 26 - 29 August 2018 in Ottawa (Ontario), certainly mirrored the buoyant market, writes Phillip Mackey.

World copper mine production is expected to grow around 2% this year and about 1.2% in 2019 according to the International Copper Study Group (ICSG). With such buoyant conditions, a number of large projects have been given the green light, an example being Anglo American’s new copper project in Peru.

Important papers covering all aspects of copper processing were presented at Extraction 2018, and this report highlights some of the key papers in particular regarding copper. This was the first collaborative metallurgy conference in recent times involving all three metallurgical societies in North America - The Metallurgy and Materials Society of CIM or Metsoc (Canada), The Minerals, Metals and Materials the Society (TMS), USA and the Society for Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration (SME), USA, and by all accounts was a truly outstanding event.

Whilst Metsoc expertly handled the logistics of the conference, TMS provided support for paper submissions, organisation and conference marketing, and SMS organised and managed a first- class trade show with around 50 exhibitors. The capable and talented Extraction 2018 Co-chairs, Boyd Davis, Kingston Process Metallurgy, Michael Moats, Missouri University of Science and Technology and Shijie Wang, Rio Tinto Kennecott Utah Copper Corporation are to be congratulated for mounting one of the best extractive metallurgy conferences in a long time.

Paper quality

There were technical papers for everyone, as well as good opportunities for networking.

Extraction 2018 attracted over 700 delegates

Unbenannt-1 1

The Canadian Museum of History features a copper roof

The Grand Hall (INSET: Delegates assembled)

from 42 countries. About 75% of the delegates were from Canada and USA, with very good representation from Europe, Australia, Japan, South Africa and South America.

The following Symposia were held at the conference totalling some 248 high quality papers: the 7th International Symposium on Advances in Sulphide Smelting, the Peter Hayes Symposium on Pyrometallurgical Processing, Hydrometallurgy 2018, the Gordon Ritcey Symposium, Advances in Hydrometallurgical Solution Purification Separations, Processing of Critical Metals and Sulphide Flotation.

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The three Co-chairman and Editors of the conference e-book were assisted by a team of 27 co-editors. ‘Extraction 2018 The Proceedings of the First Global conference on Extractive Metallurgy’ are available to download (2,976 pages in 3 volumes) as an e-book (ISBN 978-3-319-95022-8) for US$ 369 (UK £279.50) from Springer International Publishing (www.springer.com).

The conference dinner was held in the wonderful setting of the Grand Hall of The Canadian Museum of History.

Designed by Douglas Cardinal, a famous Aboriginal architect, the building, which was opened in 1989, is located beside the Ottawa River and represents several features of Canada. Interesting from a metal architectural perspective, the roof of the building consists of over 11,000 m2 or about 90 tonnes of sheet copper. Now nearly some 30 years since the museum was built, the growing green patina of this new building nicely complements that on the older gothic revival-styled Parliament House and the famed Chateau Laurier Hotel located across the river. www.extractionmeeting.org www.historymuseum.ca

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A new global leader in refractories.

Find out more at rhimagnesita.com 21ST CENTURY SMELTING | 9

Extraction 2018 smelting-related papers Sulfide Smelting: Thirty-Five Years of Continuous Efforts to Find New Value Adding Solutions By: G. R. F. Alvear Flores, M. Löbbus, B. Springub, A. Fallah-Mehrjardi and A. Tappe This paper provides a very good overview of the significant industrial developments in copper during the 35 years since the first North American ‘Sulphide Symposium’ was held by TMS in 1983. The 35-year period saw an increase in world copper output by nearly two times - representing a continuous growth rate of nearly 2% per year.

Changes discussed in the paper included: technology, copper concentrate quality covering complexity, supply and destination smelters, thermochemical knowledge, digitalisation and value integration at world plants. The developments in supporting technologies such as refractory design, furnace shell cooling design and freeze lining and techniques to predict and control metallurgical processes were also reviewed.

Figure 1 taken from the paper illustrates the trend in technology development in the period discussed in the paper. The recent rise of new technologies such as Bottom Blowing Technology (BBT) and the Submerged Lance Converting and Refining Technology (SLCR) in China was also examined and discussed.

It was also noted that the new smelters in China are moving quickly towards embracing new, continuous converting technologies to replace the batch Peirce-Smith converter process. The authors also briefly introduced the developments at Aurubis plants to effectively capture value and profitability. There was reference to the exciting new Aurubis project, “Future Complex Metallurgy”. This paper will provide the reader with an excellent review of recent changes in the copper world. Please refer to: Figure 1. Adjusting and developing smelter technology.

Sulfide Smelting Development in Japan During the Past Half Century By: Takahiko Okura and Hiromichi Takebe The huge changes in the Japanese sulphide smelting world were discussed in this paper.

The paper covered not only copper but the other base metals as well. Japan stands second in world copper smelter capacity after China and hence plays a significant role in the industry. Japan pioneered many of the technologies now in use and today commands top place in areas such as plant efficiency, automation, cost effectiveness and environmental control. The developments in Japan since the 1960s were discussed in terms of three phases of development: Phase 1: 1960-1980; Phase 2: 1980-2005 and Phase 3: Developments since 2005. Japanese industry prospered since the 1960s by attention to achieve outstanding technical developments and country-wide supporting research and development. This surely is a model to follow for any other country which may wish to survive technologically in the modern world.

Redesign and Rebuild of the Pan Pacific Copper Flash Smelting Furnace By: Glenn Stevens, Tatsuya Motomura, Tomoya Kawasaki, Misha Mazhar and Gary Walters Some of the world’s best run copper plants are located in Japan. With a production of 740,000 tonnes of copper per year, Pan Pacific Copper is the largest copper producer in Japan, with two smelters and three refineries. The flash furnace at their largest smelter at Saganoseki, with a nominal hourly throughput of 215 tonnes of concentrate per hour, producing some 450,000 tonnes of copper per year, has been in steady operation for over 45 years an exceptional record of achievement for one of the highest-capacity furnaces in the world.

The company recently decided to modernise elements of the furnace structure and hearth

to improve safety and maintenance aspects and to also increase overall plant efficiency.

The re-design and rebuilt efforts, carried out in association with several suppliers including Hatch of Canada, were well described in this interesting paper. The key features of the new furnace re-build, which was completed over a 76-day period, were also described.

The plant expects the new furnace to now be able to operate at rates in excess of 215 tonnes of concentrate per hour, particularly handling the lower grade of copper concentrate now on the market.

ISASMELT™ Technology for Sulfide Smelting By: Ben Hogg, Stanko Nikolic, Paul Voigt and Paul Telford, and, ISASMELT™ - Flexibility in Furnace Design By: Stanko Nikolic, Ben Hogg and Paul Voigt The IsasmeltTM process is one of the major technologies today in copper smelting.

These two papers provide an excellent overview of this technology, in which there have been 21 Isasmelt plants constructed worldwide covering copper, lead and nickel. The technology is based on the use of a vertical, submerged lance to deliver process air and oxygen to the reacting bath which receives concentrate feed and which is contained in a vertical, cylindrical furnace.

The first commercial copper IsasmeltTM plant was commissioned at the Mt. Isa smelter in Australia in 1992. The most recent plant is the Kansanshi smelter in Zambia which commenced in 2015 and now operates at feed rates over 200 tonnes of concentrate per hour.

The paper highlighting ‘Technology’ briefly described the following plants: the Mopani smelter in Zambia, the Kazzinc smelter in Kazakhstan and the Kansanshi smelter in Zambia. The paper includes a list of all copper Isasmelt plants. The paper related to ‘Furnace design’ described the successful development model used by the company of incremental scale-up used in the development of the copper and lead technologies. This approach was reviewed regarding the development of several successful industrial plants now in operation around the world. Upgrades to the design of ancillary equipment such as feed bin design, off-gas handling and the rotary holding furnace were also described.

The paper also described interesting development for improving furnace life including the use of copper coolers for both the Company’s smelting process and their converting process.

Dynamic Modelling of Molten Slag-Matte Interactions in an Industrial Flash Smelting Furnace Settler By: Nadir Ali Khan and Ari Jokilaakso 1 Adjusting and developing smelter technology

Copper Worldwide Vol 8 No 4

10 | 21ST CENTURY SMELTING An important objective in copper smelting is to produce a smelter slag low in copper content.

It is known from published benchmarking studies that for the same matte grade, there is a variation from one plant to another in the copper content of flash furnace slag. The final copper level in this slag includes a soluble copper oxide component and a component based on the degree of entrained matte present as small droplets. A complex range of factors is known to influence each of these components. The present paper is part of efforts to understand slag-matte interactions in the settler section of a flash furnace, and hence develop a better picture of the situation. This particular study, the first report in a multiphase project, was concerned with dynamic modelling of the settling of matte droplets.

The authors also discussed several previous studies in which the effect of the size of the entrained droplets on the level of copper in slag was examined (large droplets settle faster, hence give rise to lower copper levels in slag).

The present study was only concerned with individual settling rates but excluded the effect of droplet coalescence. Consequently, as smaller droplets were included than might be the situation in practice, the present authors found the calculated copper level in slag was higher than that observed. The effect of droplet coalescence on the final copper level in slag will be reported when the Phase 2 study is completed.

Wear Phenomena in Non-ferrous Metal Furnaces By: D. Gregurek, C. Majcenovic, K. Budna, J. Schmidl and A. Spanring The campaign life of a modern pyrometallurgical furnace is a key factor affecting both the efficiency and operating costs at a smelter. This paper by authors at one of the leading refractory supply companies in the world provides an excellent overview of not only wear phenomena but process features that can affect this situation. RHI Magnesita routinely carry out a post-mortem study on samples of worn refractory bricks and as a result can recommend improvements to help improve refractory life. In this paper, examples of refractory attacked by slag, sulphide phases (such as copper matte) are described and discussed.

Development of Continuous Radar Level Measurement for Improved Furnace Feed Control By: Rodney Hundermark, Quintin van Rooyen, Paul van Manen, Chris Steyn, Afshin Sadri and David Chataway The usual method to measure melt level (or height of a concentrate bank) in a furnace is by the age-old use of a “dip stick” or “sounding bar” - that is, a long iron bar is thrust by the operator into the melt down to the hearth, held for several seconds and then withdrawn. The location of visible markings on the bar indicate the vertical position of the phases to be measured. While simple to use, it involves

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2 Schematic of the Dongying Two-Step copper smelter process

operator intervention in a tough working environment and can also represent a safety risk. Anglo-American engineers in South Africa have now developed an effective tool based on radar sensing for the continuous measurement of the height of the concentrate layer in the large, 68 MW Polokwane electric smelting furnace. Knowledge of the concentrate layer in the furnace is an important parameter to help control the (power/concentrate feed) ratio and hence power input to the furnace relative to the feed. The paper describes the effective use of eight radar units installed at points along the furnace. This is considered one more technological step toward a safer, more automated control system for furnace operators. These developments will therefore be watched by other operators (possibly those with different furnace configurations) in the quest for improving pyrometallurgical furnace operations, along with better plant reliability, safety and overall performance.

Case Study on the Application of Research to Operations - Calcium Ferrite Slags By: Stanko Nikolic, Denis Shishin, Peter C. Hayes and Evgueni Jak Calcium ferrite slags, long known in the iron and steel industry, were first introduced for important uses in non-ferrous metallurgy during the early development of the Mitsubishi process in Japan in the late 1960s-early 1970s.

The Mitsubishi process still uses this slag system. Since then, these slags are now used in a number of newer operations. The present paper describes work determining the properties of calcium ferrite slags regarding applications in Top Lance smelting and converting technologies, typified by the IsasmeltTM suite of processes. The paper includes a number of valuable phase diagrams. The paper is a good example of fundamental research carried out at the University of Queensland in Australia contributing to the development of industrial systems in the country.

Two-Step Copper Smelting Process at Dongying Fangyuan Zhi-xiang Cui, Zhi Wang, Hai-bin Wang, Chuan-bing Wei, Peng Hou and Wu-zhao Du A description of the Dongying Two-Step copper smelter process was given in an earlier issue Copper Worldwide Vol 8 No 4

of Copper Worldwide (Vol 7 No 1, pp 17-18).

The present paper by Dongying authors was intended to provide an update on the technology for the industry. The Two Step process includes the main Lance Smelting Furnace (SLS) and the Submerged Lance Converting Refining furnace (SLCR), as in Figure 2. The SLS unit is a 5.5 m by 28.8 long smelting furnace (the largest bath smelting furnace in the world), while the SLCR units are each 4.8 m in diameter by 23 m long.

The paper provides recent performance data, indicating a concentrate rate of 175 tonnes of copper concentrate /hour, corresponding on a yearly basis to approximately of 1.4 million tonnes of copper concentrate per year - an impressive achievement. The actual total hourly feed rate was indicated as 230 tonnes total feed/ hr, with a daily oxygen usage of 1,060 tonnes/ day. Further reports on continuing progress of this interesting process are awaited. Please refer to: Figure 2. Schematic of the Dongying TwoStep copper smelter process.

Investigation of the Oxygen Bottom Blown Copper Smelting Process By: Qinmeng Wang and Xueyi Guo The newly developed oxygen-bottom blowing process is now widely used in China for both lead and copper smelting. It is now referred to by a number of acronyms as different translations emerged, including the SKS process (Shuikoushan process), the BBS (bottom blown smelting), the BBF (bottom blown furnace) and the SLS (Lance Smelting Furnace). The present paper covers fundamental research work in support of the suite of several bottom blowing technologies in China. The application of what was referred to as a new thermodynamic model to examine the process was also included. Importantly, the authors included equations for the entrainment of one phase in another due to bath turbulence; this is required along with the thermodynamic solubility to compute the true content of an element in the phase in question. As the author’s noted, this work followed much earlier studies on this aspect carried out in Canada in the 1970s. The authors show that the total copper level in slag in the SKS process when producing matte of about 72% Cu is 3.2% Cu - somewhat lower than that reported for other bath smelting processes (due to lower turbulence in the SKS). Arising from this result, a number of useful diagrams presenting

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the distribution of Pb, Zn, Bi, As and Sb between matte, slag and gas were presented and compared with data for other copper smelting processes. (Both calculated by the authors and observed data in the field are included).

Thermodynamic Study of the Equilibrium Distribution of Platinum Group Metals Between Slag and Molten Metals and Slag and Copper Matte By: Katsunori Yamaguchi

a tendency for the solubility of Pd in slag to increase (or the above ratio to be lowered) at higher partial pressures of oxygen (higher mate grades) with a higher level of copper in slag (as copper oxide).

Top Submerged Lance Furnace Lining Cooling System Upgrade By: Allan MacRae and Brandon Steinborn

Industrial-orientated research at Universities in Japan has long been supported the Japanese metal industry - and it is considered that this model of working has contributed to the Japanese “success” (also refer to the above paper by Okura et al. on a review of smelting developments in Japan). The present highquality paper by the author from Waseda University in Tokyo is illustrative of these efforts. With increasing amounts of secondary materials such as scrap copper and in particular e-scrap now treated at several copper smelters in Japan, it is essential to have good fundamental data on the deportment of precious metals in a smelter originating from e-scrap such as gold, silver, platinum, palladium and rhodium. The present paper described carefully conducted laboratory experiments under conditions generally typical in a pyrometallurgical smelter furnace to determine the distribution coefficient or ratio, (X in matte / X in slag), where X represents either Pt or Pd. It was found for example that the value of this distribution coefficient was about 200 for both Pt and Pd. This fairly high value suggests that slag losses due to soluble precious metals would be small. It was noted that there was

The Distribution of Sn Between CaO–CuOx– FeOy–SiO2 Slag and Copper Metal at 1,300 °C By: A. Van den Bulck, S. Turner, M. Guo, A. Malfliet and B. Blanpain

The copper smelter at the Miami, Arizona facility is one of the three primary copper smelters in the USA (the other two are the Hayden smelter also in Arizona and the Kennecott smelter in Utah). The Miami plant uses the IsasmeltTM process which commenced operations in 1992 (of interest, the original smelter on this site in Miami began in 1915).

With the objective of improving vessel campaign life and smelter throughput, the plant recently installed new copper cooling elements around the shell from the tap hole area to the furnace roof and also in the gas uptake area. This excellent paper recording these changes provides good details on the design and installation of the new cooling elements.

At the time the paper was prepared - early 2018 - the upgraded unit had been in operation 9.5 months with excellent results. The plant expects campaign life to improve significantly along with an increase in annual concentrate throughput. See also the Miami Smelter article in Copper Worldwide (Vol 8 No 2, page 10).

The recycling of copper scrap material at a copper smelter can often bring unwanted elements not normally associated with primary copper concentrates - an example being tin which can be present in recycled copper scrap.

The present paper from Belgium was therefore concerned with the behaviour of tin, in particular, the smelting of secondary copper, an activity which provides Europe with much of its copper. The study focused on the deportment of tin between slag and copper metal under conditions typical of the fire refining step where final removal of tin can be effected. Working with SO2-Fe2O3-Cu2O-CaO refining slags, it was found that at about the same level of Cu2O in the slag (~ 21%), the ratio, (Sn in slag/Sn in metal) decreased from 14.1 to 7.4 as the level of CaO increased from 2.9% to 4.2%. CaO. For the fire refining of copper for tin removal, a slag with low levels of CaO would therefore be preferred. www.extractionmeeting.org

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UNDERSTAND METALS

THERMAL PROCESSING | 13

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Otto Junker roller hearth furnaces The development of new materials and alloys containing higher nickel and reduced lead levels, and ever-increasing customer demands on material quality, temperature uniformity and process reliability, places exacting requirements on the heat treatment as well.

OTTO JUNKER references for 2017 / 2018 Roller Hearth Furnaces - 7.2 t/h electrically heated Customer Jiangsu Xingrong Copper Co. Ltd., China CNMC Albetter Albronze Co. Ltd., China Toan Phat Copper Tube Joint Stock Company, Vietnam Guangdong Hailiang Copper Co. Ltd., China Ningbo Jintian Copper Group Co. Ltd., Vietnam Ningbo Jintian Copper Group Co. Ltd., China Roller Hearth Furnaces - 4.8 t/h electrically heated Customer METTUBE SDN. BHD., Malaysia An Otto Junker roller hearth furnace. Photo: Otto Junker

As the leading supplier of heat treatment systems for annealing copper and brass alloys, OTTO JUNKER has managed, in the last 30 years, not just to meet but actually to outperform customer expectations. The first important step lies in choosing the proper technology and equipment dimensions. It is very helpful in this context that OTTO JUNKER engineers can draw orientation from more than 50 systems supplied.

New equipment is sized in accordance with the customer’s specification (materials, dimensions, throughput). In modern applications, copper is annealed in a protective atmosphere (typically N2 with up to 4 % H2), whereas for brass alloys an open, direct heating method has been found effective.

Annealing under protective gas

For brass alloys, OTTO JUNKER has delivered a roller hearth furnace operating under 100 % H2. Here one must point out the increased safety standards to be met by seals, vacuum chambers and the entire furnace casing in order to achieve a safe operation. In OTTO JUNKER systems, the protective atmosphere process with the associated absence of oxygen is implemented via vacuum chambers, i.e., solid enclosures which the product enters in indexing manner.

The ambient atmosphere is evacuated to the specified pressure and the chamber is flooded with protective gas. Upon subsequent entry of

the product, no contamination of the furnace atmosphere with oxygen will occur.

The OTTO JUNKER Copper Tube Purging (CTP) system allows level-wound copper coils (LWCs) to be internally purged to obtain ultra-clean internal surfaces. Compared to the traditional manual purging process, this method eliminates multiple steps from the workflow since it does away with individual purging of the coils. The CTP technology offers tailor-made solutions for any application requirement, from simple once-through purging to a monitored purge-and-extract process.

Depending on the geometry and customer process, a distinction must be made between different heating principles, i.e. mass flow and jet heating. Both rely on an intense forced convection process in the furnace that provides high heat transfer at a low excess temperature (the so-called temperature head). This delivers both faster heat-up rates and shorter cycle times, as well as gentler, more reliable heating of the product to within narrow temperature tolerances. Over-annealing, i.e. heating beyond the specified temperature, or irregular temperature distributions in the product (both common phenomena with conventional radiant heating furnaces) are a thing of the past.

In the case of copper alloys, a further key design criterion is the necessary cooling.

Here the objective may be to obtain a defined micro-structure and to prevent re-oxidation.

Aurubis orders SMS group Peirce-Smith converters Hamburg-based Aurubis AG is to take delivery of three new converters, which will be supplied by SMS group and used to produce blister copper.

The converters will be installed at the company’s headquarters in Hamburg. They are scheduled to be put into operation in Autumn 2019. The converters measure 15 ft x 38 ft. Aurubis AG is installing the new converters in order to

strengthen and consolidate its global position as an integrated copper group and the world’s largest copper recycler. The new converter design already takes future optimisation into account to allow for more efficient production processes.

SMS group has been tasked with the engineering, delivery, and installation of the converters. www.aurubis.com

Copper Worldwide Vol 8 No 4

For each of these requirements there exists a matching solution to be coordinated with the customer. Numerous references from all renowned European and global copper and brass producers enable OTTO JUNKER to demonstrate successfully implemented solutions and their results.

In addition, OTTO JUNKER can also draw on experiences and provide recommendations concerning metallurgical requirements.

In addition to the large number of existing reference systems and processes mentioned earlier, the company’s own Technical Center comprises a range of near-industrial level trial systems that can be relied upon to explore special requirements on materials, metallurgical properties, and dimensions.

Apart from the core heat treatment components (the furnace and cooling zones), OTTO JUNKER also supplies the adjoining materials handling equipment. In this respect, the requirements on automation have been rising in recent years. The heat treatment process - including the stacking and destacking of annealing trays if desired - is performed automatically. In a typical application, its integration into the user-supplied materials flow - including product feeding and discharging - represents the most labour-intensive interface.

Here too, automated solutions are available, whether realised in-house or in collaboration with the customer. These range from automatic separation and transfer equipment to semi/ fully automated systems assisted by robots and manipulators, where only a few individual operations that are difficult to automate, e.g. the task of connecting the copper pipe to the internal pipe flushing device, remain to be carried out by hand. www.otto-junker.de

Author: Dipl.-Ing. Jan van Treek, Sales Manager Thermoprocessing Plants

14 | FOCUS ON ROLLING

www. c op p e r wor l d w i de. co m

Process optimisation of copper cold rolling mills DANIELI FRÖHLING provides a process optimisation service to improve productivity and product quality of rolled copper coils.

Reversible cold rolling (Figure 1) is the commonly used industrial process for copper cold metal forming. After surface milling, the copper coil is processed on a 4-hi breakdown rolling mill, followed by intermediate annealing, edge trimming, and further finish rolling down to required thickness. Depending on final material thickness, more complex cold mill types are used like 6-hi rolling mills for thin strip or even 20-hi rolling mills for copper foils.

Although the above production sequence seems simple and straight forward, the challenge is the setup of production flow and machine configurations to receive a final product with optimum features and minimum costs. The complexity of the process route is moreover highly increased with the large assortment of copper and copper alloys for a wide range of applications in the building industry, the electrical and electronics sector, automobile manufacture and communication technology. One can imagine that improvement of quality and productivity in such complex process chain is the most challenging aspect to maintain and improve the producer’s market position.

Defining the target

Although mathematical process optimisation models are available on modern cold mills, they cannot satisfy all aspects in terms of metallurgy and overall production flow. Within the limits of one cold mill, having predefined product entry and exit dimensions, the pass schedule calculation model can calculate dedicated pass schedules and optimise them with respect to the available machine data and physical constraints.

However, still there is need of a process expert to define the target product data, optimise machine configurations and select transition thicknesses between the individual production steps.

1 DANIELI FRÖHLING copper cold rolling mill

2 Strip flatness, before optimisation

3 Strip flatness, after optimisation

This is why DANIELI FRÖHLING is providing such process expertise services.

Firstly, we will carry out an audit and benchmark the process against operations with similar equipment and against worldclass standards. Then we will identify opportunities to improve productivity, yield and product quality and work with your team to prioritise and implement them. A detailed survey of the actual operational practices and reported quality problems is recorded.

Incoming coil quality from upstream lines, and finished material conditions at downstream lines are analysed.

Offline strip flatness

As an example, in particular the strip flatness without strip tension - called “offline strip flatness” - is a major product quality criterion, which gets predominantly visible only in downstream processes like continuous annealing lines or slitting lines. Although the flatness is measured and controlled in the rolling mill, this is only related to “online flatness measurement” under rolling tension, and the offline flatness

4 Product thickness check of rolled copper coil

can significantly differ due to temperature gradients during cooling down of coils after rolling, eccentricity of mandrels and spools, and many further effects. The process expertise investigates the potential reasons for flatness defects, including optimisation of pass schedule reduction strategies, roll grinding profiles and mill setup. An example of an optimisation result at a 20-hi cold finishing mill can be observed in Figures 2 and 3.

With respect to the plant productivity, the total time of process is evaluated. Significant improvements can be achieved by optimisation of reduction schedules, and possible increase of rolling speeds by adaptation of coolant strategy. Furthermore, the mill operation is evaluated with a fresh set of expert eyes to suggest best practice strategies for reduction of production time. Usually on the last day of the service mission, all operators will be trained on identification of flatness errors (see Figure 4), functions of the mill actuators, and successful application of the new mill setups.

The full service is included for all new cold mill installations of DANIELI FRÖHLING, including integration into the production environment, and is frequently conducted on existing lines for performance improvement of new alloys. www.danieli-froehling.de

Author: Frank Otterbach, Executive Sales Manager, Danieli Germany GmbH

European Commission concerns delay Aurubis FRP sale In the course of merger control proceedings regarding the sale of the segment Flat Rolled Products of Aurubis AG (Aurubis) to Wieland Werke AG (Wieland), the European Commission informed Aurubis and Wieland that clearance of the transaction can probably not be achieved with the proposed remedies. Based on its preliminary assessment, the European Commission, to clear the transaction, would currently ask for further remedies that Wieland is not obliged to offer under the agreed Sale and Purchase

Agreement. Therefore, in Aurubis’ view at this stage, execution of the transaction is not any longer more likely than not. The Parties agreed to continue the merger control proceedings to still achieve clearance of the transaction, in particular, based on a revised competitive assessment by the European Commission.

Dr. Erwin Mayr, CEO of the Wieland Group, commented “We do not share, in this form, the Commission’s current assessment that further conditions are necessary to approve the sale Copper Worldwide Vol 8 No 4

of Aurubis AG’s flat rolled products segment to Wieland-Werke”, whilst Jürgen Schachler, Aurubis AG Executive Board Chairman, added “We have always emphasised that we think Wieland-Werke would be a very good owner of our flat rolled products segment.”

Although Aurubis fully supports this approach, the Executive Board has identified strategic alternatives to the transaction as part of a contingency planning. www.aurubis.com

ASIA UPDATE | 15

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2nd Tongling Copper Forum The Chinese copper industry, with a few invited international representatives, gathered in Tongling (‘the Copper City’), Anhui Province, on 18 - 20 September, writes Jonathan Barnes.

Delegates heard presentations from international (IWCC) and domestic Industry Associations (CNMFIA & CMRA), copper producers (KGHM, industry analysts, engineers and academics and to debate the current status and future path of the Mainland’s copper industry. Over 400 delegates were registered, double the number from the same event two years previously. BGRIMM played a major part in inviting speakers for the event. The standard of papers was high, presentation display and translation excellent, and there was much to be learned at this pivotal time in the Chinese copper industry’s evolution, with four field visits on the morning of the final day.

The conference heard that Chinese refined copper consumption was growing solidly at low single digit rates during the first half of 2018, compared to the prior year period. There were hopes that the rate of growth might accelerate further in the second half of the year if the promised State Grid power cable orders were placed after a slow start to 2018 in this important final end-use market for China. The home appliance, HVACR and interconnect industries continue to perform well, although

The stage was set for the 2nd Tongling International Copper Forum

the automotive industry had slowed down quite abruptly. The China Nonferrous Metal Fabrication Industry Association cautioned against further investment in sheet and strip capacity in an already overcrowded market with slim profit margins. The downstream copper industry is moving into the hinterland and away from the coast as it seeks to find cheaper locations and more competitive labour. The general opinion amongst delegates and in the panel discussions was that the Sino-US trade war would be unlikely to affect the Chinese copper industry to any great extent. Indeed, cheaper copper prices would be an undoubted benefit and an aid to consumers.

The conference was also told that the crackdown on the waste content that accompanied copper scrap was here to stay and that these regulations may be tightened further in the future. On the issue of environmental pollution, it was made clear to the conference that the policy of inspections and enforcement would be stepped up as the Government gets to grips with the country’s environmental problems. This would be an issue that the copper smelting and copper fabricating industries would need to adhere to and make greater provision for in the future.

The conference concluded with field trips to the impressive Tongling Copper Museum, the Tongling Anbole Circuit Company, the Tongling Jinvi sheet and strip plant and the massive 400,000 tonne capacity Tongling Copper Smelter. This International conference would next be held in 2020.

Organiser BGRIMM Lilan Consulting Corp.

(BLC), the former marketing research centre of Beijing General Research Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (BGRIMM), was incorporated in December 2014. www.lilanconsulting.com

Scrap regulatory and tariff battles China

Copper scrap imports slumped by 35% in gross weight terms in the year to September following a ban on low grade scrap and the introduction of quotas for higher quality grades, with a complete ban on Category 7 scrap coming into force in 2019 and the prospect of further restrictions on Category 6 scrap and ‘zero’ waste imports scheduled for 2020. Chiho Environmental Group is now looking to set up operations outside China due to tighter restrictions on the copper content of scrap, according a Roskill website News post on 1 November. Chiho is in talks to form joint ventures in South and Southeast Asia to perform the manual disassembly of used electric motors and insulated wires and cables that is presently being done in Taizhou on China’s east coast.

It is aiming for operations in multiple locations In a Bloomberg interview, Goh Kian Guan, CIO, said, “We always expected that environmental regulation would continue to tighten, but what we did not foresee back then was that it would be coming in with such force”.

Copper Worldwide Vol 8 No 4

India

In India, 3,500 recycling units are under threat of closure due to the government’s proposed move to triple or quadruple import duties on non-ferrous metallic scrap, from the current level of 2.5% to 7.5-10%.

These units are owned largely by unorganised sector players. These firms have gradually overcome the transitional phase of shifting from non-tax to the goods and services tax (GST) regime. “Primary metals producers in India do not want secondary metals producers to exist, hence they have lobbied the Government to seek an abnormal rise in import duty on metallic scrap”, according to Kishore Rajpurohit, Director of the Metal Recycling Association of India.

Being a cheaper substitute to the primary metals in India, domestic producers don’t want consumers to receive articles made by secondary producers at lower prices. Roskill’s view is that restricted availability of copper scrap compels producers to replace these shortages with higher purchases of concentrate and anode and blister. Consumers replace scrap shortfalls with cathodes. www.roskill.com

INTENSITY AT WORK 16 | THERMAL PROCESSING

Proving anode vessel lining designs HWI can back up its recommendation to use alumina-chrome refractories in the high wear areas of anode refining vessels Refractory lining designs based on products containing direct-bonded or rebonded fused grain magnesia-chrome have been the industrywide standard for anode refining vessels in all primary copper smelters. These linings are usually zoned with the denser rebonded fused grain material at the severe wear areas at the tuyeres, taphole, skimming ports and charging mouth. This zoning aids to improve the lining performance in these areas, but commonly the vessels must be taken out of service every 4-6 months for maintenance. It has been shown in the past that wear mechanisms leading to severe joint penetration at the skimming ports and significant spalling of the brick in the tuyere areas are a result of copper oxide penetration and reaction.

Copper with over 0.1% O2 can penetrate magnesia-chrome bricks readily and lead to severe bloating and spalling as in-situ oxidation takes place (1). This copper penetration can occur to a depth of 25-30 cm if the lining is insulated with SDFB brick or insulating paper or blanket. The magnesia component of the refractory brick lining at the hot face reacts with the copper oxide to form an expansile solid solution CuO-MgO phase called guggenite (2CuO.MgO). This expansion will often lead to spalling of the hot face in 4-5 cm thick layers (see Figure 1).

Typical magnesia-chrome products suitable for the bottom and roof areas of anode vessels need not be especially formulated for environments where penetration and corrosion by copper oxide rich slag is not to be expected.

Concept

The original concept of using chromic oxide containing refractories was developed in a copper smelter that was using siliceous slags to remove contaminating lead values from the anode copper. The skimming lip of the anode vessel mouth was normally lined with rebonded fused magnesia-chrome bricks installed in place with a standard magnesia-chrome mortar.

After three months the skimming lip would regularly require gunning maintenance to continue in operation. It was found that when the typical magnesia-chrome mortar was replaced with a phosphate-bonded aluminachrome mortar a significant improvement in life was achieved (see Figure 2). This success spurred a trial of alumina-chrome brick and subsequent trials showed that the skimming mouth life could be extended to over nine months without repair or gunning maintenance if the chromic oxide content of the mouth bricks was of the order of 30%.

While the field trials were being conducted, alumina-chrome monolithics and fired brick samples were tested with copper oxide in the laboratory. The copper oxide was placed in

3 Cross-section of alumina-chrome after contact with copper oxide for 4 hours at 1,400°C

1 Severe spalling of magnesia-chrome refractories above the tuyere zone of an anode vessel resulting from copper oxide reaction

4 Photomicrograph of reaction layer between copper oxide and chromic oxide illustrating the development of a reacted copper chromite spinel layer

2 Skimming lip of an anode mouth lined with rebonded magnesia-chrome bricks placed with a phosphate-bonded alumina-chrome mortar

slag cup samples at temperatures of 1,400°C, which is far in excess of the typical working temperatures. These tests were performed to assess the viability for areas in the anode vessels where turbulent copper oxide would pose a severe corrosive effect. Photomicrographs of the slag test samples showed that the copper oxide only penetrated the sample refractories to a depth of 4-5 mm (see Figure 3) and this reacted layer of a copper chromite spinel acted as a barrier to further ingress of copper oxide (Figure 4).

Samples of precast tuyere blocks recovered from the field confirmed that after up to 9 months in operation the bulk of the refractory block remained unimpregnated by any slag from the anode refining process.

Alumina-chrome field trials

The skimming mouth trials and the results of the laboratory work elucidated the considerable corrosion and penetration resistance of chromic oxide to copper oxide slag.

A design was therefore drawn up to develop Copper Worldwide Vol 8 No 4

an anode vessel lining in which all the high wear areas were all zoned with a brick lining to the shell with both alumina-chrome brick and precast monolithic tuyere blocks.

The tuyere area was normally lined with a 21” (533 mm) thick rebonded fused magnesiachrome brick surrounding a pre-drilled 21” rebonded fused grain magnesia-chrome tuyere block. The alumina-chrome materials were configured with a similarly shaped tuyere block in a precast shape surrounded by the aluminachrome brick containing 30% chromic oxide (as shown in Figure 5). The skimming port and charging mouth were bricked using the alumina-chrome brick and phosphate-bonded mortar both containing 30% chromic oxide as shown in Figure 6.

In the smelter where this design was incorporated into the vessel lining the previous lining life was in the order of 3-4 months (35 40,000 tonnes anode copper produced) before maintenance was required on the high wear areas. Generally, it seems that anode vessels using steam and natural gas during reduction (as in this specific smelter) tend to have a lower refractory lining life, but this is more anecdotal than proven with scientific studies.

+1-800-492-8349 / THINKHWI.COM THERMAL PROCESSING | 17

Maassen primed at ANDRITZ Maerz Furnaces Mount Isa Mines The ANDRITZ Maerz sales department for rebrick success non-ferrous metals furnaces has been under new management since April 2018. HeinzWilli Maassen enhances Head of Department Joerg Koehlhofer’s team as sales manager with twenty years of professional experience in sales, marketing and project management. Competent implementation of every specific request up to the individual offer is the business focus of the dynamic sales professional, who has a lot of industry knowledge. Equally important to him, however, are support in current projects as well as advising clients on modernisation and expansion of existing plants. Supported by a team of motivated professionals, Heinz-Willi Maassen will also be able to work on large projects within a reasonable time frame.

Using its wealth of tradition and experience, ANDRITZ Maerz, located in Duesseldorf, Germany and part of the international technology Group ANDRITZ, is a leading supplier of engineering and process technology for the steel, copper and aluminium industries. Active in design, construction, delivery, installation and commissioning of thermal processing plants, the company also offers ancillary facilities for further processing and environmental management.

ANDRITZ provides full competence on any kind of copper furnace solution. www.andritz.com

Re-bricking underway in the anode furnace during the US$ 30 million Mount Isa Copper Smelter shutdown in March and April 2018.

Heinz-Willi Maassen (left), new sales manager for NFM Furnaces at ANDRITZ Maerz, here with NF Department Head, Joerg Koehlhofer.

double the anode copper production before downtime was necessary).

Clear benefits

5 Chrome-alumina precast anode tuyere block surrounded by aluminachrome brick both containing 30% chromic oxide

6 Skimming mouth lined with alumina-chrome brick adjacent to magnesiachrome barrel lining

The average campaign life of the anode vessels before requiring an outage for maintenance to the high wear areas using the alumina-chrome modified configuration was extended to 80,000 - 90,000 tonnes (more than

It is quite apparent that any improvement to the overall refractory life of an anode refining vessel requires zoning of the most severe localised wear areas with particularly corrosion resistant materials. In the areas of the lining where frequent contact with turbulent elevated temperature copper oxide slag occurs, there is little doubt that the use of alumina-chrome brick is warranted. Indeed, these results illustrate a much more important over-arching indication as to further use in other areas of non-ferrous smelters. It has been reported (2) that alumina-chrome linings in an Ausmelt furnace at China Copper Ltd. have performed far better than previous magnesia-chrome linings. During slag penetration into the brick matrix the FeO within the slag and Cr2O3 and Al2O3 from the brick matrix reacted and formed a relatively impenetrable FeO.Cr2O3. Al2O3 spinel layer at the working surface of the lining.

Alumina-chrome refractories were initially developed to withstand the extreme rigours of use in applications such as coal gasifiers, soda-lime glass furnaces and high wear areas of steel reheat furnaces where high temperature fluid iron oxide and siliceous slags are present.

There is a very high probability that extending the application of this class of chromic oxide containing refractories into other specific high wear areas of the smelting and converting Copper Worldwide Vol 8 No 4

Mount Isa Mines successfully completed a 38day, US$ 30 million copper smelter rebrick on time and on budget in March and April 2018, as mentioned in Copper Worldwide Vol 8 No 3 p.24.

Approximately 700 people were engaged on the shutdown, including 230 Glencore employees and nearly 500 contractors from local and regional companies. The shutdown included a number of major maintenance projects including laying 2,500 tonnes of refractory bricks in the ISASMELT furnace, an anode furnace, and two rotary holding furnaces. The furnaces operate at 1,300 deg C, and over time at that heat the bricks erode, needing to be replaced. Richard Harvey, Chief Processing Officer for North Queensland Copper Operations said the shutdown’s success was testament to the dedicated team who had been planning for the project for months. www.mountisamines.com.au

vessels of copper, nickel and lead smelters will yield similarly remarkable improvements in lining life. www.thinkhwi.com References (1) A.J. Rigby. “Controlling the Processing Parameters affecting the Refractory Requirements for Peirce-Smith Converters and Anode Refining Vessels”, Converter and Fire Refining Practices, Edited by A. Ross, T. Warner and K. Scholey. TMS 2005, pp213-222 (2) Zhang Daoyun, Fan Xinli “Analysis of used alumina-chrome brick in Ausmelt copper smelter” Naihuo Cailiao, Vol. 46, 2012, pp200-205

Author: Joe Rigby is presently the Senior Applications Specialist in the Industrial Metals Group of Harbison Walker International. He has been actively involved in the development of refractories and furnace design specifically in the copper/nickel industry for over thirty years. He has published several papers on the refractory selection, design and installation methods of linings for non-ferrous smelters, converters and refining vessels in the COPPER 1999, COPPER 2007 and COPPER 2013 global conferences.

18 | INSPECTION AND ANALYSIS

www. c op p e r wor l d w i de. co m

Up to it - safe drone inspection Advanced drone systems are solving some of the greatest inspection challenges at sea, such as oil platforms, windfarms, bridges, shipping and harbour structures, so what about interior vessel areas? Yes, drones (or UAVs) can also be used to optimise vessel inspection and survey operations. On some vessels, drones fitted with recording equipment can more easily and quickly survey to identify corrosion, deformation and damage to both exterior and interior areas. A key advantage of using drones is that it makes inspections safer. Surveying tanks and confined spaces on board ships can be a risky enterprise, with enclosed cargo holds known to contain noxious and flammable gases. Cargo tanks can sometimes be filled with water during a process known as rafting, which presents an obvious danger to anyone carrying out inspections inside the tanks.

Opting for drones also saves on expensive and time-consuming works for surveyors. Some tanks on ships are more than 25 m high and require scaffolding, hung staging equipment and other specialised solutions such as portable gas detectors, all of which need to be checked and certified for safety.

BHP an early adopter

In early 2017, BHP was already trialling drones fitted with military-grade cameras to provide real time aerial footage and 3D maps of its sites.

This is far cheaper than using planes and the savings in Queensland alone are estimated to

be A$ 5 million a year. Using drones, BHP can more quickly and accurately measure stockpiles, review compliance to design against mine plans and understand where changes are needed to improve safety or boost productivity.

BHP ships more than 300 million tonnes of iron ore, coal and copper to customers around the world annually. More than 1,500 voyages are made, making BHP one of the largest charterers of dry bulk carriers in the world. The company is now trialling drones as a key part of a tabletbased technological package, incorporating artificial intelligence that provides captains a digital view of their ship. The tablet gives the tension of the mooring line, which has major safety benefits. Could the same tablet become a holistic technological package by also delivering ship hold inspection data, draft readings and other critical information captured by drones?

Many advantages

Like the drones being used across other parts of BHP’s operations, marine drones can be programmed to carry out a range of specific tasks: • Inspection of holds • Taking of draft readings • Advising the bridge on the water position of the rudder.

Hold inspection reports would continue to be independent assessments, but the use of drones promises to cut inspection times per hold from an hour to 15 minutes. Each ship usually has

This collision-tolerant UAV is dust, splash and bump resistant, has HD and infrared cameras, and is enclosed in a carbon fibre cage

five to nine holds, which a person checks by climbing down ladders. The inspector has to be physically fit, use fall protection, and carry a parrot (oxygen meter) to make sure there is enough air in the hold, so it all takes a lot of time, according to BHP Vice President of Marketing Freight, Rashpal Bhatti.

Having three or four types of ships with similar hold sizes means you can develop an autonomous inspection process. Drones can capture 4K images, infra-red, and use other types of cameras to show cracks or other specific parameters that cannot be seen with the naked eye.

Ship draft readings are usually done from a boat when the ship is berthed and ready for a cargo. Getting drones onto ships when they are offshore at anchorage is one of the challenges ahead, but drones look up to the task. www.bhp.com

A life of dedication and inspiration Alex Stewart International Company Founder and Group Chairman, Mr. K Alex Stewart passed away peacefully in March 2018. He was 83. Known to his friends as Alex, he founded and commenced work in building his global The inspirational Mr. K Alex Stewart, inspection and analysis who died in March organisation in 1978 after first gaining extensive experience in all aspects of sampling and assaying by working his way up from basic laboratory duties to becoming an Associate and Fellow of the Royal Institute of Chemistry. In 1967 Alex became a Director of Alfred H. Knight and was largely

responsible for the worldwide expansion of the company during the next decade. In 1977 he left to start his own company Alex Stewart Assayers Ltd, more recently he traded as Alex Stewart International, and built his inspection offices and laboratories in Liverpool. The Alex Stewart network of companies became acknowledged and accredited by renowned metal institutions such as IPMI, LME, BIR, LBMA and UKAS. Mr. Stewart was at the vanguard of developing modern assaying techniques and undertook research works in Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy as a new analytical method, especially for the determination of gold and silver.

Later, he introduced his company to the full Platinum Group Analysis associated with both Atomic Absorption and Fire Assay techniques.

Later he was involved in the sampling of complex precious metals. In 2016, Alex Stewart Food

Test Lab was founded, and this completed Alex’s diversification into the analysis and inspection of all commodities traded on international exchanges.

Alex travelled extensively during his time, made lasting friendships and was an ambassador not only for his own company but also for British International Trade. Having a trustworthy partner was a reflection of Alex’s good nature and character and gives reason to why so many have endured down the years. He was a lifelong supporter of Liverpool FC, and frequently travelled with the team on the official club flights to European Cup and Champions League games. At the time of his passing, he was putting the finishing touches to his book “A Certain Chemistry”. His funeral was held in Liverpool on 17 April. www.alexstewartinternational.com

New approved assayer for CME Group Alex Stewart International Corporation Ltd became registered as an Approved Assayer to the Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. Group (CME Group) in May 2018. CME Group is a world leading and diverse derivatives marketplace that handles 3 billion contracts worth approximately

US$ 1 quadrillion annually. The company is proud to begin this affiliation with the CME Group and hopes that the relationship will be a long and fruitful one as ASi develops and further expands its portfolio of services to the metals markets. www.alexstewartinternational.com

Copper Worldwide Vol 8 No 4

Alex Stewart International

EVENT REVIEWS | 19

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Exceptional JOGMEC impurities seminar Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation (JOGMEC) held an expert International Seminar on impurities in copper raw material in mid-October, with the aim of sharing common awareness of this global issue and available technologies for separation of these impurities.

JOGMEC and Japanese copper smelting companies have been studying the separation of impurities from copper raw materials at the mineral processing stage from 2017 as a

national project. Impurities such as arsenic in copper raw material have been increasing in recent years, impacting not only countries which produce copper concentrate, but also countries which smelt copper like Japan.

Here are some key points arising from the event: • J OGMEC has been carrying out research to separate Cu and As minerals by physical separation techniques • J X Nippon Mining & Metals is developing arsenic treatment technology

• EcoMetales (Chile) has processed about 470,000 tonnes of flue dust and 782,000 m3 of acid effluent since 2007, recovering about 90,000 t of copper. More than 12,000 t of arsenic have been disposed as scorodite since 2013.

• Australia, Canada and Japan are leading the way in academic-industrial research into treatment of impurities from copper raw materials. www.jogmec.go.jp

7th Asia Copper Week 2018 Alejandra Wood, Executive Director of Cesco, said over 1,800 people and 60 key leaders, as well as representatives of more than one hundred companies, participated in the 7th Asia Copper Week in mid-November in Shanghai.

The influential 14th Copper Conference, arranged by Fastmarkets MB and co-organised

by Cesco and Minmetals, had around 300 delegates. Raju Daswani, CEO of Fastmarkets MB, opened proceedings by forecasting the average LME copper price would reach 3.18 c/lb in 2019. It was apparent from the event that China’s presence and influence in the copper futures market is growing. Around 25% of copper transactions on the London Metal Exchange are either done by Chinese participants or are for Chinese brands of metal.

Demand for copper options on the SHFE is also set to increase further.

In 2016, China increased direct foreign nonfinancial investment by 44.1%, reaching US$ 170.1 billion. Chinese companies invested in almost 8,000 foreign companies from 164 countries and regions. China is the biggest business partner for more than 120 economies.

Since the middle of this decade, China has

Baldo Prokurica is the Chilean Minister of Mining

promoted inclusive globalisation with a new model of international cooperation by putting the emphasis on infrastructure, investment and development, not only on trade - the Silk Road strategy.

Baldo Prokurica, Chilean Minister of Mining since March 2018, said the present portfolio of 44 new mining projects in Chile required US $ 65 billion of investment, along with the best technology and innovation in areas including water supply. Chile exported over US$ 14 bn worth of copper to China in 2017.

The CEO Summit in midweek, traditionally held prior to the 7th Asia Copper Dinner, used the open-source book entitled ‘Mining for Value’, the joint initiative of leadership advisers Spencer Stuart and Cesco produced earlier in 2018, as a discussion topic.

The International Wrought Copper Council & Shanghai Futures Exchange China Copper Seminar was the final event of the Week.

As well as a demand update from Mark Loveitt, IWCC President, there were excellent papers from BGRIMM Lilan Consulting Corp and others.

The dates for the 8th Asia Copper Week in 2019 are not known at time of publication. www.metalbulletinasia.com www.asiacopperweek.com www.cesco.cl

IMARC delivers top-level agenda Sulphur 2018+ Sulphuric Acid The traditionally Melbourne-based International Mining and Resources Conference is Australia’s largest mining event.

The 2018 Edition brought together over 6,000 leaders and experts from over 90 countries, and many notable presentations, including: International Council of Mining and Metals CEO Tom Butler, who warned that Mining needs to embrace its role as an agent of change for good. In the last five years ICMM members paid over US$ 100 billion in taxes, and currently directly employ more than one million people. Such payments are important in the 15 African countries that are in the top

25 of ICMM’s index of mining dependent countries. ICMM research has found that social progress over the 20 years to 2015 has been fastest in mining-dependent countries.

Antofagasta Chief Executive Officer Ivan Arriagada said that Chile has seen a significant transformation in the energy world towards renewables. In Antofagasta’s case it has increased its percentage of power that comes from renewables to around 21 per cent. At its main site at Los Pelambres, that increases to over 50 per cent The 6th IMARC Conference and Expo will take place from 28 - 31 October 2019.

Early November saw the CRU Sulphur + Sulphuric Acid conference in Gothenburg.

The event regularly attracts over 480 delegates from the relevant sectors.

CRU’s Sulphur + Sulphuric Acid next takes place from 4 - 7 November 2019 in Houston, USA. This will be the 35th year for the event.

Abstracts are to be sent to Amanda Whicher by 24 May 2019 to be considered for the technical agenda. Operators receive reduced registration rates.

www.imarcmelbourne.com

www.events.crugroup.com

Rio faultless for SIPS 2018 The commendable Sustainable Industrial Processing Summit & Exhibition (SIPS) series organised by Flogen continued in early November in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

The Summit featured the 6th International

Symposium on Sustainable Non-ferrous Smelting, the 4th International Symposium qon Sustainable Metals & Alloys Processing.

Complex Metallic Systems and Materials Recycling were also covered with in-depth Copper Worldwide Vol 8 No 4

Symposia as well as Advanced Materials, and Electrochemistry.

SIPS 2019 is scheduled to take place in Cyprus in October. www.flogen.org

20 | CONTRACTS & PEOPLE

Schenck Process gives Thomas digital remit

www. c op p e r wor l d w i de. co m

Bünger appointed to Aurubis Executive Board

The Supervisory Board of Aurubis AG has appointed Dr. Thomas Bünger to the company’s Executive Board as of 1 October 2018. He will be responsible for the Operations division, which he currently heads as Senior Vice President. The new appointment is for three years initially. “In light of the Aurubis strategy of processing increasingly complex raw materials and thus growing into a multi-metal supplier, the Operations division is gaining more significance. The Supervisory Lisa Thomas is the new Marketing Manager for Schenck Process UK Board has decided to incorporate Lisa Thomas has been appointed this division directly in the Executive as Marketing Manager for Schenck Process UK Limited as part of an international marketing team.

Lisa joined Schenck Process in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has entered August, based in the UK office. into a Divestment Agreement on Her career background includes previously agreed economic terms being Marketing and E-commerce with the Indonesian state-owned Manager for 9 years with Polypipe, enterprise PT Indonesia Asahan a leading global manufacturer Aluminium (Persero) (Inalum) in of plastic piping and ventilation connection with Inalum’s acquisition systems, and 5 years working of shares of PT Freeport Indonesia for Fellowes.

(PT-FI). Inalum will acquire for cash With core competencies and consideration of US$ 3.85 billion all experience in digital marketing, of Rio Tinto’s interests associated Lisa will be working alongside with its Joint Venture with PT-FI colleagues to introduce new, (Joint Venture), and 100 percent of informative and customer-friendly FCX’s interests in PT Indocopper digital tools, and expand the Schenck Investama (PT-II), which owns 9.36 Process social media presence. percent of PT-FI. She also has a wide experience Under the terms of the Divestment of other busine ss func tions, Agreement, the Rio Tinto interests including GDPR, project tracking, managing CRM systems as well as working very closely with product development teams. www.schenckprocess.com/uk At the electronica fair in Munich in November, Wieland presented its product range of copper and copper Norilsk Nickel alloy strip for connectors for the in growth plan automotive and electrical industries.

At Norilsk Nickel Annual Capital Due to the high strength combined Markets Day in November, the with good electrical conductivity, company continued towards its high-performance alloys from target to dramatically decrease Wieland can be used to miniaturise sulphur dioxide emissions from electromechanical components smelting operations in Russia by and thus reduce weight. This has at least 4- fold in Norilsk by 2023, a positive effect on the efficiency and 2-fold in Nickel town at the of end products and also on the border with Norway. The first emissions balance in the field of phase achieved 11% reduction of eMobility. Connectors and stamping SO2 emissions at the Polar Division grids are used primarily in the and 30% reduction at Kola Division, automotive industry, connectivity with Norilsk residential area seeing solutions and consumer products a 30 -35% fall. In September (white and brown goods). There 2018, Norilsk Nickel announced are also applications in mechanical the modernisation of Sulphur and plant engineering as well as in production shop at its Copper Plant, the energy sector and renewable construction of sulphur dioxide energies. They are also increasingly capturing facilities, a sulphuric acid used in domestic installation neutralisation plant at Nadezhda technology and smart homes. smelter, and modernisation of the With its AlloyWizard, Wieland presents its digital alloy consultant, Copper smelter. www.nornickel.com which greatly simplifies material

Board,” explained Prof. Fritz Vahrenholt, Supervisory Board Chairman of Aurubis AG. Dr. Bünger studied metallurgy and material science at TU Freiberg, earning his doctorate in non-ferrous metallurgy there in 2006. Since 2005, Dr. Bünger has overseen different production plants, divisions, and sites within the company. In the course of the company’s organisational restructuring on 1 October 2017, he assumed group-wide responsibility for the Operations division as Senior Vice President.

Dr. Thomas Bünger is now on the Aurubis Executive Board

www.aurubis.com

FCX and Rio Tinto enact agreements with PT Inalum will be merged into PT-FI concurrent with Inalum’s acquisition in exchange for a 40 percent share ownership in P T- FI. The a rr a nge me nt s provide for FCX and existing PT-FI shareholders to retain the economics of the revenue and cost sharing arrangements under the Joint Venture. Following completion of the transactions, PT-FI will have an expanded asset base to include the Rio Tinto interests and Inalum’s share ownership will be 51.2 percent of PT-FI (subject to a dividend assignment mechanism to replicate the Joint Venture economics), and FCX’s ownership will be 48.8 percent.

Concurrently Rio Tinto announced it has signed a binding agreement to sell its entire interest in the Grasberg mine in Indonesia to PT Indonesia Asahan Aluminium (Persero) (Inalum), Indonesia’s state mining company, for US$ 3.5 billion. Separately, Inalum has signed a binding agreement with Freeport McMoRan Inc. (FCX) in relation to the future ownership and operation of the Grasberg mine.

Subject to regulatory approvals and conditions being met, completion of the two inter-conditional transactions is expected to occur in the first half of 2019. www.riotinto.com www.fcx.com

Wieland innovates in alloy solutions

Hot-dip tinned strips for the production of electromechanical components, e.g. plug connectors

Press-fit connectors made of Wieland-B16 SUPRALLOY fine-grained bronze

se l e c tion a nd e n a b l e s r a pid comparison of materials.

Comparative displays in the form of spider diagrams and tables are available, as are graphics on resistance to thermal stress relaxation and bendability. The product Wieland-B16 SUPRALLOY is a fine-grain bronze now available

Copper Worldwide Vol 8 No 4

in press-fit thickness 0.64 mm.

Supralloy bronzes from Wieland are ideal for miniaturised connectors in electronic applications. The alloy is characterised by excellent formability in the press-fit zone and enables high spring forces (130 MPa higher yield strength than standard bronze). Wieland-L96 is the green alternative to CuBe2 for miniaturised connectors. With its combination of high tensile strength, resistance to thermal relaxation and excellent formability, L96 is not critical for health and the environment and offers potential for optimised scrap recovery and thus improved recyclability. The rolled product Wieland-K55 R800 with high temper strength is now also available in high thicknesses up to 1.5 mm and offers particularly high spring forces for thick strips.

It is therefore particularly suitable for terminal blocks in electrical engineering. www.wieland-alloywizard.com www.wieland.com

CONTRACTS & PEOPLE | 21

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NKT Railway business acquired by Elcowire Group

Paul Gustavsson is CEO of Elcowire Group. Photo: Elcowire

ICE Train running on catenary system. Photo: Elcowire

The Elcowire Group is the largest manufacturer of copper wire rod in the Nordic region, with operations in Sweden, Germany and China.

The largest unit - Elektrokoppar in Helsingborg, Sweden - produces about 130,000 tonnes of copper wire rod annually. The copper wire rod is refined and processed to form drawn wire for power, telecom and installation cables, profiles for land and submarine cables, commutators

for electric engines and contact wire and other products used in electric powered railways.

In September 2018, Elcowire Group AB entered into an agreement to acquire NKT’s Railway business. Acquiring the Railway business from NKT will strengthen Elcowire Group and give access to a much larger customer base and product portfolio, as well as the required manufacturing capacity.

With combined capabilities, the company will be able to provide excellent customer service and manage large scale global projects.

Paul Gustavsson, CEO Elcowire Group AB, commented: “The acquisition has a perfect strategic fit, to focus on value added products and strengthen our position in the Railway Sector on the global market”. Elcowire Group is one of seven wholly-owned holdings of the family-owned Liljedahl Group, which has 1,300 employees and a turnover of SEK 11 billion annually.

Together, NKT Railway and Elcowire Group (with the companies Isodraht GmbH and Elektrokoppar AB) will be the technology leader for overhead catenary wires including the trademarks Valthermo and Elcorim. NKT Railway is located in Hettstedt, Germany with a sales office in Cologne and a total of 65 employees. The closing of the transaction is subject to regulatory approval and is expected to take place no later than the first quarter of 2019. www.elcowire.com

Fifth mill to Harada for ANDRITZ International technology group ANDRITZ has received an order from the private enterprise Harada Metal Industry Co., Ltd., Japan, to supply a 20-high cold rolling mill in four-column design to produce highprecision quality coils of phosphor bronze with a final strip thickness of 20 microns for its Sendai plant in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. The cold Detailed view of ANDRITZ 20-high cold rolling mill. rolling mill will be designed with Photo: ANDRITZ particular focus on production level, of the first coil is scheduled for the strip shape, and strip thickness first quarter of 2020. tolerances to produce top-quality The ANDRITZ scope of supply coils of phosphor bronze. Production includes the engineering and supply

of tension reels, the main drive gear box and mechanical drive line, the mill stand, the hydraulic and media systems, and the automation and electrical equipment. This order is now the fifth cold rolling mill to be delivered to Harada, thus confirming the long-term and successful cooperation, dating back to 1983, between Harada Metal and ANDRITZ. Harada Metal, founded in 1952, is a renowned Japanese manufacturer of phosphor bronze sheets and strip. www.andritz.com

Haile mine awaits new IsaMill OceanaGold’s Haile Gold Mine is getting an M10,000 (3,000 kW) IsaMillTM from Glencore Technology for ultr af ine grinding dutie s.

OceanaGold’s Chief Development Officer, Mark Cadzow, said the new IsaMillTM will re-grind gold-bearing concentrate from 42 microns to below 13 microns, which will improve leach recovery of the flotation concentrate, at considerably lower maintenance and grinding media costs than previously gained. The new mill is presently en route to South Carolina and installation is set for January. Haile’s new IsaMill™ will process up to 55 tph of Pyritic feed.

It is a hard ore so the mill is going to get some good use.

Glencore Technology has designed the layout and engineering of the complete IsaMill™ plant for the installation The M10,000 IsaMill is on track for Haile Gold to improve maintainability and and controls engineering. Ausenco operability. Design includes mill, were engaged for integration with feed and discharge hoppers and the existing operation. The entire pumps, cyclone cluster, media plant with all equipment and feed dewatering and media handling. and media handling is a 25 by It also includes all structural, piping 13 metre footprint. and electrical, instrumentation www.glencoretechnology.com TM

Copper Worldwide Vol 8 No 4

New CEO to head Leoni transformation

New Leoni CEO Aldo Kamper

Aldo Kamper took up his position as Leoni’s new Chief Executive Officer on 1 September 2018.

One of his principal tasks will be to drive the company’s transformation forward together with the existing Board of Directors team: Leoni is realigning with a view to the increasing digitalisation as well as such future trends as electromobility and autonomous driving, and is positioning itself in the automotive sector and other industries as a global provider of energy and data management solutions.

“The transformation towards becoming a solutions provider as well as development and systems partner to customers, has already started” said Kamper. www.leoni.com

Ecuador to grow its mining sector Ecuador’s newly appointed Vice Minister of Mines, Fernando L. Benalcazar, told delegates at IMARC 2018 in Melbourne that his country has put plans in motion to grow mining from 1.55 % of GDP in 2017/18 to 4 % of GDP by 2021. The Ecuadorian Government has created a new Super Ministry for Energy and Non-renewable Resources. The Minister will hold responsibility for the strategic development of the sector, and Ecuador would be releasing a formal Government policy to make the mining industry a long-term key economic driver.

The Vice Minister announced five major projects close to production.

Three in gold and silver, and two in copper: • Mirador - set to start production in 2019 with a LOM production of 2.8 Mt of Cu, 52.7 t of Au and 565 t of Ag • S an Carlos Panantza - Inferred resources of 6.6 Mt of Cu. www.imarcmelbourne.com

22 | EVENT PREVIEWS

www. c op p e r wor l dw i de. co m

IWCC Technical Seminar 2019 The International Wrought Copper Council’s annual Technical Seminar in 2019 will be held from 3 - 7 March in Shanghai, 12 years since the Seminar was last held in China. With so much change in the copper industry in China over this period, next year’s seminar is shaping up to be an event not to be missed.

With the 2018 Technical Seminar focussing on the deformation process, next year’s event will cover the latest in ‘downstream processes’ in the semis manufacturing process.

This will include topics such as thermal treatment, surface treatment and technologies, flatness improvement, slitting, logistics, and measurement and testing. The latest developments will be covered in 24 papers delivered over 2 days by expert international speakers from leading copper fabricators, equipment manufacturers, and academics.

Each paper will be followed by the opportunity for delegates to ask questions and the event will have simultaneous interpretation between English, Chinese, Korean and Japanese.

Building on the success of previous years, 2019 will also include a full Plant Visit programme to some of the leading copper semis fabrication facilities in China. Following the formal Seminar in Shanghai on the 4th and 5th March, on Wednesday 6th delegates will leave Shanghai and catch a high-speed train 3 hours west to the copper producing and fabricating hub located in the city of Tongling in Anhui province. ‘Tongling’, the name of the city hosting the plant visits, roughly translates

The 2018 IWCC TS took place in Chicago

as ‘Copper Hill’ in English. Here, delegates will receive a welcome Seminar presentation organised by the Tongling local government, followed by visits to some of the leading copper fabricator production sites in the area, which is expected to include Tongling Non-Ferrous Group and Hailiang.

As in previous years, the format of the Seminar will also provide ample opportunity for networking and knowledge sharing between delegates over the course of the week.

This includes a city tour of Shanghai and

the traditional welcome reception on the first night, as well as two dinner events giving time and space to discuss the day’s papers in a less formal setting.

The IWCC Technical Seminar is a unique event bringing together experts from copper fabricators, academics and leading equipment suppliers to present the latest technology, techniques and innovation in copper fabrication, combined with on-site visits and meetings with the copper fabricating industry in the host country. The programme of papers, events and plant visits in 2019 should prove to be another fascinating, productive, informative and enjoyable week. For more information and to find out how to register (forms due to be available during November) to attend, please visit the IWCC website.

Joint Meeting

The IWCC 2019 Joint Meeting will take place in Santiago, Chile from 3-7 April, a month earlier than usual. This is because that IWCC event will take place during the week leading up to CESCO week, to enable authorised participants to attend both events. www.coppercouncil.org

IERC Electronics Recycling 2019

Plenary Round Table discussion at IERC 2018

The exhibition area has over 60 stands

The 18th International Electronics Recycling Congress IERC 2019 takes place in Salzburg, Austria from 16 - 18 January 2019. The IERC 2019 is one of the recycling industry’s most important events, bringing together over 500

international producers, recyclers, equipment manufacturers, recycling associations, refurbishers, standards bodies, NGOs, regulators and many more. The experts will discuss the latest recycling technologies,

32nd International Copper Conference The 32nd International Copper Conference takes place from 11 - 13 March 2019 in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, organised by Fastmarkets MB Events. Whilst the growth in green energy, especially the boom in the electric vehicle market, has led to an increase in the demand for copper, a lack of new mines and stricter environmental regulations could limit the market’s ability to meet that demand.

The International Copper Conference series covers the entire supply chain including

miners, smelters, refiners, fabricators, finished product producers and end users.

The trader, consultant, and technology parts of the market are also discussed.

Attend to find out from industry experts where the biggest opportunities lie and how you can capitalise on them.

Upwards of 170 delegates are expected at the Renaissance Amsterdam Hotel. www.metalbulletin.com/events www.fastmarkets.com/events

Copper Worldwide Vol 8 No 4

regulations, manufacturing processes and values of raw materials. Some of the key focus areas will be: • Challenges of the Circular Economy regarding metals and plastics • Worldwide take-back schemes, quotas and challenges faced by OEMs • The role of recycling in the achievement of the sustainable development goals • Business opportunities and models in emerging markets • Innovation in recycling technologies.

The challenges and opportunities of shipments of WEEE are a keynote theme. Event sponsors include Aurubis, Boliden, MTB Recycling and Sims Recycling. www.icm.ch

World Copper 2019 CRUs 18th World Copper Conference takes place from 8-10 April 2019 in Santiago, Chile.

The WCC attracts over 500 delegates during CESCO Week. The conference is known for its excellent content and for giving a complete panorama of the challenges and opportunities facing the industry. Further details will be posted in the Copper Worldwide Vol 9 No 1 First Quarter issue. Sponsors signed up already include Bechtel, Collahuasi and Jacobs. www.events.crugroup.com

PLANT SAFETY | 23

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METALEX Corner 3 Importance of acid mist capturing This is a continuation of a series of Metalex articles on Copper Electrowinning. Here the focus is on a very relevant aspect of the technology related to Health and Safety.

Acid mist is generated at the anode by the decomposition of water which generates oxygen bubbles. These bubbles leave the bath wetted with electrolyte which contains sulphuric acid, so when they reach the electrolyte level and burst, they generate a mist which is released to the ambient air, affecting workers, facilities and equipment. It has not been until the last two decades that acid mist has been judged as a cancer agent to humans (see Figure 1) and it has become evident that preventive measures are necessary.

The article ‘Sulfuric Acid Mist Judged Cancer Agent’, which was published in UE News, December 1998 stated: The International Agency for Research into Cancer (IARC) has classified sulphuric acid mists as causing cancer in humans.

Specifically, the IARC concluded, “There is sufficient evidence that occupational exposure to strong inorganic acid mists containing sulphuric acid is carcinogenic.”

The American Conference of Government Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) had for several years already listed sulphuric acid mists as a “suspected human carcinogen.”

These conclusions were based on worker health studies in a number of industries involving exposure to sulphuric acid mists.

Workers in fertiliser plants, steel pickling plants and chemical and soap manufacturing have shown increases in lung, nasal and larynx cancers. An acid mist is a suspension of acid droplets in air (skin or eye contacts with sulphuric acid, while dangerous in their own right, do not appear to cause increased rates of cancer).

Impact of new regulations

Exposure limits (ELs) to acid mist in many countries have been reduced, and it is likely that other countries will follow suit. Table 1 provides data for the acceptable levels in different countries: The European Community has in particular enforced new regulations to provide safer working conditions, reflected in the establishment by law of a new parameter which now is defined as the thoracic fraction.

The new ELs are a significant reduction from earlier limits. EL was reduced by the European Commission (2009) recommending member countries to reduce the accepted level from 1 mg/m3 (inhalable fraction) to 0.05 mg/ m3 (thoracic fraction). This is the lowest EL enforced in the world.

Brazil, Canada and USA apply a limit of 0.2 mg/m3 as PM10 for thoracic fraction.

It is possible that this may be reduced further to 0.1 mg/m3 (inhalable fraction)

Table 1. Exposure limits for sulphuric acid mist in various countries (ESAA 2007)

TLV-TWA-8h (mg/m3)

TLV-TWA-12h (mg/m3)

Country Inhalable Thoracic Inhalable Thoracic TLV-STEL Reference PM100 PM10 PM100 PM10 (mg/m3) Australia

1

-

0.66

3

Brazil 0.2d

0.13d

Canada

0.13

-

0.2

Chile 0.8a,b -

0.53

(Safe work Australia 2012) (ACGIH 2004)

-

(WorksafeBC 2011a)

3a,b

(Chilean Ministry of Health 1999)

China 1 2

(Ministry of Health of the People’s Republic of China 2007)

European Union -

(European Commission 2009)

0.05 c

0.03

Japan 1

(The Japan Society for Occupational Health 2010)

Peru

(Ministry of Health - Peru 2005)

1

USA 1

(OSHA 2011)

(ACGIH 2004)

California

0.2

0.13

0.1

(Health Expert Advisory Committee 2008)

USA (proposed) 8-h day/48-h week.

Correction by altitude if EW plant is located more than 1000m above sea level, maximum air velocity cannot exceed 1m/s (Chilean Ministry of Health 1999). c Compliance by member states of the European Union was required by December 18, 2011. d Sulfuric acid mist is not listed in the table of tolerance limits (Ministry of Labor and Employment, Brasil 2008) and thus the ACGIH TLV are used (Section 9.3.5.1 in Ministry of Labor and Employment, Brasil 1995). a b

if a recommendation by the California OSHA Health Expert Advisory Committee (2008) is accepted.

Due to the impossibility of practical measuring of the thoracic fraction, it is accepted as an industry standard as an equivalent condition of inhalable fraction defined as 0.1 mg/Nm3 which is the level of emission the design should comply with.

This level of compliance is unknown to the copper industry, whether in copper electrowinning and/or electrorefining, therefore there is no practical evidence to be found.

Table 2. Concentrations at which acid mist is able to be detected by odour, taste or irritation - Amdur, Silverman and Drinker (1952) cited in Ku (2008)

H2SO4 (mg/m3)

Response

1 Could not be detected by odour, taste oar irritation 3 Noticed by all 5 Very objectionable

to some

Available technologies

Many tankhouses using surfactants, balls, and even hoods, would find it difficult to attain these threshold limit values (TLVs). Although much work has been done to reduce acid mist levels, the new lower TLVs will require some operations to find ways to reduce the exposure of their employees to acid mist further.

The following is a brief update of the existing technologies aiming to capture acid mist:

Human perception

Acid mist can be detected by odour, but its perception is well above the maximum acceptable level. In practice this means that detecting acid mist means by odour is far from a preventive measure as indicated in Table 2.

Cell hoods

These have been introduced by two known

Table 3. Electrowinning operations using hoods supplied by SAME

Company

Operation

Country

Metal Cells Cathodes/Cell Hoods Year

Anglo American

Los Broncos

Chile

Cu

30

60

60

1998

Anglo American

San Francisco

Chile

Cu

66

60

132

2002

Stillwater

Montana

USA

Cu 10 44

10 2002

BHP Billiton

Escondida - Oxide

Chile

Cu

480

60

480

2003

INCO

Voisey’s Bay

Canada

Ni

1

14

2

2005

BHP Billiton

Escondida - Sulfide

Chile

Cu

568

60

568

2006

BHP Billiton

Spence

Chile

Cu

378

78

378

2006

Anglo American

Metroplitan Region

Chile

Cu

72

60

138

2006

Sierra Miranda

Antofagasta

Chile

Cu

60

31

60

2006

Nickel Plant

Africa

South Africa

Ni

2

45

2

2006

Anglo Platinum

Rustenburg

South Africa

Ni

208

48

208

2007

Anglo Platinum

Rustenburg

South Africa

Cu

180

45/40

180

2007

Sepon Copper

Sepon

Laos

Cu

166

84

166

2008

Copper Worldwide Vol 8 No 4

24 | PLANT SAFETY

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Table 4. Electrowinning operations using hoods supplied by Outotec

Company

Operation

Country Metal

Hoods Year

OMG Kokkola

OMG

Finland

Cu

41

2001

Russian Copper Company

Gumeshevsky*

Russia

Cu

14

2004

Penoles

Milpillas

Mexico Cu

110

2006

Minera Milpo

Chapi

Peru

50

2008

Cu

Codelco

Minera Gaby

Chile

Cu

504

2008

Inmet Mining Corporation

Cobre las Cruces

Spain

Cu

144

2009

Ural Mining & Metallurgy Company

UMMC

Russia

Cu

6

2009

Assarel-Medet JSC

Assarel

Bulgaria

Cu

10

2010

Russian Copper Company ZAO

Miheevsky

Russia

Cu

14

2010

Southern Copper Corp

Tia Maria*

Peru

Cu

270

2011

Minera Lumina

Caserones*

Chile

Cu

60

2012

Table 5. Average efficiencies of control measures in existing plant

Scenario Control Measures

Average Emission Rate (lb/hr)

Control Efficiency (1)

Adjusted Control Efficiency (1,2)

1A

No Controls

0.0076

N/A

N/A

1D

Scrubber only

0.0066

13% (3)

13% (3)

1E

ECaps only

0.00047

94%

94%

2A

Surfactant only

0.0011

86%

86%

2B

Surfactant & ECaps

0.00035

95%

96%

2C

Surfactant, ECaps & Scrubber

0.00035

95%

96%

1 Control efficiency is calculated based on 3-run average emission rates compared to the Scenario 1a 3-run average emission rate 2 Adjusted control efficiency is calculated based on the outlet emission rates after adjusting for inlet H2SO4 concentrations 3 Control efficiency of Scenario 1d indicates what is controlled from being released into the tankhouse and represents the capture efficiency of the scrubber system.

suppliers, as indicated in Tables 3 and 4, but there is neither evidence nor public information of compliance to the new standard.

The latest entries by SAME are the Phoenix Project in the USA (2013) and Vale’s LHPP in Canada (2013). Independent manufacturers have supplied hoods of other origins to plants in Kazakhstan (Benkala Copper) and Mongolia (Achit Ikht Copper).

Among the problems faced by plants using hoods, the main ones reported are as follows: • Damage due to burning requires excessive maintenance and replacement • Connectors to cell are frequently damaged and need replacement • Crystallisation of copper sulphate underneath the hoods causing severe corrosion problems to electrodes hanger bars and welds • Use of high air suction flows cools the top of the cell, contributing to crystallisation and reduction of temperature of the bath, demanding additional heating of cell feed electrolyte.

• Handling of hoods requires cranes with additional features to remove them to allow cell harvesting. This is reflected as extra capital expenditure and as extra cycle time, reducing crane efficiency.

• Cells are open to emissions when hoods are removed for harvesting, which in some plants is reduced by use of surfactants and/ or balls. Impact of emissions are mainly on cranes, building and personnel assisting the harvesting process.

No public results are available of measurements confirming compliance to regulations.

Anode Caps - ECaps

An alternative solution is found in the industry at Asarco Silver Bay Plant in Marana, Arizona (USA) operating since 2008 in compliance with EPA regulations (USA), a regulation followed by most countries. This concept of acid mist capturing is described in Figures 2 and 3 and is known as Anode Caps. The hardware consists of

1 Occupational risk of sulphuric acid mist exposure

2 Anode Cap - general concept

3 Residual mist or gas is suctioned through the overflow box into the lean electrolyte collection pipe and conveyed to a scrubber

providing each anode with a cap and permeable flaps aiming to act as a gas filter to release clean oxygen to the ambient air. The permeable flaps seal against both the cathode blade above the electrolyte level and cell walls, forming a chamber. Oxygen bubbles wetted with electrolyte permeate through the flaps, where Copper Worldwide Vol 8 No 4

4 Preparing anodes with ECaps for installation

electrolyte is retained by the filtration media, releasing only dry oxygen to the ambient air.

Any residual mist or gas not released through the anode flaps is suctioned through the overflow box into the lean electrolyte collection pipe and conveyed through the pipe to a scrubber located at the end of the pipe which acts as a vent. This concept is shown in Figure 3.

The plant using this feature since 2008 indicates there is a real effect in capturing the acid mist, and until now the plant has operated according to EPA regulations.

An evaluation of comparable capturing measures is shown in Table 5.

What can be concluded from the available results is the capturing of around 94% of the emissions with ECaps only. Use of foaming agents only contributes to increase capturing efficiency by 2%, which is expected and an equivalent result to when using other known primary means of acid mist capturing, such as beads or small balls in the range of 10 - 20 mm, as used in some plants as the only measure. It is also noticeable that the scrubber does not increase the recovery but is used to assure there is always a negative pressure below the ECaps and evacuation to the scrubber is secured.

Figure 4 shows anodes with ECaps installed.

ECaps have the following benefits: • Permanently on anodes and do not need to be removed by crane • Washable in situ • Capture the acid mist below the electrode level, therefore not generating crystallisation on hanger bars nor contact. Any liquid retained by the brushes falls to the bath • Friendly to harvesting of cathodes as they act as guides to avoid the swinging of cathodes during harvesting and reinstallation of clean cathodes • In conjunction with the scrubber, they capture the acid mist with minimum release to ambient. If needed a demister can be added to the scrubber • Heat is recovered in the cell and reduced consumption of electrolyte heating is required • Brushes wash the electrolyte when cathodes are removed, reducing housekeeping and washing of cathodes in situ prior to stripping.

• Should any element be replaced, the individual anode needs to be removed and replaced only, not affecting the cell performance. www.metalex.cl

Author: Alejandro Lillo, President, Metalex

25 | PRODUCT INFORMATION

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EQUIPMENT AND MATERIALS PURCHASING

New GM for fork lift maker

BULK MATERIAL HANDLING Ireland’s Combilift has appointed Gerard Smith as General Manager, to support strategic growth. Gerard reports directly to Founders Robert Moffett and Martin McVicar as of 13 August 2018. He is responsible for finance, HR, supply chain, purchasing, IT, marketing, aftersales aspects of the business and provides support and direction to the Operations team, including H&S, production, facilities, maintenance and lean/quality. Gerard’s most recent position was the Operations Director for Terex Material Processing Group. Combilift trucks and specialist vehicles are used in extrusion plants, metal stockists

Kopar Oy

Gerard Smith is General Manager at Combilift

Sepänkatu 2 FI-39700 Parkano Finland Tel: +358 3 440180 E-mail: sales@kopar.fi Web: www.kopar.fi

CONCENTRATE DRYING Tsukishima Kikai Co Ltd

and other multimetal processing sites all over the world. www.combilift.com

3-5-1, Harumi, Chuo-Ku Tokyo, 104-0053, Japan Tel: 0081 3 5560 6427 Fax: 0081 3 5560 0575 Email: t_hayakawa@tsk-g.co.jp Web: www.tsk-g.co.jp Contact: Tomoki Hayakawa

CONTINUOUS ROTARY EXTRUSION Holton Crest Limited

The ChemLite™ Plus (INSET) is a breakthrough in handheld metals analysis

Whilst traditional XRF tools are easy to break and costly to repair, this new analyser is fast, tough, safe, and precise, and regulationfree. Designed for heavy use, it delivers fast precise readings of light metals and alloys you couldn’t identify before. TSI’s laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS analyser) is the most accurate available. With the easy-to-use ChemLite Plus analyser, you can identify, verify, and ensure your materials are what they need to be. www.nitonuk.co.uk

Continuous rotary extruders With a wealth of experience in both mechanical and process engineering, all Holton Crest machines are specifically designed around optimising the continuous rotary extrusion (CRE) process for the best possible production output. Over the last two years, Holton Crest has designed and installed extrusion systems in five different configurations, from 1 wire in and 1 product out to dual inputs and outputs and particle feed.

Holton Crest has a single-minded focus on providing a full ‘end to end’ service, maintaining optimum

Metalex

Hernando de Aguirre 162 Of. 806 Santiago, Chile Tel: 0056 2335 2217 Fax: 0056 2321 8280 E-mail: alillo@metalex.cl Web: www.metalex.cl Contact: Alejandro (Alex) R. Lillo

Mettop GmbH

Individualised Combi-CB models

Rapid scrap metals analysis

The handheld ChemLite™ Plus Metals Analyser 4240 available from Niton UK measures aluminium, magnesium, titanium, iron, copper and nickel in as little as 1 second. This latest model of ChemLite measures faster with improved limits of detection. The ChemLite™ Plus Metals Analyser 4240 incorporates the same great features as the original ChemLite model, including: • Class 1M, eye-safe laser technology • Argon-free operation • Advanced user interface • Built-in cleaning mode • Large spot size.

ELECTROLYTIC REFINING

10 Cowley Road, Poole, Dorset BH17 0UJ, UK Tel: +44 1202 681 501 Fax: +44 1202 681 502 Email: info@holtoncrest.com Web: www.holtoncrest.com Contact: Malcolm Ladd

Peter-Tunner-Strasse 4 A-8700 Leoben Austria Tel: 0043 (0)3842 81787 Fax: 0043 (0)3842 1787-8 E-mail: cu@mettop.com Web: www.mettop.com Contact: Dr. Andreas Filzwieser

ELECTRONIC SCRAP RECYCLING UrbanGold GmbH

Peter-Tunner-Str. 4 A-8700 Leoben Austria Tel: 0043 (0)664 88364080 E-mail: www.urbangold.at Web: recycling@urbangold.at Contact: Dr. Stefan Konetschnik

ELECTROWINNING

COOLING SOLUTIONS Mettop GmbH

Metalex

Peter-Tunner-Str. 4 A-8700 Leoben Austria Tel: 0043 (0)3842 81787 Fax: 0043 (0)3842 1787-8 E-mail: cu@mettop.com Web: www.mettop.com Contact: Dr. Andreas Filzwieser

Hernando de Aguirre 162 Of. 806 Santiago, Chile Tel: 0056 2335 2217 Fax: 0056 2321 8280 E-mail: alillo@metalex.cl Web: www.metalex.cl Contact: Alejandro (Alex) R. Lillo

ELECTROLYTE PURIFICATION

FURNACES Kumera Corporation

Metalex

The ChemLite™ Plus (INSET) is a breakthrough in handheld metals analysis

production levels by managing the process effectively, and keeping customers’ machines running at all times. www.holtoncrest.com

Hernando de Aguirre 162 Of. 806 Santiago, Chile Tel: 0056 2335 2217 Fax: 0056 2321 8280 E-mail: alillo@metalex.cl Web: www.metalex.cl Contact: Alejandro (Alex) R. Lillo

Copper Worldwide Vol 8 No 4

Kumerankatu 2 FI-11100 Riihimäki Finland Tel: 00358 (0)20 755 4200 Fax: 00358 (0)20 755 4320 E-mail: kumera@kumera.com Web: www.kumera.com Contact: Hannu Mansikkaviita

26 | SUPPLIER DIRECTORY FURNACES Contd

www. c op p e r wor l dw i de. co m

MATERIALS HANDLING Contd

Küttner GmbH & Co. KG Kumera Corporation Alfredstr. 28 D-45130 Essen Germany Tel: 0049 201 7293 0 Fax: 0049 201 7293 134 Email: team-knf@kuettner.com Web: www.kuettner.com Contact: Dr. Farzad Salehi

FURNACES, MELTING DROSS AND SCRAP PolyMet Solutions GmbH

Kumerankatu 2 FI-11100 Riihimäki Finland Tel: 00358 (0)20 755 4200 Fax: 00358 (0)20 755 4320 E-mail: kumera@kumera.com Web: www.kumera.com Contact: Hannu Mansikkaviita

MINERAL PROCESSING Weir Minerals Europe Limited Peter-Tunner-Str. 4 A-8700 Leoben Austria Tel: 0043 (0)3842 817 87 E-mail: andreas.filzwieser@polymetsolutions.com Web: www.polymet-solutions.com Contact: Dr. Andreas Filzwieser

FURNACES, MELTING, TILTING AND ROTARY ANDRITZ Maerz GmbH

HEAT RECOVERY Küttner GmbH & Co. KG

hpl-Neugnadenfelder Maschinenfabrik GmbH

Halifax Road Todmorden Lancashire OL14 5RT United Kingdom Tel: 0044 1706 814251 Fax: 0044 1706 815350 Email: europe.minerals@mail.weir Web: www.minerals.weir Contact: Sales

Unit 3, Alpha Court Capitol Park, Thorne Doncaster DN8 5TZ UK Tel: 0044 (0) 1302 321313 Fax: 0044 (0) 1302 554400 E-mail: enquiries@schenckprocess.co.uk Web: www.schenckprocess.com Contact: Richard Sims

REFRACTORIES AND INSULATION HarbisonWalker International

1305 Cherrington Parkway, Suite 100, Moon Township, PA 15108 USA Tel: 001 905 977 7694 E-mail: anthony.rigby@thinkhwi.com Web: www.thinkhwi.com Contact: Joe Rigby Spangenbergstr. 20 D-49824 Ringe/Neugnadenfeld Germany Tel: 0049 5944 9301 0 Fax: 0049 5944 9301 44 E-mail: info@hpl-group.de Web: www.hpl-group.de Contact: Mr. Hans-Jaochim Biedermann

Küttner GmbH & Co. KG

PNEUMATIC CONVEYING/ INJECTION Schenck Process Corneliusstraße 36 40215 Duesseldorf Germany Tel: 0049 211 38425 0 E-mail: welcome-maerz@andritz.com Web: andritz.com

PROCESSING LINES Contd

Alfredstr. 28 D-45130 Essen Germany Tel: 0049 201 7293 0 Fax: 0049 201 7293 134 Email: team-knf@kuettner.com Web: www.kuettner.com Contact: Dr. Farzad Salehi

PROJECT ENGINEERING Küttner GmbH & Co. KG

Alfredstr. 28 D-45130 Essen Germany Tel: 0049 201 7293 0 Fax: 0049 201 7293 134 Email: team-knf@kuettner.com Web: www.kuettner.com Contact: Dr. Farzad Salehi

PolyMet Solutions GmbH

Peter-Tunner-Str. 4 A-8700 Leoben Austria Tel: 0043 (0)3842 817 87 E-mail: andreas.filzwieser@polymetsolutions.com Web: www.polymet-solutions.com Contact: Dr. Andreas Filzwieser

RHI MAGNESITA

Wienerbergstraße 9 A-1100 Vienna Austria Tel: 0043 (0) 50 213 – 6200 Fax: 0043 (0) 50 213 – 6391 E-mail: nfm-marketing@rhi-magnesita.com Web: www.rhi-magnesita.com

Saint-Gobain Industrial Ceramics Limited

Mettop GmbH

PROCESS MODELLING Alfredstr. 28 D-45130 Essen Germany Tel: 0049 201 7293 0 Fax: 0049 201 7293 134 Email: team-knf@kuettner.com Web: www.kuettner.com Contact: Dr. Farzad Salehi

MATERIALS HANDLING Combilift Ltd

UrbanGold GmbH

Peter-Tunner-Str. 4 A-8700 Leoben Austria Tel: 0043 (0)664 88364080 E-mail: www.urbangold.at Web: recycling@urbangold.at Contact: Dr. Stefan Konetschnik

PROCESSING LINES DANIELI FRÖHLING

Gallinagh Monaghan Town Co. Monaghan Ireland Tel: 00353 (0)47 80500 Fax: 00353 (0)47 80501 E Mail: info@combilift.com Web: www.combilift.com Contact: Sales Office

DANIELI GERMANY GMBH Scherl 12 D - 58540 Meinerzhagen Germany Tel: 0049 2354 7082 0 Fax: 0049 2354 7082 200 Email: sales.germany@danieli.com Web: www.danieli.com Contact: Detlef Neumann

Peter-Tunner-Strasse 4 A-8700 Leoben Austria Tel: 0043 (0)3842 81787 Fax: 0043 (0)3842 1787-8 E-mail: cu@mettop.com Web: www.mettop.com Contact: Dr. Andreas Filzwieser

RECYCLING TECHNOLOGIES & EQUIPMENT

Mill Lane, Rainford St Helens, Merseyside WA11 8LP, UK Tel: 0044 (0)1744 887939 E-mail: craig.d.brennan@saint-gobain.com Web: www.refractories.saint-gobain.com Contact: Craig Brennan

REFRACTORIES ENGINEERING Mettop GmbH

PolyMet Solutions GmbH

Peter-Tunner-Str. 4 A-8700 Leoben Austria Tel: 0043 (0)3842 817 87 E-mail: andreas.filzwieser@polymetsolutions.com Web: www.polymet-solutions.com Contact: Dr. Andreas Filzwieser

Copper Worldwide Vol 8 No 4

Peter-Tunner-Strasse 4 A-8700 Leoben Austria Tel: 0043 (0)3842 81787 Fax: 0043 (0)3842 1787-8 E-mail: cu@mettop.com Web: www.mettop.com Contact: Dr. Andreas Filzwieser

SUPPLIER DIRECTORY | 27

www.copperwor ldw ide. co m

ROLLING MILL TECHNOLOGY DANIELI FRÖHLING

DANIELI GERMANY GMBH Scherl 12 D - 58540 Meinerzhagen Germany Tel: 0049 2354 7082 0 Fax: 0049 2354 7082 200 Email: sales.germany@danieli.com Web: www.danieli.com Contact: Detlef Neumann

MINO S.p.A.

SMELTING – PRIMARY ANDRITZ Maerz GmbH

Corneliusstraße 36 40215 Duesseldorf Germany Tel: 0049 211 38425 0 E-mail: welcome-maerz@andritz.com Web: andritz.com

Küttner GmbH & Co. KG

SOLVENT EXTRACTION Metalex

Hernando de Aguirre 162 Of. 806 Santiago Chile Tel: 0056 2335 2217 Fax: 0056 2321 8280 E-mail: alillo@metalex.cl Web: www.metalex.cl Contact: Alejandro (Alex) R. Lillo

TUYERE LINE MANAGEMENT Heath & Sherwood (1964) Limited Via Torino 1 15122 - San Michele (AL) P.O. Box 362 – 15121 Italy Tel: 0039 0131 363636 Fax: 0039 0131 361611 E-mail: sales@mino.it Web: www.mino.it Contact: Geminiano Chiesa

Alfredstr. 28 D-45130 Essen Germany Tel: 0049 201 7293 0 Fax: 0049 201 7293 134 Email: team-knf@kuettner.com Web: www.kuettner.com Contact: Dr. Farzad Salehi

Primetals Technologies USA LLC

SMELTING – SECONDARY ANDRITZ Maerz GmbH

50 Prescott Street Worcester, Massachusetts, USA 01605 Tel: 001 508 755 6111 Fax: 001 508 849 6573 E-mail: contact@primetals.com Web: www.primetals.com Contact: David Gow

SAMPLING AND ANALYSIS Alex Stewart (International) Corporation

WEIGHING AND FEEDING

Corneliusstraße 36

Schenck Process

40215 Duesseldorf Germany Tel: 0049 211 38425 0 E-mail: welcome-maerz@andritz.com Web: andritz.com

Kumera Corporation

Alex Stewart International 2b Sefton Business Park, Netherton Liverpool, Merseyside L30 1RD, UK Tel: 0044 (0)151 525 1499 Fax: 0044 (0) 151 523 3760 E-mail: analysis@alexstewartinternational.com Web: www.alexstewartinternational.com Contact: Stephen Russell

SCREENING Schenck Process

Pallaswiesenstraße 100 64293 Darmstadt Germany Tel: 0049 61 51 15 31 0 Fax: 0049 61 51 15 31 66 E-mail: sales@schenckprocess.com Web: www.schenckprocess.com Contact: Martin Brauer

Kumerankatu 2 FI-11100 Riihimäki Finland Tel: 00358 (0)20 755 4200 Fax: 00358 (0)20 755 4320 E-mail: kumera@kumera.com Web: www.kumera.com Contact: Hannu Mansikkaviita

Küttner GmbH & Co. KG

Alfredstr. 28 Pallaswiesenstraße 100 64293 Darmstadt Germany Tel: 0049 61 51 15 31 0 Fax: 0049 61 51 15 31 66 E-mail: vibrating@schenckprocess.com Web: www.schenckprocess.com Contact: Ingo Fjelsten

512 Government Road West P.O. Box 340 Kirkland Lake, Ontario, Canada, P2N 3J2 Tel: 001 705 567 5313 Fax: 001 705 568 8545 E-mail: info@heathandsherwood.com Web: www.heathandsherwood.com Contact: Michael Marinigh

D-45130 Essen Germany Tel: 0049 201 7293 0 Fax: 0049 201 7293 134 Email: team-knf@kuettner.com Web: www.kuettner.com

You will find these firms exhibiting at upcoming events

Contact: Dr. Farzad Salehi

Copper Worldwide Vol 8 No 4

SAMPLE CATEGORIES Ageing Ovens Analytical Instruments Analytical Analysis Apparel Auto Firing Systems Automation & PLC Control Systems Bar Code Labelling Camera Detection System for Mills Casting Casting Equipment Castings Certified Reference Material Coil Storage Systems Combustion & Burners Computer Software Consumables Cranes & Hoists DC Extrusion Billet Casting Deburring Tools & Equipment Die Heaters Embossing Equipment Engineering Design Environmental Control Extrusion Equipment Extrusion Presses Extrusion Temperature Measurement Extrusion Tooling Fans, High Temperature Filters and Filter Materials Filtration Systems Foil & Strip Processing Foundry Alloys Foundry Equipment Furnaces, Billet Heating Furnaces, Heat Treatment Furnaces, High Temperature Insulation Materials Furnaces, Melting Furnaces, Melting, Dross & Scrap Furnaces, Melting, Tilting Rotary Furnaces, Open top & closed type for anodes & cathodes Induction Heating Industrial Gases Inspection Systems for Mills Lubricants Marking & Automatic Identification Materials Handling Measurement & Testing Mechanical Handling Metal Circulation Molten Metal Level Control Molten Metal Technology Non-Contact Temperature Measurement Packaging Processing Lines Production Management Systems Project Management Recycling Recycling Equipment Refractories Refractory Installation Roller Sleeves Rolling Mills Rolling Mill Automation & Process Consulting Rolling Mill Technology Rolling Technical Courses Sawing & Cutting Scrap Processing Slitting & Cut to length Lines Smelter Equipment Stockholder, Trader Service Centre Storage Systems Thermocouples Thermocouple Protection Sheaths Tool & Die Shop Transfer Belts Used Machinery

28 | CANADA VERSUS RUSSIA

www. c op p e r wor l dw i de. co m

The Northern lights who guard the Arctic The two largest countries by land area in the world, Canada and Russia both have extensive Arctic coastlines.

Editor Chris Holding compares two heavyweights.

Table 1. Canada and Russia compared (various sources, listed at end)

Canada GEOGRAPHICAL

Russia

Land Area (sq km) Forestation Area and Percent (sq km) Arctic Coastline (km) Highest Point (m)

16,377,742 8,450,000 (49.4%) 24,140 5,642 (Gora El’brus)

9,093,507 3,100,000 (34.1%) 162,000 5,959 (Mt Logan)

ECONOMIC GDP (US$ trillion) GDP per Capita (US$) Labour Force (million) Average Population Density (/ sq km)

1.653 48,300 19.52 4

1.578 27,800 76.53 9

COPPER SECTOR Map of the Arctic Ocean, with borders as delineated by the International Hydrographic Organisation.

The Northern Hemisphere comprises 255 million sq km in total, contains 67.3% of Earth’s land area (100.2 million sq km), and is home to around 6.6 billion people, or 90% of the total global population. The combined land areas of Canada and Russia (see Table 1) together account for over 25 percent of the Earth’s land area. The GDP achieved by each nation in 2017 was very similar.

Natural resources

Both Russia (officially Russian Federation) and Canada have a wide natural resource base.

Canada has iron ore, nickel, zinc, copper, gold, lead, rare earth elements, molybdenum, potash, diamonds, silver, fish, timber, wildlife, coal, petroleum, natural gas, and hydropower - Canada has more fresh water than any other country and almost 9% of Canadian territory is water, with at least 2 million and possibly over 3 million lakes.

By contrast, Russia has major deposits of oil, natural gas, coal, and many strategic minerals, reserves of rare earth elements, and plentiful timber.

Arctic sovereignty claims

The eight Arctic states are Russia, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Canada, the United States of America, Sweden and Finland, and issues in the Arctic region (see Figure) are mainly governed by their domestic laws, supported by organisations such as the Arctic Council covering global issues such as sustainable development, scientific cooperation, pollution and global warming.

Under international law, the high seas including the North Pole and the region of the Arctic Ocean surrounding it are not owned by any country. However, the UN Law of the Sea Treaty (UNCLOS) grants significant undersea portions around the Arctic Circle to Canada, the United States, Russia, Norway and Denmark. These nations have claim to the natural resources on, above and beneath the ocean floor in an exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of 200 nautical miles (370 km; 230 mi) adjacent to their coasts. By contrast,

Mine Output / Ranking (kt) Smelter Output / Ranking (kt) Copper Ores and Concentrates Refined Copper Output / Ranking (kt) Refined Copper Exports Ranking Copper Semis Capacity / Exports (kt) Copper and Copper Alloy Semis

621 (12th) 333 (13th) 7th largest exporter 311 (18th) Not in top 10 <420 (2018) / 160 14th largest exporter

707 (9th) 905 (4th) 9th largest importer 956 (5th) 2nd 1,380 (2018) / 180 12th largest exporter

UTILITIES Electricity Consumption (billion kWh) Generating Capacity (billion kWh) Hydroelectric Percentage (%)

516.6 (2015) 147.6 (2015) 53.7

890.1 (2015) 263.5 (2015) 19

N.B. Figures are for 2017 unless otherwise stated

Territorial waters or a territorial sea, as defined by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, are a belt of coastal waters extending at most 12 nautical miles (22.2 km; 13.8 mi) from the baseline (usually the mean lowwater mark) of a coastal state.

The Northwest Passage is a sea route that connects the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans through the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. It is becoming more viable as Arctic sea ice declines.

The Canadian government maintains that the Northwestern Passages are part of Canadian Internal Waters, but the United States and various European countries claim that they are an international strait and transit passage, allowing free and unencumbered passage.

Contested sovereignty claims over the waters may complicate future shipping through the region.

Copper sector operations

Mine-wise, the Russian Polar Division (Norilsk / Talnakh Mills) has a capacity of 450 ktpy (equal 7th largest) contained copper-in-concentrate.

The USA has two and Mexico has one mine with a larger capability in the top 20, but not Canada (2018 basis). Downstream, whilst Norilsk (Nikelevy, Medny) smelter has a 400 ktpy capacity (1 of 7 that are equal 7th largest), there is no Canadian Smelter in the top 20. In the year to 30 September, Norilsk Nickel’s copper output rose 20% to 350 kt, driven by hot commissioning operations at Bystrinsky Project, increased processing volumes of concentrate purchased from Rostec and reduced metal losses in recovery of copper into copper concentrate as a result Copper Worldwide Vol 8 No 4

of Talnakh Concentrator reaching its design parameters after modernisation.

On the refining side, UMMC’s Pyshma Refinery in Russia has a capacity of 460 kt and is 6th largest, whilst Glencore’s CCR Refinery in Montreal (Canada) has a capacity of 320 kt and is 20th largest in the world (2018 basis).

Recycled copper use

In Canada the use of recycled copper stagnated between 2009 to 2016, with volumes not far from 35 kt in 2015, up to 45 kt in 2016, with an estimated 48 kt of recycled copper use in 2017.

This is well below the 104 kt Cu of recycled copper that Canada used in 2008 before the closure of many important copper and copper alloy fabricators.

In the case of the scrap used to produce refined copper by the Russian Federation copper smelters and refineries, a contraction in 2016 to only 201 kt was observed. Recent outputs below 215 kt compare with ten years ago when Russia used to produce well over 300 kt of refined copper from scrap. A slight recovery to over 202 kt of copper refined from scrap was seen in 2017.

In recent years the Russian fabricators of brass mill products and copper wire rod have been using more copper scrap and copper alloy scrap.

The use of scrap in direct melt since it reached around 150 kt copper in 2009 has seen regular annual growth.

Sources: The World Bank / CIA World Factbook / The ICSG World Copper Factbook 2018 / ICSG Directory of Copper Mines and Plants - H1 2018 Edition / ICSG Directory of Copper and Copper Alloy Fabricators 2018

18th

World Copper Conference 2019 8-10 April 2019 • Santiago, Chile Part of CESCO Week

The definitive copper conference The conference, part of CESCO Week Santiago, constitutes one of the most important gatherings in the mining industry. This CEO-level meeting boasts an impressive delegation of industry decision-makers and is the best opportunity to hear from copper mining and smelting industry leaders.

450

delegates

35+

countries

40%

C-level executives

A focussed forum that attracts the global players, influencers and decision-makers in the copper business Gordon Bogden, Chairman, Black Loon Group

Themes to be covered in 2019 will include:

Previous speakers have included:

• CEO Panel: Mining pioneers – emerging business models

Nelson Pizarro, Chief Executive Officer, Codelco

• Mining costs are once again rising - Which technological advances are having the greatest impact on OPEX?

Harry Conger, President & COO - Americas, Freeport-McMoRan

• Scrap – What impact will Chinese government proposals to ban the import of all forms of imported scrap have on global metals flows and on Chinese consumers? Will this policy stimulate a large and automated scrap recycling sector?

Hennie Faul, Chief Executive Officer, Copper, Anglo American

• Traceability requirements – How will greater traceability and an emphasis on sustainable copper affect prices and market dynamics?

• The economic footprint of the mining industry extends far beyond the mine mouth - How are governments and policy-makers stimulating domestic industries and identifying international export opportunities for the METS sector?

• Chinese demand – China’s growth rates remain robust in-spite of its economic transition. What are the key upside and downside risks?

• From finance, to incentives, to tech metals - exploring the outlook for exploration • Green tech – How are forecasts for electric vehicles evolving?

• Beyond the base case – Copper price under different market scenarios • CFO Panel: Financial innovation – emerging mining finance models

Jorge Gómez, Executive President, Minera Collahuasi

Arnaud Soirat, Chief Executive, Copper & Diamonds, Rio Tinto Vanessa Davidson, Director of Copper Research and Strategy, CRU John MacKenzie, Executive Chairman, Mantos Copper Abraham Chahuan, Chief Executive Officer, Compania Minera Antamina S.A J.C Laddha, Head - Copper Business, Hindalco Industries Daniel Malchuk, President Operations, Minerals Americas, BHP Billiton

Interested in sponsoring or exhibiting?

With such a influential audience, the conference offers a great opportunity to raise your company profile to decision-makers.

To discuss the opportunities available, please contact Paul Terry at paul.terry@crugroup.com or call +44 (0)20 7903 2131

Gold Sponsors:

For more information and to book your place, visit www.worldcopperconference.com

Supporting Publication:

#CRUcopper