Copper Worldwide Vol 9 No 4 issue

FOURTH QUARTER 2019

VOLUME 9 |4

See Directory pp25-27

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n Key Words: The issues affecting copper n News: Hamburg upgrades Latest stats Majors progress Studies and lists n Pyrometallurgy: Boliden Rönnskär innovation n Rolling Focus: Coil logistics Capabilities n U.S. Market: Supply and demand situation n South America Insight: Discussions from IMARC n Quality: ASi delivers

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12/11/2019 08:46

ISSN 2046-9438

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CONTENTS | 1

w ww.copper worl dw ide. co m

Key Words

3

The issues affecting copper

News

4,5

Investments at Aurubis Hamburg; Latest ICSG data; Wind power outlook;

Flotation in Cape Town; Brülhart appointed; Copper semis study; Refined figures; WCC 2020

6,7

ICSG market forecast; Antofagasta progress; FQ Cobre Panama gains;

China NF Forum; Renewable BHP; IWCC forecast; Tia Maria; Aurubis trains; Producer directory

Managerial Review

23

Four top enterprises’ comparative results

The Copper Worldwide 2020 Primary Wallmap comes with this issue

Inside this issue PYROMETALLURGY

8,9

Boliden Rönnskär is a neat operator with a distinguished

history of innovation

REFINERY TECHNOLOGY

10

25

Contracts & People

20

Henry at BHP; Outotec win European orders; Glencore

Technology on processing

COM + Copper coverage

Moving coils around and a roundup of supplier

21

Glencore latest; FCX and Indonesia; SMM holds NF Summit

Supplier Directory

25-27

Get the best results here

U.S. MARKET

14,15

Consultant Jonathan Barnes provides a snapshot

EVENT REVIEWS

16

QUALITY CONTROL

DC power supply design

capabilities this time

Tuyere line management

froth beware

24

12,13 Secondary Smelting

22

Tenacious

A valuable insight into value-added

ROLLING FOCUS

Firms are developing floating offshore wind turbine designs.

Photo: Gicon (see Page 4)

EFFICIENCY

3rd Minor Metals Symposium; Asia Copper Conference reports;

LME Metals Seminar; 17 FUTURE COPPER -

Inspection and sampling from ASi; More paper summaries conclude

SOUTH AMERICA INSIGHT

28

The IMARC perspective is well worth a look

Front Cover Copper Worldwide celebrates its 10th Anniversary in 2020.

As a family-owned business headquartered in the UK, we are committed to the success of our customers and strive to add value along the entire value chain of the global metal industry.

ICA / IWCC joint Seminar

Now where have I heard that recently (see

EVENT PREVIEWS

and featured event providers are also celebrated

18

opposite)? Some of this issue’s other advertisers

IERC 2020; International Copper 2020;

on the cover here, all representing branches

IWCC Technical Seminar; Copper 2020

of the wonderful copper family tree.

in Peru

Copper Worldwide Vol 9 No 4

Here’s to the next ten years!

2 | COPPER WORLDWIDE A-Z

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

Companies COMPANY NAME

Volume No: 9 Issue No: 04 Date: Fourth Quarter 2019

PAGE NO

COMPANY NAME

PAGE NO

COMPANY NAME

PAGE NO

Antofagasta plc.................................................... 6

Glencore............................................................. 21

ORTECH Inc..................................................... 24

15th Asia Copper Conference.......................... 16

Glencore Technology........................................ 20

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

Asia Copper Week 2019............................. 16, 17

HarbisonWalker International.................. 21, 25

Outotec......................................................... 20, 24

A. S. Metallurgy................................................ 24

Heath & Sherwood (1964) Limited................. 25

Aurubis....................................................... 4, 7, 20

International Copper Association............... 5, 17

Beijing Antaike Information Development....4, 5, 6

International Copper 2020 (Fastmarkets)...... 18

BHP ............................................... 5, 7, 20, 23, 24

IEA.................................................................... 3, 4

IT/www Contact: webmaster@copperworldwide.com

Boliden Smelters....................................... 8, 9, 24

IERC 2020.......................................................... 18

BSRIA................................................................. 17

IMARC........................................................... 4, 28

Managing Director: Chris K Holding

CESCO................................................................. 5

INCO.................................................................. 12

Codelco................................................................. 5

International Copper Study Group........... 4, 5, 6

SHFE.................................................................. 16

COM + Copper 2019........................................ 24

International Wrought

SMS group............................................... 4, 12, 21

Publisher: Chris K Holding BSc BEng Publishing Consultant: John Clarke Contributing Editors: Phillip Mackey Jonathan Barnes

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.

All other categories of reader are invited to subscribe at £80.00 to UK, and Non-UK is: Surface £98.00, e125.00, $170 USD Airmail: £120.00, e150.00, $200 USD Single copy £28, e40, $55 incl. p&p.

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

P. J. Mackey..................................................... 8, 9 Primetals Technologies.............................. 13, 20 RHI Magnesita.................................................. 21 Rio Tinto...................................................... 20, 21 Roskill................................................................ 16 Shanghai Metal Markets (SMM)..................... 21

Copper 2020 (InterMet)................................... 18

Copper Council............................. 7, 16, 17, 18

Southern Peru Copper Corporation........... 7, 23

CRU Events......................................................... 5

J. Barnes....................................................... 14, 15

Tongling Nonferrous Metals Group................. 4

Danieli (Fröhling) Germany........................... 12

KGHM................................................................ 23

Daye Nonferrous Metals.................................... 4

KME Mansfeld.................................................. 21

ET’20 Extrusion Technology........................... 18

LME................................................................... 17

Fastmarkets MB (Events)...................... 7, 16, 18

LME Metals Seminar....................................... 16

First Quantum..................................................... 6

Metso.................................................................. 20

Flotation’19.......................................................... 4

Mining Indaba 2020.......................................... 18

FLSmidth........................................................... 21

MINO................................................................. 13

Fraunhofer ISI.................................................. 17

3rd Minor Metals Symposium......................... 16

Freeport McMoRan (FCX).................... 5, 21, 23

Mitsubishi Materials................................... 20, 24

(CRU Events).................................................. 5

GDMB................................................................ 20

Neeltran............................................................. 10

Zijin Mining...................................................... 24

Vaid Engineering.............................................. 13 Weir Minerals.................................................... 22 Wieland Group.................................................. 15 Wire/Tube 2020................................................ 18 World Bureau of Metal Statistics.................... 15 World Refractories Association....................... 21 19th World Copper Conference

Advertisers COMPANY NAME

PAGE NO

COMPANY NAME

PAGE NO

COMPANY NAME

PAGE NO

Alex Stewart International....Cover 4, 24, 27, PW20

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

PolyMet Solutions..................................... 26, PW20

Andritz Maerz..................................... 26, 27, PW20

International Copper 2020 (Fastmarkets)...........17

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

CA Group................................................... 25, PW20

Kopar.......................................................... 25, PW20

RHI Magnesita.......................................................26

Combilift.................................................................26

Kumera Corporation.......................... 25, 26, PW20

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

CRU Events (WCC 2020)............................Cover 3

Küttner GmbH................................ 9, 26, 27, PW20

Schenck Process...............................................26, 27

Danieli Froehling...................... Cover 1, 12, 26, 27

Metalex................................................. 25, 27, PW20

SMS group........................................ Cover 2, PW20

Exma................................................................. PW20

Mettop.................................................. 25, 26, PW20

SMS group (PolyMet)............................... 26, PW20

G Corner.......................................................... PW20

MINO................................................................11, 27

UrbanGold........................................... 25, 26, PW20

HarbisonWalker International.............................26

Neeltran........................................................... PW20

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

Heath & Sherwood (1964) ..............................25, 27

Otto Junker.............................................................13

World Copper Conference 2020 (CRU).....Cover 3

Another interesting year unfolding – Discover the ISSUES affecting copper now!

The next Vol 10 No 1 issue of Copper Worldwide is published in February/March 2020. Scheduled features include Electrorefining / Electrowinning, Refinery Technology, Melting and Casting / Molten Metal, Copper Rod, Tube and Wire, Safety and Maintenance, Transforming with Copper, Profiles and Reviews, and more. Supporting website www.copperworldwide.com features up-to-date content and event details. Thank you to all advertisers once again. All correspondence welcome.

Copper Worldwide Vol 9 No 4

KEY WORDS | 3

www.copperwor ldw ide. co m

What goes around comes around Most of us get the Circular Economy, but we don’t practice it. There is a long way to go, and very little time to achieve real progress, but we must keep working on it. Here’s why…

Europe has pioneered offshore wind technology and is positioned to be the powerhouse of its future development.

Current capacity in the European Union stands at almost 20 gigawatts. Under current policy settings, that is set to rise to nearly 130 gigawatts by 2040.

However, if the European Union reaches its carbon-neutrality aims, offshore wind capacity would jump to around 180 gigawatts by 2040 and become the region’s largest single source of electricity. China is also set to play a major role in offshore wind’s longterm growth, driven by efforts to reduce air pollution. By around 2025, China is likely to have the largest offshore wind fleet of any country, with capacity set to rise from 4 gigawatts today to 110 gigawatts by 2040, and ultimately above 170 gigawatts. The United States has good offshore wind resources in the northeast of the country and near demand centres along the densely Dr Fatih Birol, IEA Executive Director, launched the special report in Copenhagen, Denmark - the birthplace of offshore wind. Photo: IEA populate d e a s t coa s t . Floating The ‘peak copper’ concept says there is a point in time at which the foundations would expand the possibilities for harnessing wind resources maximum global copper production rate is reached. Copper is a finite off the west coast.

Industry needs to continue the rapid development of the technology resource, so maybe at some point in the future new production from mining will diminish, but production from new non-traditional sources so that wind turbines keep growing in size and power capacity. The could continue to grow for some time as new technologies, e.g. urban development of floating turbines that could be deployed further out at sea could enable offshore wind to exceed the entire electricity demand mining, subsea, asteroid, other, are developed.

It has been estimated that at least 80% of all copper ever mined is of several key electricity markets. The development of onshore grid still available (having been repeatedly recycled), so what is the state of infrastructure is also essential to the efficient integration of power production from offshore wind. play in some of today’s supply and demand sectors?

E-waste statistics indicate scale of problem

The Global E-waste Statistics Partnership (GESP) was founded in 2017 by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the United Nations University (UNU), and the International Solid Waste Association (ISWA). The objectives of the Partnership are to monitor developments of e-waste over time, and to help countries to produce e-waste statistics. At present only 41 countries are compiling national statistics on e-waste.

In 2016, just over 12 Mt Electrical and Electronic Equipment (EEE) was supplied to the Chinese domestic market. The country generated 7.2 Mt e-waste that year, but only 1.29 Mt was formally collected. The US market saw 8.1 Mt EEE supply, 6.3 Mt e-waste generated, and just 1.4 Mt formally collected. The data can be analysed in this way for all the contributing nations. For those countries which have yet to supply data, should a worse situation automatically be assumed? www.globalewaste.org

Excellent outlook for offshore wind power

According to an International Energy Agency (IEA) report published on 25 October, offshore wind power will expand significantly over the next two decades. The ‘Offshore Wind Outlook 2019’ report combines the latest technology and market developments with a specially commissioned new geospatial wind speed and quality analysis. The IEA finds that global offshore wind capacity may increase 15-fold and attract around US$ 1 trillion of cumulative investment by 2040. This is driven by falling costs, supportive government policies and technological progress such as larger turbines and floating foundations.

www.iea.org

Tempo nos servabit

One of technology’s biggest promises is it is ‘saving us all time’.

Google saves us time searching for information, reminding us with every search that it has delivered millions of possible results in 0.66 seconds.

Facebook saves us time on social interactions, since its algorithms select only those details about friends’ lives that it thinks we need to know.

Amazon saves us time on delivering products, since we no longer need to wait in line at the store and can have a product in our hands with just a few clicks and an increasingly short wait.

However, whilst technology has saved us time on dozens of tasks, we seem busier than ever. It is a paradox of a world in which the more apps we download to streamline our lives, the more it seems to add to the overload. The 20-hour working week predicted in the 1970s still seems a way off.

As German Sociologist Hartmut Rosa wrote in 2018 “The tempo of life has increased, and with it stress, hecticness, and lack of time.”

However, decoupling time and technology is not easy. Think of gaming and smartphone addictions, for example.

Being a great fan of classical music, my father (who passed away this September) knew all about tempo. In my life, he has taught me to find the right path and tempo for me. It may be worthwhile for today’s organisations to consider the concept of a ‘tempo’, and whether they are limiting their worth in the global transition to a Circular Economy by ‘running too fast’.

Compiled by: Chris Holding Last item is based on an article on www.digitaltrends.com published by Luke Dormehl on 24 February 2018.

Copper Worldwide Vol 9 No 4

4 | NEWS In brief…

According to an IEA Report in October, an estimated 40% of the lifetime costs of an offshore wind project, including construction and maintenance, have significant synergies with the offshore oil and gas sector. That translates into a market opportunity of US$ 400 billion or more in Europe and China for that sector over the next two decades.

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

Busy scheduled shutdown in Aurubis Hamburg

Flotation’19 - The 9th International Flotation Conference organised by Minerals Engineering took place in Cape Town, South Africa from 11 14 November. Froth flotation is the largest tonnage separation operation in the world and a key mineral processing technique. There were two discrete symposia: Flotation Fundamentals: Physics and Chemistry and Flotation Applications and Plant Practice. In total 293 delegates from 33 countries attended.

Another Chinese customer has awarded SMS group an order to supply a cold rolling mill for high-quality strips of copper and copper alloys. The new reversing cold mill (RCM) will be of six- high design and be established at the customer’s site on the Chinese east coast. The RCM will roll a wide material range comprising copper, brass and bronze as well as copper alloys of first-class quality.

The minimum strip width will be 400 millimetres, the maximum 650 mm. The thickness of the rolled strips will range from three mm entry thickness to 0.3 mm final thickness.

Production capacity is planned to be approx. 20,000 tpy.

High-class components make sure that current as well as future market demands on strip quality will reliably be met. CVC ® plus (Continuously Variable Crown) technology for roll shifting, for instance, combined with work and intermediate roll bending, provide s a big technologic al advantage in terms of precision and flexibility. For the precious copper materials, the continuous monitoring of strip thickness and flatness tolerances as well as the prevention of inferior quality and residual lengths is of particular importance. All core components that determine the product quality will be manufactured in Germany.

To protect the sensitive strip surface, semi- automatic paper coilers will be installed at the entry and exit sides of the mill. State of the art equipment for work and intermediate roll changes and sleeve handling will help achieve high plant output. Also integrated in the plant will be an efficient and environmentfriendly rolling oil cleaning system together with a multi-plate® filter from SMS group. This filter is able to clean up to 3,100 litres of rolling oil per minute.

The lead management of the order is with SMS Siemag Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd. - Wuhan Branch (SWB), a company of SMS group.

The Wuhan site, active since 1995, employs 77 people and has been headed by Christoph Andr ycz since 2013. Chinese customers placed orders for four copper rolling mills (two six-high and two four-high) at the end of 2017. Commissioning of the latest cold rolling mill is scheduled for September 2020.

www.min-eng.com/flotation19

www.sms-group.com

www.iea.org

According to the Zhejiang Hailiang Co., Ltd., in the first half, the sales volume of copper semis reached 365.7 kt, among them, the sales of self-produced products reached 365 kt, up by 23.09% year on year. During the report period, the operating revenue reached US$ 3 billion (20.845 bn yuan), up by 3.61% year on year. www.hailiangstock.com

Deputy General Manager of Fenwei Energy, Sarah Liu, told IMARC Melbourne attendees in October that China was close to reducing the coal proportion in its energy mix to below 58 per cent by 2020. Coal accounted for 59 per cent of China’s overall energy consumption in 2018, with gas, nuclear power and renewable energy making up around 22 per cent. www.imarcmelbourne.com

In the first half of 2019, China Daye Non-Ferrous Metals Mining Limited (China Daye) and its subsidiaries produced a total of approximately 13,184 tonnes of mined copper, an increase of 2.7% over the same period last year, and approximately 269,308 tonnes of copper cathode, an increase of 5.8% over the same period the previous year. www.antaike.com

The second phase of the Jiangxi Copper Co. Ltd (JCCL) copper rod project in Guangzhou was successfully put into trial run on 30 September. It comprises an SCR9000 production line. Which increases its overall copper rod production capacity by about 350,000 tonnes per year to 750,000 to 800,000 tpy, and the output value will exceed 35 billion yuan. www.en.jxcc.com

Tongling Nonferrous Metals Group Co., Ltd. (TNMG) produced 27.3 kt copperin-concentrate, up by 4.20% year on year, in H1 of 2019. Copper cathode output was 707.6 kt and increased by 8.84% y-o-y. Sulphuric acid output reached 2.15 Mt and rose by 8.24% on a yearly basis. Copper semis output was 173.1 kt, with a y-o-y rise of 4.85%. www.antaike.com

Delivery of one of the primary converter vessels. Photo: Aurubis

A scheduled maintenance shutdown has taken place in Aurubis AG’s Hamburg plant from 1 October to mid-November 2019, mainly to facilitate the internal overhaul of the waste heat boiler in the primary smelter, which is legally mandated every three years. The entire primary smelter and the associated contact plant used to produce sulphuric acid were decommissioned for this purpose. In addition to the inspection and overhaul of the waste heat boiler, the primary smelter’s three converter vessels were also replaced.

Restorations to the lower furnace roof, and environmental protection

measures such as optimisation of the off-gas system, have also taken place in the flash smelter.

A total of 450 individual technical renovations, maintenance, and measures to fur ther improve environmental protection were executed, representing around EUR 50 million in investment.

Planning started directly after the completion of the last routine largescale shutdown in 2016. Measures were carried out around the clock and around 750 Aurubis employees plus many hundreds of contractors were involved. www.aurubis.com

Preliminary ICSG data to August 2019 The International Copper Study Group (ICSG) released preliminary data for August 2019 world copper supply and demand in its November 2019 Copper Bulletin. Subscriptions are available. Preliminary data indicates that world mine production declined by about 0.5% in the first eight months of 2019, with concentrate production remaining essentially unchanged and solvent extraction-electrowinning (SX-EW) declining by 1.5%.

Production in Chile declined by 0.5% mainly due to lower copper he ad gr ade s and produc tion disruptions in early 2020. Indonesian output declined by 51% as a consequence of the transition of the country’s major two mines to different ore zones leading to temporarily reduced output levels. After growth of 13% in 2018, aggregated production in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Zambia declined by 2% as consequence of temporary suspensions at SX-EW mines, reductions in planned production and a few operational constraints.

China mill order for SMS group

Panama started mining copper earlier this year, with the commissioning of the Cobre de Panama mine, and is the biggest contributor to world mine production growth in the first eight months of 2019. On a regional basis, mine production is estimated to have increased by around 3.6% in North America, 1.3% in Latin America and 8% in Oceania but declined by 7% in Asia, 1.2% in Africa and 2.5% in Europe. www.icsg.org

Cape Town flotation

Copper Worldwide Vol 9 No 4

NEWS | 5

w ww.copper worl dw ide. co m

Refined production holds steady Preliminary ICSG data indicates that world refined production remained essentially unchanged in the first eight months of 2019 with primary production (electrolytic and electrowinning) declining by 0.3% and secondary production (from scrap) increasing by 1.8%. World refined production growth was constrained as a consequence of a 32% decrease in Chilean electrolytic refined output due to temporary smelter shutdowns whilst undergoing upgrades to comply with new environmental regulations. Total Chilean refined production (including Electrowinning) declined by 12%.

There was also a 33% decrease in Zambian refined output due to power supply interruptions, smelter outages and temporary shutdown and the introduction on 1 January 2019 of a 5% custom duty on copper concentrate imports constraining smelter feed.

Country trends

The decline of 25% in India’s production was impacted by the shutdown of Vedanta’s Tuticorin smelter in April 2018. There was reduced output in Japan, Peru, the United States and a few European countries due to smelter maintenance shutdowns. The reductions were offset by growth in Chinese output and by increases in countries recovering from production constraints in 2018 such as Australia, Brazil, Iran and Poland. On a regional basis, refined output is estimated to have increased in Asia (3.5%) and in Oceania (15%) but declined, in North America (-3%), in Latin America (-9.5%), in Africa (-8%) and in Europe (-1%).

Apparent usage

Preliminary data indicates that world apparent refined usage grew by a modest 0.5% in the first eight months of 2019. Although Chinese net refined copper imports declined by 13%, Chinese apparent usage grew by around 2.4% as a consequence of higher Chinese refinery output.

World ex-China usage declined by around 1.5%.

In the first eight months of 2019, the world refined copper balance, based on apparent Chinese usage (excluding unreported/bonded stocks), indicated a deficit of about 330,000 t. The world refined copper balance adjusted for changes in Chinese bonded stocks indicated a market deficit of around 408,000 t. www.icsg.org

Brülhart appointed to roll out Copper Mark

Michèle Brülhart is the first Executive Director of the Copper Mark. Photo: ICA The Copper Mark website

The International Copper Association (ICA) is pleased to announce Michèle Brülhart as the first Executive Director of the Copper Mark.

Brülhart has over 10 years of experience working on the design, implementation and independent assessment of sustainability standards at every level of the supply chain and across multiple materials.

She was previously the Director of Innovations at the Responsible Minerals Initiative (RMI), Head of Auditing at RCS Global for several years, and held roles focused on

responsible sourcing at Underwriters Laboratories, the German Center for International Cooperation (GIZ) and STR Responsible Sourcing.

Investors and consumers of copper increasingly demand products with lower carbon footprints that require fewer resources and are constructed safely and responsibly by fairly treated workers. Under Brülhart’s leadership, the Copper Industry will continue to coordinate closely with the OECD, RMI, ICMM, LME and IRBC to meet due diligence guidelines and help as many members as possible commit to sustainable and responsible operations. “On behalf of the members and staff of ICA, I am excited to see Michèle Brülhart become the first Executive Director of the Copper Mark,” said Tony Lea, ICA’s President. The ICA has been working and consulting with external stakeholders continually since February 2018 to ensure the Copper Mark incorporates their feedback. The formal application process launches in 2020. www.sustainablecopper.org www.coppermark.org

European copper semis report published The International Copper Study Group (ICSG) has brought out a new report entitled ‘European Semi Manufactured Copper Products Capacity Operational in 2019’. The report, prepared by the UK consultants Oakdene Hollins, summarises the main findings of an ICSG funded research project that assesses the copper and copper alloy semi-fabrication sector in Europe by country and by product type.

The study covers 38 countries, i.e. the EU Member States plus Albania, Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Macedonia, Norway, the Russian Federation, Serbia, Switzerland and Ukraine. The definition of products within the semi-fabricated product category is that used by the ICSG and fabricators industry associations.

For Germany, Italy, France, Poland and Spain, a full analysis is presented along with market information and profiles of key actors. For smaller markets, the results of the research are grouped by region and described alongside relevant market data. The 7 categories of semi-manufactured products used in the report are: • Wire-rod and alloy wire • RBS (Rods, bars and sections) • PSS (Plates, sheets and strips) • Foil

• Tubes • Chemicals, Powders & Flakes • Casting & Ingots.

Additionally, matrixes for copper wire rod and other semis such as tubes, flat rolls, foil and rod bars show trade between European countries and the rest of the world. The Report costs EUR 500 from orders originating from institutions based in ICSG member countries, and EUR 1,000 from non-member countries. www.icsg.org

CRU World Copper The 19th CRU World Copper Conference, part of CESCO Week, takes place from 23-25 March 2020 in Santiago, Chile. Annually, nearly 500 senior executives convene at this crucial industry conference, with more than 46% being C-level decisionmakers, from over 30 countries.

Confirmed Speakers include: Michael Staffas, President, Boliden; Octavio Araneda, CEO, Codelco; Harry M. ‘Red’ Conger, President and COO - Americas, Freeport McMoran; Diego Hernández Cabrera, President, Sociedad Nacional de Minería; and Jorge Gomez, Executive Director, Collahuasi. www.events.crugroup.com

Copper Worldwide Vol 9 No 4

In brief…

Bougainville Copper Limited has appointed Mr David Osikore to its Board, whose Executive Chairman Sir Mel Togolo was appointed in February 2018. Mr Osikore has 30 years’ experience in exploration and mining in both Papua New Guinea and Australia.

Born in Buin, Bougainville, he began his career with the Papua New Guinea Department of Mines. www.bcl.com.pg

Beijing Antaike Information Co. Ltd will publish 2019 Copper Industry and Copper Fabrication Industry Yearbooks in March 2020, containing fundamental analysis on the Chinese copper market, key influencing factors driving the industry forward, inter-relations between copper industry and China’s economy, and analysis of copper smelting costs. Pre-order now. www.antaike.com

China’s bonded stocks are estimated to have declined by about 80,000 t in the first eight months of 2019 compared to the year-end 2018 level.

Bonded stocks declined by around 35,000 t in the same period of 2018.

As of the end of October, copper stocks held at the major metal exchanges totalled 431,192 t, (+23% y-o-y), according to ICSG data. www.icsg.org

The average LME cash price for October 2019 was US$ 5,742.89 /t, down 0.04% from the September average of US$ 5,745.48/t. The 2019 high and low copper prices up to October were US$ 6,572 /t (on 1 Mar) and US$ 5,537 /t (on 3 September), respectively, and the year average was US$ 6,007.69 /t (down 7.9% on the 2018 average), according to ICSG data. www.icsg.org

BHP has announced it has entered into a new share subscription agreement with SolGold Plc (SolGold) under which BHP will subscribe for 77 million new SolGold shares for an aggregate subscription price of £17,055,500. SolGold is the majority owner and operator of the Cascabel porphyry copper-gold project in Ecuador. www.bhp.com

FCX has identified a significant resource at its wholly owned Lone Star copper leach project located near the Safford operation in eastern Arizona.

An initial project to develop the Lone Star leachable ores commenced in 2018, with first production expected by the end of 2020, at a ramped-up rate of around 200 Mlb of copper per year, with future expansion potential. www.fcx.com

6 | NEWS

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A generally satisfying picture at Antofagasta The Antofagasta plc third quarter 2019 Production Report showed group copper production was 197,000 tonnes, 0.8% lower than the previous quarter. However, the group copper production for the first nine months of the year was 584,200 tonnes, 15.6% higher year-on-year, due to continued higher throughput and grades.

Production at Los Pelambres was 90,600 t of copper in the period. In the first nine months of 2019, its copper production was up 5.1% at 271,000 tonnes. Progress on the Los Pelambres expansion project had reached 24% at the end of the quarter. Centinela production for the year to date was 215,200 tonnes, 33.2% higher yearon-year, primarily as a result of higher grades at Centinela Concentrates but also with higher throughput at both the concentrate and oxide plants.

Antucoya production in the first nine months of 2019 was up 7.7%

Los Pelambres in the snow. Photo: Antofagasta

to 56,100 tonnes, whilst Zaldívar produced 41,900 tonnes (+23.2% y-o-y). Labour negotiations were successfully concluded with the supervisors at Zaldívar during the quarter and with the supervisors at Los Pelambres in October, whilst at Antucoya the workers declared

a strike over pay on 15 October and latest negotiations are expected to be concluded by the end of the year. The company also said the impact of civil unrest in Chile on production is expected to be approximately 5,000 tonnes. www.antofagasta.co.uk

ICSG copper market forecast 2019/2020 The International Copper Study Group (ICSG) met in Lisbon, Portugal on 22-23 October 2019.

In the meeting of the Statistical Committee, the ICSG view of the world balance of refined copper production and use was developed.

After an increase of 2.5% in 2018, world mine production, adjusted for historical disruption factors, is expected to decline by about 0.5% in 2019 and then to grow by around 2% in 2020. World mine production increased by 2.5% in 2018 mainly due an unusually low rate of overall supply disruptions.

The Group’s forecast for African mine and refined production is significantly lower than its April forecast as a consequence of recent announcements regarding suspensions at SX-EW mines, reductions in planned production and temporary smelter shutdowns.

In addition, production growth in some major producing countries including Chile, the United States and Peru has been limited by declining ore grades and other disruptions. There is increased production from new mine projects including Cobre de Panama in Panama and the Toquepala expansion in Peru. In 2020, additional supply should support growth of about 2% (adjusted for possible supply disruptions). In 2021, growth may be above 2% but will depend on

currently committed projects much as previously anticipated.

After a small decline in 2018, world starting on schedule. secondary production from scrap is Refined copper balance expected to rise by a small amount In 2019, global refined copper in both 2019 and 2020.

World apparent refined usage is production growth has been significantly constrained by an expected to increase by around unusually high number of smelter 0.3% in 2019 and about 1.7% d i s r u p t i o n s a n d t e m p o r a r y in 2020. In 2019, world refined shutdowns for technical upgrades/ usage has been impacted by lower modernisations. This has resulted in than expected growth in Chinese significant declines in planned output demand and by a significant decline in Chile, the DRC and Zambia as in EU usage. Although underlying well as reductions in the EU, Japan, ‘real’ demand growth in China India and the United States. The is estimated by some analysts to reductions in the DRC have been be around 1.5% in 2019, Chinese at SX-EW mines and therefore have apparent demand is predicted to rise had a direct negative impact on by only 1% as it has been impacted refined production (electrowinning). by a decline in net refined copper However, continued expanded imports. In 2020, growth of around refinery capacity in China and 1% is forecast for both apparent recoveries elsewhere will more than and real usage.

World refined copper balance offset declines in other countries.

World refined production is expected projections indicate a deficit of about to grow by a modest 0.5% in 2019. 320,000 t in 2019 and a surplus of On an ex-China basis, world refined about 280,000t for 2020. Market production is expected to decline by developments since the ICSG April forecast have led to revisions in 2.5% in 2019.

A rise of around 4% is expected predictions for supply and demand in world refined production in and therefore in the market balance.

2020 based on capacity expansion Current ICSG projections are for a in China, improvements in Africa and deficit of about 320,000 t in 2019, a return to full capacity of numerous compared to a deficit of 190,000 t smelters/refineries affected by foreseen at its April 2019 meeting. oper ational issues this year. For 2020, the Group now forecasts Planned elec troly tic ref ined a surplus of 280,000 t compared to production is not expected to the deficit of 250,000 t put forward be as limited by tightness in the at its April 2019 meeting. availability of concentrates as www.icsg.org Copper Worldwide Vol 9 No 4

First Quantum in third quarter milestone Total third quarter copper production by First Quantum of 192,510 tonnes was a 27% increase from the third quarter of 2018, including 56,221 t of copper production from Cobre Panama, of which 19,438 t were deemed commercial. Cobre Panama is on track to produce between 140,000 - 175,000 tonnes of copper in 2019.

Commercial production was declared on 1 September one month ahead of expectation. The fourth and final in-pit primary crusher and three mill trains comprising seven operating mills, including the third and final SAG mill, are all now operational.

Daily process plant throughput during the ramp-up regularly averaged or exceeded 200,000 tpd, with a peak of 220,000 tpd achieved. By 2023 annual process plant throughput is expected to reach 100 Mtpy, through upgrades to the mobile fleet and equipment, resulting in copper production of over 350,000 tpy. The Cobre Panama Project is located in the Republic of Panama, approximately 120 km west of Panama City.

Elsewhere, First Quantum’s 80% owned Kansanshi mine in Zambia is expected to produce around 235,000 t of copper in 2019, whilst its nearby Sentinel mine production in 2019 is expected to be approximately 230,000 t of copper. The Las Cruces (Spain) copper production for 2019 is expected to be 45,000 tonnes. The hydrometallurgical plant resumed copper production on 1 February 2019, processing lower grade ore stockpiles until necessary regulatory approvals for its Phase 6 area, which was unaffected by the land slippage on 23 January, are obtained. www.first-quantum.com

China Nonferrous Metals Forum At the China Nonferrous Metals Forum in London on 29 October, organised by Beijing Antaike, which saw around 300 attendees, Matthew Chamberlain, LME CEO, said their responsible sourcing standards have incorporated Chinese expectations along with the rest of the world. Mr. Cao Yuanzheng, Chairman of BOCI Research Company, said China had planned in October 2017 for structured change to 2035 to a high-quality manufacturing base including energy saving and emission reduction. www.metalchina.com www.antaike.com

NEWS | 7

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Construction permit for Tía María project granted Southern Peru Copper Corporation (SPCC), the Peruvian Branch of Southern Copper Corporation, announced on 30 October that it had been notified by the Peruvian Mining Council of the ratification of the Construction Permit for the Tía María mining project. Raul Jacob, Vice President of Finance and CFO of Southern Copper Corporation stated “this ruling represents not only the viability of a project that will have a positive impact on the development of the provinces of Islay, the Arequipa region and Peru, but it is also a positive signal to the investor community.” Jacob reiterated the firm’s commitment to begin the development of the project within the framework of a favourable social atmosphere. He also indicated that the company will continue working hand in hand with the local population and execute measures that contribute to the development of local education, health, agriculture, water and sanitation initiatives, among others. www.southernperu.com

New metal producer directory published Fastmarkets MB has published its latest Metal Producers of the World Directory 2020, being the 9th Edition. The directory hosts over 1,800 non-ferrous miners and producers of base metals, minor metals, precious metals and ferroalloys. It is a key resource to help businesses stay intelligently ahead of their competitors by sourcing the right producer by products and country as well as discover new business leads. On top of this, the directory will save time in researching the market from one guide, and it will simplify the process by giving all the information needed in one place, including: • Full company contact details • O wnership, subsidiaries and associates • Year established and number of employees • Mining and processing facilities • Sales office information.

The Non-Ferrous directory is priced at GBP 695 / EUR 795 / US$ 995 per copy. See websites below for further details. Why not come to International Copper 2020 in Amsterdam in February? www.metalbulletinstore.com www.fastmarkets.com

Renewable power push for BHP in Chile On 21 October, BHP announced four new renewable power agreements to meet power demand for its Escondida and Spence copper operations in Chile. BHP aims to supply Escondida and Spence’s energy requirements from 100 percent renewable energy sources from the mid-2020s. Daniel Malchuk, President of BHP Minerals Americas, said “These contracts will deliver an estimated 20 per cent reduction in energy prices at Escondida and Spence operations. This is an important step in our transition to sustainable energy use over the medium term in Chile.”

The separate contracts agreed

by Escondida and Spence are 15-year contracts for 3 Terawatt hours per year (TWh/year) to ENEL Generación Chile and

10-year contracts for 3 TWh/year to Colbún, following a competitive tender process. The ENEL contracts will begin in August 2021 and the Colbún contracts in January 2022.

The contracts will effectively displace 3 million tonnes of CO2 per year from 2022 compared to the fossil fuel-based contracts they are replacing - the equivalent to the annual emissions of around 700,000 combustion engine cars. The new renewable energy contracts will be value accretive, even including a provision of approximately US$ 780 million related to the cancellation of the existing coal contracts.

for operational supply by 2030. At Spence, a desalination water plant with a capacity of 1,000 litres per second (l/s), will support the Spence Growth Option. Due on line in 2020, the plant will enable the operations to use desalinated water as the main source of supply. At Escondida, a second desalination plant began operating in 2017 with a maximum capacity of 2,500 l/s. Additional upgrades plus the connection of the original desalination plant to this conveyance system will further increase total capacity. In addition to the new desalination plant at Spence, BHP has also invested over US$ 4 billion in Escondida’s desalination facilities to further its progress Desalination drive Also in Chile, BHP has been working towards eliminating groundwater for more than a decade on eliminating usage in Chile by 2030. water draw down from aquifers www.bhp.com

IWCC delivers its short-term forecast The International Wrought Copper Council (IWCC) released its latest six-monthly forecasts for copper supply and demand on 4 November.

Supply side forecasts suggest that in 2018 copper mine production was 20.43 million tonnes. In 2019 mine output is expected to decrease by 0.7% to 20.29 Mt. For 2020, an increase in copper mine production of 1.7% is forecast. Refined copper production in 2018 was 23.63 Mt. For 2019, refined copper production is forecast to be 23.55 Mt and might be 24.19 Mt in 2020.

The demand side forecasts were prepared by the IWCC. Global reported refined copper demand in 2018 increased by 3.3% to 23.87 Mt. For 2019 the forecasts suggest

that refined copper demand might be 23.91 Mt, slightly up on 2018. For 2020, demand for refined copper might increase by 1.2% to 24.20 Mt. In the EU-28, demand for refined copper in 2018 was 3.235 Mt, up 2.3% compared with 2017. A decrease in refined copper demand of 6.7% is forecast for 2019 for this region. However, in 2020, refined copper demand might increase by 1.7% to 3.07 Mt. For China, in 2018 the IWCC estimates repor ted (or real) demand for refined copper to have increased by 6.1% to 11.872 Mt. For 2019, the forecasts currently sug gest repor ted demand in China might be 12.09 Mt, up 1.8% compared with 2018. For 2020,

reported demand is expected to be remain flat at 12.09 Mt. The latest data for Japan suggests that refined copper demand in 2019 might be 995 thousand tonnes, down 1.6% compared with 2018.

For 2020, a small increase of 0.5% to 1 Mt has been forecast.

For the USA for 2018, demand for refined copper was 1.81 Mt. Some growth in refined copper demand is expected for 2019 and for 2020, where demand next year might be 1.86 Mt. The IWCC data suggests there might be a statistical deficit of 359 kt in 2019. For 2020, the forecasts suggest a move to a broadly balanced market. www.coppercouncil.org

New Aurubis Innovation and Training Center Together with First Mayor of Hamburg Dr. Peter Tschentscher, Aurubis AG CEO Roland Harings, Plant Manager Dr. Jens Jacobsen, and Head of Training Nils Gerstenkorn inaugurated a new Innovation and Training Center (IAZ) at the Aurubis Hamburg site in September. With a key cast by apprentices from molten copper beforehand, they symbolically unlocked the new building for its future use.

The company invested about EUR 18 million in the building, which h a s a u s a ble a re a of 6,500 m2 and took roughly one and a half years to build. The IAZ not only provides space for the Research & Development depar tment,

The Place Ville-Marie curtain wall at Montreal used 2,000 tonnes of aluminium.

but also modern workshops, machines, and laboratory facilities for apprentices. In the 1,400 m2 training workshop alone, there are 90 workbench spaces and over 40 training machines. With the

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new building, Aurubis establishes the foundation for increasing the number of apprentices from currently 180 to about 300 in the coming years. www.aurubis.com

8 | PYROMETALLURGY

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Leading in copper production knowhow Last year the Boliden Rönnskär smelter and refinery, one of the best such plants in the world, produced some 224,000 tonnes of copper cathode.

One of the most advanced plants of its type in the world, the Boliden Rönnskär complex also output 15,165,000 oz. of silver, 429,000 oz. of gold and 2,000 kg of palladium concentrate in 2018. Considerable quantities of lead, zinc clinker, sulphuric acid and liquid sulphur dioxide were also produced.

Feed material includes local and imported concentrates and a large tonnage of recycled electrical and electronic material - reflecting Boliden’s role in making the circular economy an economic reality. Since the plant began in 1930, Boliden has become renowned for also developing an impressive array of technologies covering all aspects of mining, mineral processing and, smelting and refining - likely amassing the largest number of home-grown technologies for a company of its size.

Origins 1930-

The Rönnskär smelter at Skelleftehamn, Sweden, some 750 km north of Stockholm, commenced operations in 1930 to treat copperprecious metal material from the Boliden mine located some 60 km to the west. The original smelter included four hearth roasters, a coalfired reverberatory furnace sized 5 m by 24 m - about half the size of a typical furnace of the period - and two small Peirce-Smith converters 2 m by 2.2 m (later, additional converters the same size were added).

1a Looking at Boliden Rönnskär plant complex from the Gulf of Bothnia (photo taken in 2012)

An electrolytic copper refinery, the first in Sweden, began some years later in 1932. The plant is located on a large peninsula jutting into the Gulf of Bothnia. This Gulf, north of the Baltic Sea, stretches between Sweden to the west and Finland to the east. Two views of the present Boliden Rönnskär plant complex are given in Figures 1a and 1b. The company chose this site in 1928 because it offered port access and positioned the plant some distance away from neighbouring agricultural areas.

Initially, production was small, of the order of 20,000 to 25,000 tonnes of copper per year plus significant amounts of gold and silver during the early 1930s. Growing ideas to replace

1b The Boliden Rönnskär plant complex today from the landward side. (Courtesy of Boliden AB, 2019)

expensive imported coal for smelting by electric furnace smelting were placed on hold during the war and were finally realised with the construction of a 12 MVA electric furnace sized 6 m by 23.6 m which reached full production in 1949. During this time, two larger converters, 13 ft by 30 ft (4 m by 9 m) were also installed to replace the smaller vessels. Later, a third converter 33 ft in length (10 m) was built. In 1952, Boliden produced 29,000 t of copper, 6,110,000 oz. of silver and 121,000 oz. of gold, along with lead and arsenical products.

1950s and 60s

These developments initiated a series of Copper Worldwide Vol 9 No 4

expansions and improvements that over the next few decades would bring the plant to be a world-renowned integrated copper-lead/ zinc-precious metals facility. At the same time, the Boliden mine expanded and soon, custom concentrate would be successfully handled at the plant.

A new electrolytic tank house, replacing the original smaller plant, commenced operations in 1959 with a nominal copper capacity of 35,000 tonnes per year, scalable up to 50,000 tpy. A sulphuric acid plant with a nominal capacity of 50,000 t of acid/year allowing capture of sulphurous and arsenic gases commenced operations in 1953.

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2 Schematic of the current plant flowsheet

The Rönnskär smelter and refinery continued to innovate, modernise and expand - in 1964, a coal-injected slag fuming plant handling some 650 tonnes per day of molten slag producing zinc clinker commenced operations.

A second sulphuric acid plant rated at 150,000 tonnes of acid /year was built in 1965, bringing total acid capacity to 200,000 tonnes of acid per year and capturing most of the sulphurous process gases. Several years later, a liquid sulphur dioxide facility, rated at 60,000 tonnes of SO2/year was installed, while following extensive pilot testing in a 5-tonne pilot Kaldo (also called a Top Blown Rotary Converter or TBRC) unit at Lulea, new Kaldo plans were introduced.

1970s and 80s

The Boliden Lead Kaldo plant commenced in 1976 treating lead-bearing dust material from the copper smelter and the slag fuming pant, with a nominal capacity of 9,000 tonnes

Unbenannt-1 1

of lead/year. A Copper Kaldo plant treating complex copper feeds began in 1978. The Kaldo or TBRC concept would later be adapted to precious metal treatment and a number of precious metal plants around the world now use this technology.

By 1978, annual production at Rönnskär was 67,000 tonnes of copper, 7,900,000 oz. of silver and 149,000 oz. of gold, along with quantities of zinc clicker, lead, sulphuric acid and liquid sulphur dioxide. Thus by this time, the plant had more than doubled in copper output since start-up, and considerably expanded the precious metal capacity. Along the way, Boliden had developed technologies for smelting and precious metal treatment (Kaldo or TBRC), dust treatment, off-gas cleaning (special converter hoods, the Boliden mercury removal process - developed in partnership with Norzinc, and the Boliden selenium mercury removal process) and important aspects of electrolytic copper refining to name a few.

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1990s - present

By the late 1990s, with copper demand strong and price holding, and new quantities of electronic scrap available, Boliden embarked on a major expansion. Commencing with a feasibility study initiated in 1996, a new Outokumpu flash furnace with new, larger Peirce-Smith converters and an upgraded anode casting plant commenced operations with an excellent start-up in 2000. Boliden’s well-known Kaldo or TBRC technology was employed in a new plant to treat significant quantities of electronic scrap. Novel converter aisle hooding and building ventilation was also designed and built. The current flowsheet is given in Figure 2. Today, the Rönnskär smelter is a world-class plant, focusing on sustainable metal production and advanced metal recycling. It successfully operates at the highest environmental standard. www.boliden.com

Author: Phillip Mackey

20.07.2017 11:05:21

10 | REFINERY TECHNOLOGY

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A DC power supply booster for your copper plant Based in Connecticut, USA but shipping globally, Neeltran, Inc. designs and manufactures its own rectifier-transformers and DC power supplies in the same facility.

Well known for flexible system designs to meet your custom needs, NEELTRAN is uniquely positioned, as we are one of the few companies in the world that can perform a combined test of the complete system prior to shipment, effectively guaranteeing performance on installation at site.

At Neeltran, we have designed and manufactured some of the largest installations in the world for metal refining. We will focus in this article on the copper experiences. Copper refining plants are located in different areas of the world with very demanding ambient conditions.

Cooling and safety features are therefore really important for equipment installed in areas with high environmental impact.

Robust design is the key for safe performance and longevity of this equipment, because it is important to avoid production shutdown due to failure and to extend the life of the equipment. Each installation has his own ambient characteristics, but what we have noticed is that for copper and in general for metal refining we have to combat the most extreme climate conditions - very cold or very hot and high altitude.

The initial design phase of the unit starts from the electrical AC input and the DC Output to identify the power and the losses generated. After this mathematical analysis the unit design is optimised for the location of the plant.

The second step is to design the cooling system.

For the transformer some design options are more classic, like ONAN oil natural air natural, ONAF oil natural air forced, or OFWF oil forced water forced, but one of the latest solutions is Water-cooled or dry-type to reduce the impact of oil treatment. Rectifiers can be cooled with a deionised water to raw water heat exchanger or a deionised water to air heat exchanger. Figure 2 shows an example of the design for the raw water heat exchanger.

Transformer cooling

2. Rectifiers can be cooled with a deionised water to raw water heat exchanger, as in this example

direct water cooling. The cores are normally convection cooled, but if the unit is to be sealed in an enclosure, core cooling heat sinks can be added so that core losses go into the water. This consist of flat copper sheets that are placed into intimate contact with the core and have water cooled tracers on them.

Water cooled transformers have the advantage that they are compact, since large air spaces within the winding are not needed. Since water is such an efficient cooling medium, winding temperature rise is low, helping to control the increase in winding resistance normally associated with temperature rise.

In this case history the transformer is water cooled. The maximum rising temperature allowed is 30°C, and the conductors are designed to work for more than 30 years. The unit is installed indoor without any restriction. The use of a totally water-cooled unit doesn’t need any oil pit or any permission for the installation from the Fire department and local environmental control.

Rectifier cooling

A design that allows a delta temperature of maximum 8 degrees is pretty conservative but it ensures the unit runs cool. For that reason, in extreme climate conditions we focus on the design of the heat exchanger.

The windings are wound out of a hollow copper bar and water is circulated through the tube for

Losses = ΔT x Flux of Water or Air

1.Schematic of an indoor NEELTRAN DC Power Supply Booster installation

The working temperature of the water is related to the junction temperature of the semiconductors. To design the number of semiconductors in parallel the junction temperature is limited for a safety design.

At Neeltran we consider 100°C as the maximum junction temperature for the semiconductors themselves even if by design we have the option to go higher. Standard semiconductors have a 125°C or 140°C maximum.

The performance is considered in the case of N-1 as well. The same rules are applied to keep the unit safe, also in a none-standard condition.

This is related to PLC alarms and settings. Once Copper Worldwide Vol 9 No 4

the temperature allowed is set the measured temperature must be set in all the working conditions. In standard conditions the junction temperature will decrease below 100°C. The selection of the semiconductors as said is carried out under junction temperature analysis, but the characteristics of the semiconductor are related to specific requests by the customer. The rectifier thyristors manufacturer can be selected and it is mainly a preference from the end user or the EPC involved.

Enclosure type

The last part of the design is reserved to the enclosure for the rectifier. The installation can be for a total outdoor unit or for a semi-outdoor.

For total outdoor units depending on the location we can have snow load to be considered and this makes the structure more robust. For a sun load we need to install a double roof to create a natural vent between the first and second roof.

This is a very inexpensive but practical solution for a location like a desert area.

For semi-outdoor that means in a lodge or under a cover, the snow and sun load are not necessary, and the cabinet can be designed as a standard unit.

The solution presented in Figure 1 is an indoor unit with all the equipment mounted in the factory. The main advantages are: • All equipment is tested in the working condition, mounted as per design • Water cooled transformers have the advantage that they are compact since large air spaces within the winding are not needed • Test of all interconnected controls/ signals between transformer/rectifier and synchronisation (phasing) made at the factory will save time and costs at site • Total guaranteed losses performed at factory from input at the transformer to the output in DC including the DC switches if any. www.neeltran.com

Author: Dr. Eng. Maurizio Ponzetto, Senior Director Power Systems, Neeltran Inc.

12 | FOCUS ON ROLLING

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Rolling plant logistics Ningbo Powerway Alloy Material Co., Ltd., subsidiary of Ningbo Powerway Group, has contracted AMOVA GmbH, a company of SMS group, to supply a logistics system for the complete works complex at its Yinzhou site in China. Ningbo Powerway Group is one of the most important producers of non-ferrous metals bars, wire rod and strips in the Chinese economic region.

The AMOVA design is a complete logistics concept linking all process stages from the raw material storage area down to the dispatch area, including the higher-level materials control and tracking systems. The containers, which are manually filled in the raw material storage area with scrap blends for the different copper alloys, will be transported to the melt shop by means of rail-bound vehicles. There the containers will be stacked for intermediate storage until they are taken to the melting furnace by fully automatic crane.

Downstream of the melting and milling shop, the strips are intermediately stored in the flat product storage area which will be served by an automatic gantry-type crane. Freely

Freely navigating vehicle for the transport of coils of up to 12 tonnes weight

navigating vehicles will transport the strips from there to and between the downstream processing stages - rolling, annealing, cleaning,

Cutting edge

Fröhling was the first company introducing multi-roll mills with direct hydraulic screw down, hydraulic bending of rolls and direct driven intermediate rolls. The cluster mill design dates back to the 1950’s. Since then, they have always strived for modern

www.sms-group.com

Hot-dip tinning lines

An inspiring partner

Nearly seven decades of rolling mill design and construction form the basis for Danieli Fröhling‘s successful engagement in the cold rolling sector. Today, Danieli Fröhling is synonymous for advanced cold mill design and technology with a deep understanding of metal forming processes. This includes steel, stainless steel, aluminium, copper, brass, bronze, titanium, magnesium and many other special metals and alloys.

cutting and slitting - and finally to the buffer store from where they are taken to the packaging area. The packaged finished products will be intermediately stored in an automated high-bay store until they are dispatched.

AMOVA is going to supply two transfer cars, each designed to autonomously pick up or put down three containers at a time and transport the three containers as a set from the filling area to the intermediate storage area of the meltshop, and a fleet of six freely navigating vehicles for the transport of the coils and the scrap containers, two additional buffer storage areas equipped with automatic cranes, a coil stacking device for the annealing plant, and the automated high-bay store. AMOVA will also be responsible for the implementation of the Level 1 and Level 2 automation. The WMS (Warehouse Management System) will be set up as a redundant server system with virtualisation. Commissioning of the entire works logistics is scheduled to be completed by early 2020.

solutions and advanced cutting edge design that make customers able to be in the forefront of their markets.

Danieli Fröhling supplies mills of different design, ranging from small laboratory mills through 2hi, 4hi, 6hi mills up to multi roller mills with 12 or 20 rolls.

Not only is the firm designing and supplying equipment, but ‘We understand metals!’

As added value, Danieli Fröhling is capable to provide expertise in rolling technology and associated areas, as technological partners for customers far beyond the supply period.

Each line will be configured based on a sysnergy of customer requirements and the firm’s experience. An extensive exchange between the end-user and Danieli Fröhling is essential to develop the best suitable line design. Lines operate for many years, so the aim is to support customers with future-oriented, flexible and cost saving solutions to reach demanding targets now and over a long period of time.

Since 1989, OTTO JUNKER has been developing and installing hot-dip tin coating equipment worldwide, mainly for the international connector market. Line advantages include: • Formation of an intermetallic phase between the tin and the copper-based strip without any additional reflow process • Finish with preferred tin whisker mitigation practices according to iNEMIRecommendations, 12-1-06 • Use of tin alloys is supported • Low energy consumption • Broad range of coating gauges • Suitable also for coatings thicker than 3 - 4 µm • Less porosity than with electrolytic tinning • Entire equipment from one source OTTO JUNKER’s Technology Center comprises a pilot-scale tin coating system for basic research activities. It can be used for process study and also to investigate fluid flow and thermal behaviour. Where required this equipment can be adapted to specific needs.

www.danieli-froehling.de

www.otto-junker.com

International project team INCO is a group of companies specialised in engineering and manufacturing of equipment and machinery for metallurgical processes for both ferrous and non-ferrous metals, with experience and capabilities in equipment for the transformation and valueaddition to flat products (coils). With sites in Geneva and Barcelona, INCO designs, manufactures and installs hot rolling mills, roughing reversing mills and cold reversing rolling mills for copper and copper alloys:

Finishing Cold Rolling Mills Four high single stand reversing cold rolling mills for mill finishing process. Strip width up to 1,200 mm. Rolling Mills can be designed as roughing/finishing or only finishing depending on the end use. Skin pass mills are also available.

Basic features: Control systems: Feedback and Feed-forward AGC, Mass flow and Copper Worldwide Vol 9 No 4

AFC (Automatic Flatness Control) Positive and Negative Bending functions Selective cooling on works rolls barrel Max Speed up to 1,500 m/min Alloys: DHP Cu, ETP Cu, Brasses, Nordic Gold, Cupronickel, and all CuZnPb and CuZnNi alloys Typical entry strip thickness: 2 to 4 mm Typical exit strip thickness: 0.10 to 3 mm Typical coil weight: 5 to 22 t www.sa-inco.com

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Enduring Italian knowhow from MINO MINO S.p.A. is a highly experienced company specialised in the design, manufacturing and commissioning of hot, cold and foil rolling mills for aluminium and copper, cold rolling mills for steel and processing lines for aluminium and copper strips. Being established back in 1840, MINO is nowadays one of the oldest companies operating in the field of rolling equipment and strip processing lines. The experience and knowhow accumulated over the years by MINO can be summarised in a one statistic: since 1970 MINO has supplied and successfully commissioned more than 300 rolling mills and lines for aluminium, copper and steel.

Recognised for its long and successful track record in supplying equipment to both the

Make it in India ferrous and non-ferrous industry sectors, today MINO covers five inter-related units: MINO S.p.A. (mechanical design and manufacture), MINO AUTOMATION (electrical equipment and automation systems), MINO PROCESS CONTROL Ltd. (process control software), MINO Beijing, and MINO Tianjin Rolling Technology (supply of Chinese made, nonkey equipment). A key feature of a MINO project is the fully accomplished integration between mechanics, hydraulics, electrics and automation. The MINO Group can offer the widest range of services in the field of rolling mills, ranging from the supply of a new rolling mill to the revamping of an existing mill.

The cold and hot rolling mills, slitting lines and other equipment manufactured by Vaid Engineering Industries (Est. 1998), based in Delhi, are used to process various metals like stainless steel, mild steel, copper, brass, aluminium, lead and other metals and alloys.

These machines are built to high standards of accuracy, proper raw material input, and optimum strength, with ample capacity for mishandling and overloads. They require minimum operational maintenance and display good uptime. Mr. B.L. Vaid and CEO Anand Vaid are also technical consultants in the field of Rolling Mills, and have vast experience and diverse knowledge of machine manufacturing, mill operation and in troubleshooting and modification/ upgrading of existing machinery.

www.mino.it

www.vaidengineering.com

spot cooling system. Rolling of hard and thin material with excellent shape control is realised in the UCM-Mill. Furthermore, it is equipped with a cobble guard and air wiping system at the mill exit side and good wiping ability can be achieved during high speed rolling.

The X-Mill, with intelligent shape control using Sheet flat, is designed for ultra-thin strip/ foil rolling. The rolls are arranged in an X configuration in which a pair of parallel backup rolls support each side of the small diameter work rolls at a tangent below the WR top to

prevent horizontal deflection. This enables stable and reliable thin-gauge rolling to be performed. Both cases deliver a compact and simple mill arrangement, optimised mill size and layout, stable rolling, automatic mill setup, high speed rolling, minimal downtime and quality product.

Technologies include Optimum integrated control, Automatic flatness control, Automatic gauge control, Optimum integrated control system, Optimum roll size and motor power.

Pioneers at heart For copper cold rolling and foil rolling, several types of mill are selected according to the rolling process, thickness and materials to be produced.

Configured 4Hi, 6Hi, 12Hi CR mill and 20Hi ZR cluster mill are also offered for cold rolling of copper and copper alloys.

Suitable for rolling to thin gauge, the UCMMill for copper and copper alloys features small work rolls (WR) combined with shape control functions consisted of WR bending, intermediate roll (IMR) bending, IMR shift using all straight uncambered rolls and a

www.primetals.com

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Brushing

14 | U.S. MARKET TRENDS

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The present state of the US Copper demand appears to be losing some momentum despite a strong economy, writes Jonathan Barnes

Monthly US wire rod production trends (Source: USGS, Roskill)

The United States is the second largest consumer of copper in the world after the People’s Republic of China. In 2018, reported refined consumption totalled 1.81 Mt, a 0.8% increase over the prior year, compared to Chinese consumption of around 12.0 Mt. US copper demand has shown a very stable trend over recent years with offtake in the region of 1.75 Mt to 1.81 Mt since 2014. This is not so surprising, since the country is a very mature post-industrial consumer, with most of its trade flows in copper and copper alloy semimanufactures with its nearest neighbours Canada and Mexico.

The country is the most powerful military superpower in the world and remains one of its most productive industrial nations. US Gross Domestic Product totalled US$ 20.5 trillion in 2018, which translates into a healthy GDP per capita of US$ 62,000. The United States has a highly diversified economy and vast mineral and agricultural resources. It is a major exporter of grains, cereals, soya beans, potatoes, sugar and fruit and is an extensive livestock farmer of beef, veal and pork. The country’s main manufactured exports include aircraft, automobiles, machinery, chemicals, military equipment and non-fuel minerals, including copper ore and concentrate.

Economic performance

As a mature economy, the country is not without its problems. Its ageing population profile carries a burden of high pension and medical care costs which must be borne by a smaller workforce. Meanwhile long legacy economic

and taxation and spending imbalances have created a sizeable current account deficit, a budget deficit and very high levels of national debt equivalent to 78% of GDP. The USA has a sizeable population of 330 million, but with a very low growth rate of only 0.8%. Around 82.5% of the population are urbanised with the six largest conurbations being New York / Newark, Los Angeles / Long Beach / Santa Ana, Chicago, Houston, Dallas / Fort Worth, and the capital Washington.

The American economy has continued to perform strongly through 2019 despite some external headwinds. GDP expanded at an annualised rate of 2.0% in the second quarter of this year, and this only slowed marginally to 1.9% in the third quarter according to recently released data. Consumer spending, which represents two-thirds of economic activity, remains robust but exports have weakened because of the US-China trade war and tariff hikes. The country currently enjoys the lowest unemployment rates for fifty years, but lately business confidence indicators have dropped as the uncertainty over the unresolved trade talks have dented sentiment.

The Federal Reserve recently announced a 0.25% cut in interest rates from 2.25% to 2.0% to bolster consumer and business confidence, but signalled that this was likely to be the last reduction for some time. Other important sectors of the economy show contrasting trends.

New vehicle registrations fell 1.2% year-on-year to 12.8 million units in the year to September, and vehicle production has recently been impacted by a now-resolved strike at General Copper Worldwide Vol 9 No 4

Motors. Meanwhile the construction sector has developed favourably with August seeing a seasonally adjusted annual rate of housing starts of 1.364 million, representing a 12.3% month-on-month expansion and a 6.3% yearon-year increase. Building permit applications and housing completions also continue to trend higher, creating favourable market conditions for building wire suppliers.

Latest figures

Last year 59% of the 1.81 Mt of refined consumption was supplied by domestic suppliers, 25% by imports from Chile, 9% by imports from Canada, 3% by imports from Mexico and 4% by imports from other sources.

According to data compiled by the United States Geological Survey (USGS), some 74% of this refined copper was used by wire rod mills, 23% by brass mills and 3% by other industries. These relative proportions have remained stable over recent years. In 2018, the United States also exported 212 kt of refined copper with Mexico 54%, China 25% and Canada 20% being the principal destinations.

In 2018, using data compiled by the USGS and assessments derived by Roskill, it is estimated that total US production of copper and copper alloy semi-manufactures reached 2.41 Mt gross weight. This represented a 1.7% advance from 2.37 Mt in 2017. The 2018 total was comprised of 1,329 kt (55%) of copper wire rod, 886 kt (37%) of brass mill products and 196 kt (8%) of castings and electro-deposited copper foil. Over the past five years, the output of copper wire rod has been on a slight upward trend. The total

U.S. MARKET TRENDS | 15

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Left is Cao Lilin, Vice President of China State Construction in USA with Wang Hu, General Manager of Hailiang’s US project team, at the Sealy plant signing ceremony in August

production of brass mill products has followed a marginal downtrend, mainly due to falling output of both brass rods and copper alloy plate, sheet and strip, while the total output of other products has been stable. In the year to August 2019, total US output of copper and alloy products (see accompanying table) fell 4.6% from 1,507 kt to 1,438 kt. Copper wire rod production fell 2.2% from 895 kt to 875 kt, supported by strong demand from the building wire sector, while brass mill product output slid by 7.9% from 611 kt to 563 kt, due to weak offtake in the sheet and strip market.

Changing picture

The United States has traditionally been a net exporter of copper wire rod, single strand wire and stranded wire with most trade conducted with neighbouring Mexico and Canada.

However, this is now changing quite quickly, and not in the favour of America. Net exports plummeted from 59 kt in 2017 to only 26 kt last year and based on year-to-date trends this surplus will decline again in 2019. The main factors behind this trend have been increasing wire rod production in Canada for export to the US, aided by the depreciation of the Canadian dollar. Another factor has been the progressive fall in yearly output at Asarco’s Amarillo refinery and rod mill. The fact that this facility is currently on strike will likely further erode US output growth and the trade surplus in the fourth quarter of 2019.

By contrast, in the field of brass mill products and electro-deposited copper foil, the United States is a net importer of every single product line in both copper and alloy products. The trade deficit deteriorated from 104 kt to 118 kt between 2017 and 2018 and comparing yearto-date trends it will do so again in 2019. Once again it is the appreciation of the US dollar, relative to its main trading partners, that is the main factor explaining the poor performance.

The most significant levels of net import penetration can be found in copper plumbing tubes, copper industrial tubes, copper plate,

US Output of copper and alloy semi-manufactures (Data: WBMS, Roskill)

sheet and strip and copper alloy plate, sheet and strip. Anti-dumping duties on copper tubes and plate, sheet and strip limit the levels of imports from some countries.

Business moves

The most significant corporate event during 2019 was the acquisition of Global Brass and Copper Holdings by the Wieland Group, headquartered in Ulm, Germany. Global Brass and Copper Holdings is a major player in the US copper and alloy plate, sheet and strip and alloy rod and wire business and has a product range that is largely complementary to that of Wieland. Crucially it gives Wieland hot rolling capability in the North American sheet and strip business, whereas previously it only had cold rolling capacity in Wheeling, near Chicago.

The acquisition was announced in the spring of this year and closes in late-2019. Wieland’s pro-forma FY2017/18 results, adjusted for the acquisition of Global Brass and Copper Holdings, gave the group annual sales of EUR 5.1 billion and product output of 787 kt.

One major new investment was announced this year which will have an impact on the industry in the years to come. In order to circumvent anti-dumping duties on exports from its Chinese factories, Zhejiang Hailiang revealed that it will invest US$ 165 million Copper Worldwide Vol 9 No 4

to build a new industrial tube and plumbing tube plant in Sealy, Texas, west of Houston.

The manufacturing line will open next year, although the first phase will not be fully completed until 2022. The 500,000 sq ft facility will employ 200 people by the end of the first phase. www.roskill.com

Jonathan Barnes

Author: Jonathan Barnes, Associate Consultant, Copper at Roskill.

E-mail: jonathan@roskill.com

16 | EVENT REVIEWS

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Minor Metal Symposium in Lisbon Secondly, an industry-driven collaborative program between smelters and research institutes is needed to develop technology to ensure slag from a wider feedstock range is still a marketable product. According to the Ecometales presentation, between 2005 and 2019, the amount of tailings per tonne of cathodic copper from mining rose from 113 to 215 tonnes, whilst slag mass increased from 1.9 to 2.7 tonnes, and ‘other’ material output rose from 0.2 to 0.8 tonnes.

There were over 75 attendees and 16 panellists of high quality. This event was successfully organised by Aurubis.

The 2020 event organiser and location is still to be announced. Ecometales and JOGMEC have recently hosted.

The 3rd Minor Metal Symposium: Multi Metal Management and Sustainable Processing of Complex Sulfide Materials took place in Lisbon on 21 October 2019. The key discussion areas were: • Mine and Concentrator challenges to meet concentrate quality • Smelters and Refineries strategies to mitigate impact of minor metal increase in feed • Fundamental research and innovation to support development of sustainable solutions to manage deleterious elements • Technology solutions to manage minor metals.

The collision of tighter smelter restrictions (sustainability and regulatory requirements) with increasing ore complexity (lower grades, higher impurities) precipitates a clear need for technical dialogue and collaboration between various industry sectors. Lower grades can be improved in many cases by adopting existing

modern technologies on concentrators, e.g. froth washing (removing entrained non-sulphide materials) or fine regrinding, as is already being done at Prominent Hill and Salobo.

This will in many cases also decrease impurity load associated with minerals.

Any additional capital and operating costs need economic justification. Adapting commercial arrangements (concentrate contract) to reflect current realities of social and environment requirements (i.e. metal grade incentive, penalty per tonne of impurity produced) was discussed. There is also a need to standardise waste characterisation tests and apply best practices for residue disposal, e.g. development of an Arsenic Code similar to the existing Cyanide code for management and disposal. JOGMEC said it has been carrying out research to separate Cu and As minerals by physical separation techniques.

IWCC/SHFE China Seminar

Asia Copper Conference in Shanghai

Roskill attended the IWCC/SHFE China Seminar in Shanghai on 21 November which concentrated mainly on the copper demand side. Roskill feels that the overall sentiment is still slightly bullish for 2020, although Chinese GDP growth will face a slowdown in the coming years. US-China conflict has impacted this year’s copper demand and price, but analysts believe a preliminary agreement could be achieved in December, and could have a positive influence on commodity prices in 2020.

Shanghai copper bonded stocks are rumoured to have dipped below 240 kt in November, their lowest level for four years, according to local press reports.

The past few weeks have seen Freeport McMoRan and Jiangxi Copper settle contract terms for treatment and refining charges (TC/ RC) of US$ 62/t and US¢ 6.2/lb for concentrate delivery in 2020, effectively setting the industry benchmark for next year. The terms are 23% lower than the TC/RC of US$ 80.8/t and US¢ 8.08/lb agreed in 2019. The main influences on the negotiations were the tight global copper concentrate market and the recent rapid growth in Chinese smelting capacity from new projects at Yunnan Copper Chifeng, Zijin Mining Heilongjiang, and Baiyin Non Ferrous. These plants contributed to a 17.9% year-on-year surge in Chinese refined copper production to 868 kt in October, according to national statistics.

The first batch of scrap import quotas for category six materials in 2020 are due to be released before 31 December, amid concern over volumes. The long-awaited reclassification of some grades of copper scrap as “renewable copper raw materials”, thereby making them no longer subject to quotas, is not expected until April 2020 and may not come into effect until 1 July. www.roskill.com Based on a 2 December post by Jessica Roberts, Manager Copper & Technology Materials, Roskill

www.ecometales.cl www.jogmec.go.jp www.aurubis.com

Fastmarkets MB Events Asia Copper Conference 2019

At Fastmarkets MB Events Asia Copper Conference 2019 which took place from 19 - 21 November in Shanghai, a total of 276 delegates from 134 companies and 26 countries contributed to a highly successful event. Key speakers included: Matthew Chamberlain, CEO, London Metal Exchange Mark Loveitt, President, IWCC Nicolas Snowden, Metals Research Analyst, Deutsche Bank

Michael Lion, President, Lion Consulting Asia Yuanhui Lui, Production Director, Shandong Humon Smelting Yiwei Mao, Deputy CEO, Jiangxi Copper Delegates were enlightened on the outlook for China’s copper industry and demand for concentrate vs. unwrought copper, how the ban on foreign waste might disrupt the global copper supply chain, and the environmental impact of mine closures. www.fastmarkets.com

LME Metals Seminar Speaking to over 400 delegates at the LME Seminar on 28 October, Vanessa Davidson of CRU forecast a tepid recovery for copper, with a 1.3% rise in mined output, and 1.4% rise in global refined output for 2020. With an average price of US$ 5,900 /t for 2020, there is unlikely to be a downturn.

Elsewhere, Edward Meir of

INTL FCStone said 2019 is the fourth consecutive year of nickel deficit. Currently 68% of nickel production goes into stainless steel, with 20% into batteries. New demand from EV batteries is likely to increase by 3-500 kt by 2025.

There may be a concern over cherry-picking of investment.

Speakers at the LME China

Copper Worldwide Vol 9 No 4

Seminar said domestic restructuring is the main growth driver through government and household consumption. A balanced and innovative set of financial instruments is being used.

Metals consumption has generally slowed, except for cobalt and nickel for batteries. www.lme.com

FUTURE COPPER | 17

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A future fit for copper The ICA and IWCC joint Seminar held in London on 25 October just before LME Week highlighted how copper provides state of the art solutions, writes Chris K. Holding

The first speaker, Krisztina Kalman-Schueler of DMM Advisory Group for Metra Martech, covered ten future mega trends forecast to impact copper demand, including accelerating adoption of clean technology in electricity generation and transportation and emphasis on developing energy storage technology, measures to increase the efficiency of manufacturing processes and the built environment, and adoption of more efficient electrical devices. The three main demand growth areas are electric vehicles, renewable electricity generation and the construction sector. The global middle class is set to grow to 5.6 billion in 2030.

Four recurring factors are increasing demand for copper: • The constant increase in speed and capacity of communications systems • A pressure to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to mitigate climate change • A drive to increase the circularity of the economy • China’s needs in today’s market.

Overall estimates put additional market copper demand levels at between 14 and 18 million tonnes by 2030.

Data handling

Krystyna Dawson, Director of BSRIA then expanded on the use of copper in Data Centres (DCs). Large and hyperscale DCs are projected to account for 67% demand of copper in the building contained sector by 2030, increasing from 37% in 2018. Electricity demand from DCs is expected to reach well over 2,000 TWhs by 2030, or 20.9% of projected electricity demand. The rise of edge computing, realtime applications, and smart cities is likely to increase demand from 543,000 tonnes in 2020 to an estimated 725,000 t in 2030.

The distribution of copper within DCs is presently 49% in ICT, 26% in power generation and backup, and 24% in environmental cooling.

By 2030 the power share will rise to 50%, with ICT at 34%, and 16% for environmental cooling. The life-span of Information and Communications technology in a DC is 3-4 years, whilst the life-span of other critical DC infrastructure is about 10 to 15 years.

Recycling

Luis Tercero Espinoza, Coordinator of Business Unit Systemic Risks, Fraunhofer ISI, said China is expected to be the largest generator of WEEE, industrial electrical and non- electrical scrap and ELV globally by 2035. Their research found that in Europe, recycling systems exist and function relatively well, supported by regulation and the operation of large businesses and SMEs. European consumers are also

The ICA/IWCC Seminar in London in October

presented with clearer methods of disposal.

In the USA, despite a well-established recycling industry, differing state regulations and an abundance of landfill stalls efforts for greater rates of recycling. China has introduced stricter regulations such as the ‘Green Fence’, but within the country regional disparities in recycling systems continue and consumers on the whole remain unsure of how to dispose of goods correctly.

There is a network of trade-off issues in relation to product design, including Resource Efficiency, Climate Change, Public Health and Employment. With more volumes of all types of copper scrap and more complex materials, the issues of cherry-picking of high value scrap and disposal ‘black holes’ need to be addressed, for example. Recycling needs complete chains one strong link cannot compensate for weak links. Communications between manufacturers and recyclers can be improved.

Responsible sourcing

Georgina Hallett, Chief of Staff at the LME, said whilst the LME has traditionally been a market of metallurgical standards, it is now equally committed to the introduction of responsible sourcing requirements for its listed brands, and has taken on the role of forging a consensus of views among its various stakeholders. As a seller’s market, the LME has an ethical responsibility. The LME price will generally be the price of the least valuable listed brand, and this should reflect responsible sourcing.

Consumers are demanding responsibly sourced metal, and the LME can build on its existing work with producers to deliver results here.

Following a strategy of delivering transparency fairly, the LME has detailed a number of routes through which its brands may Copper Worldwide Vol 9 No 4

achieve OECD-compliance, generally involving a Red Flag Assessment (RFA) and LME or approved auditor review. The first reporting date will be 30 June 2022 for reporting periods up to 31 Dec 2021. For full details, please refer to the LME’s October 2019 ‘LME Responsible Sourcing’ publication.

The Copper Mark

Andrea Vaccari, Vice Chair ICA Material Stewardship Council and Director Product Stewardship for Freeport-McMoRan Inc., presented on The Copper Mark for responsibly produced copper. The riskbased assurance to end-users and buyers is aimed at the broad centre part of the industry, and an element of continuous improvement has been incorporated.

The Copper Mark entity will be separate to the ICA. A new Executive Director, Michèle Brülhart, has just been appointed. Applicants will be assessed against a total of 32 criteria spread across the 5 categories of Business and Human Rights, Community, Labour and Working Conditions, Environment and Governance. Initially the participant scope is mines, smelters and refineries, with fabricator and downstream extension envisioned through to 2022 and beyond. The first applications are anticipated in the period April to June 2020. www.copperalliance.org www.coppercouncil.org www.isi.fraunhofer.de www.coppermark.org www.bsria.com www.lme.com An ICA Workshop took place on 21 November as part of the 15th Asia Copper Conference in Shanghai covering many of the above areas plus China’s future transportation and automotive wiring sectors.

18 | EVENT PREVIEWS

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IERC 2020 in Salzburg

Prof. Dr Egbert Lox is Senior Vice President Group R&D for Umicore N.V. Photo: ICM

The 19th International Electronics Recycling Congress IERC 2020 takes place in Salzburg, Austria from 21 to 24 January. Organisers ICM AG asked Keynote Speaker Prof. Dr Egbert Lox of Umicore about the impact of ‘sustainable mobility’ on recycling:

“Sustainable mobility aims to reduce the environmental and social impact of mobility, by using several approaches. The switch away from powertrains based upon internal combustion engines will reduce the consumption of fossil fuels, that is clear.

But the increased use of electrified powertrains will lead to an increased use of some non-ferrous metals such as nickel, cobalt and copper, just to name a few that play a key role in the traction batteries. We also have a recycling process in place for the recycling of the batteries. This closed loop approach is an inherent part of the transition towards electrified mobility.

As such, the importance of the recycling industry will increase dramatically.”

See below website for details on the IERC 2020 programme and how to register. www.icm.ch/ierc-2020

International Copper 2020 Back for its 33rd edition, the International Copper Conference, organised by Fastmarkets MB Events, takes place in Amsterdam from 26-28 February. It is a unique conference that brings together the entire copper value chain in Europe, with over 140 senior decision makers from across the value chain regularly attending.

Key topics tabled are: • How the copper industry is evolving to new challenges • The geopolitical outlook for 2020 and beyond • One year on: Chinese scrap policy and its impact on global trade • Scrap’s increased role in the copper value chain • Copper’s role in the energy transition and circular economy • Future copper growth regions and markets The organisers have promised the following refinements this time:

• I nvestor panel: hear from a variety of voices from the investment industry, including commodity analysts and fund managers and find out how they view the market.

• A wider scope, with sessions involving both primary and secondary market players • More end-user presentations on procurement and trends in the manufacturing industry • An increased focus on the future of the copper market.

Copper producers, including senior decision makers from mines, smelters, refiners and semis fabricators, portfolio directors from investment funds and bank financiers, downstream market players, including senior figures from the largest fabricators/ manufacturers in the market, and high-level metals and mining analysts and advisers are all invited to try it out. www.fastmarkets.com/events

Other 2020 events of note: Mining Indaba 2020 Investing in African Mining takes place from 3-6 February in CTICC, Cape Town. The 2019 event saw over 6,000 attendees and over 900 mining executives. This time around, the concurrent two-day ‘Mining 2050’ event looks at optimising growth in the fourth industrial revolution. There is also a Sustainable Development Day and a new General Counsel Forum. Overall there is a 27% female Speaker line-up, compared with a 17% female workforce. www.coppercouncil.org

wire/Tube 2020 The wire 2020 and Tube 2020 trade fairs for the wire and cable, and tube and tube processing industries respectively, take place in Messe Düsseldorf from 30 March to 3 April, bringing together some 2,600 exhibitors on total net space of 115,000 square metres in 15 exhibition halls. For the first time the new multi-purpose

Hall 1, which holds up to 10,000 people with its 12,027 sq m, will offer Tube exhibitors new presentation options. www.coppercouncil.org

ET’20 Running from 19-21 May 2020 in Orlando, Florida, ET ‘20 marks the 50th Anniversary of the International Aluminum Extrusion Technology Seminars and is the 12th Edition.

Presently over 60 exhibitors are listed and 120 papers are scheduled during two days of technical sessions. As well as some Special Anniversary Events, a number of add-on workshops are being run. See below website for details. www.coppercouncil.org

Copper Worldwide 10th Anniversary Copper Worldwide Vol 9 No 4

IWCC 2020 Technical Seminar The next IWCC Technical Seminar will take place from 1-5 March 2020 in Milan, Italy.

The Seminar is a unique event in the Copper Industry calendar, bringing together experts from copper and copper alloy fabricators, academics, equipment suppliers and copper industry associations to discuss technical issues and solutions facing the copper processing industry. These well attended events attract a truly global audience.

In 2020, the subject of the IWCC Technical Seminar will be ‘The Latest Innovations in Copper Products and Applications’. The requirements placed on copper fabricators from end-users and regulators are increasingly changing. In light of this, the papers at the 2020 Seminar will address these changing requirements and the technical solutions needed to meet these new demands.

The speakers will cover topics including; Innovations in alloys, foils and coatings; Information technologies for materials and processes; Innovations in joining and additive technologies; Developments for automotive applications; and regulations having an impact on the fabricating industry. Speakers at the Seminar will be from the China, Europe, Japan and the USA representing the fabricating industry, the academic world and industry associations.

Plant visits are always a highlight of an IWCC Technical Seminar programme and 2020 is no exception. Delegates will visit the Aurubis wire rod plant in Avellino, and have a choice of visiting either the Eredi Gnutti Metalli strip and brass rod plant in Brescia or the Mino rolling mill assembly plant in Alessandria. As in previous years, delegates will also take part in a number of social and networking events in Italy including a tour of Milan, a Welcome Reception and dinners in top restaurants in Milan. Additional information, a full list of papers and a Registration Pack will be available on the IWCC website below from early December. www.coppercouncil.org

New Copper 2020 forum in Lima The Copper 2020 Copper World Conference is due to take place from 28 - 30 October 2020 in Lima, Peru. It aims to have over 200 papers, around 250 exhibitors, and approaching 10,000 participants, according to Organisers InterMet. The Call for Abstracts closes on 31 January 2020. Abstracts should not exceed 300 words in English or Spanish and be sent to: program@copper2020.com please.

Other upcoming InterMet events in Lima include Flotation 2020 from 3 - 5 June 2020, and Hydrometallurgy 2021 from 29 - 30 April 2021. www.encuentrometalurgia.com www.copper2020.com

International Copper 2020 26 - 28 February | Amsterdam

The entire copper value chain under one roof 3 days 140+ attendees

90 companies 25 countries

SAVE 15% - use discount code CW15 when checking out online metalbulletin.com/events/copper

20 | CONTRACTS & PEOPLE In brief…

Aurubis is now placing its various social projects under the slogan ‘together we care’. It announced official support for three such projects in Peru and Chile in October. Projects have three focuses: knowledge, environment, and participation, and take place at schools, in vocational training, in the promotion of sports and culture, and around its site localities.

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Henry to head BHP from 1 January

www.aurubis.com

As of 1 October 2019, Philipp Migura, Managing Director of the GDMB Gesellschaft der Metallurgen und Bergleute e.V. and GDMB Verlag GmbH, succeeded Dipl.-Ing. Jürgen Zuchowski. In his 14 years as Managing Director, Zuchowski has been able to continuously increase the firm’s internationality. Migura began his training at the GDMB in 2004. www.gdmb.de

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) and Primetals Technologies acquired ABP Induction Systems (ABP) from CM Acquisitions, a Chicago based private equity firm, in the Summer, subject to approvals. ABP provides state of the art equipment for ferrous and non-ferrous metal casting, forging and steel making. www.primetals.com

Rio Tinto has achieved a significant milestone at the Oyu Tolgoi mine in Mongolia with the completion of Shaft 2, which enables the acceleration of work on the underground development. Shaft 2, a 10-metre diameter shaft sunk to approximately 1.3 kilometres below the surface, has now entered into the final stages of commissioning. www.riotinto.com

Reporting its Q3 results, Rio Tinto said its mined production of 158 kt was 1% lower than Q3 of 2018, but 15% higher than the second quarter, reflecting higher grades at Kennecott (57.8 kt) and 4% y-o-y improved throughput at Escondida (90.5 kt). Lower refined output at Kennecott reflected a planned smelter shut-down in July and some unplanned maintenance. www.riotinto.com

The Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) has approved Metso’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emission targets.

The GHG targets are part of Metso’s Climate Program and are applicable to all relevant emission sources: production, procurement, inbound and outbound transportation as well as product use. Metso joined SBTi in efforts to prevent global warming. www.metso.com

Mike Henry is the next CEO of BHP. Photo: BHP

The Board of BHP announced on 14 November that Mike Henry has been appointed Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of BHP. Mr Henry will assume the role of CEO and Executive Director effective 1 January 2020, replacing Andrew Mackenzie who will retire as CEO on 31 December 2019. Mr Henry has 30 years’ experience in the global mining and petroleum industry, spanning operational, commercial, safety, technology and marketing roles. He was appointed to his current role of President Operations Minerals Australia in 2016, and has been a member of the Executive

Leadership Team since 2011. Mr Henry joined BHP in 2003, initially in business development and then in marketing and trading of a range of mineral and petroleum commodities based in The Hague, where he was also accountable for BHP’s ocean freight operations.

He went on to hold various positions in the company, including President Coal, President HSE, Marketing and Technology, and Chief Marketing Officer. Prior to joining BHP, Mr Henry worked in the resources industry in Canada, Japan and Australia. www.bhp.com

IsaMill for complex ore challenges of Ozernoye Glencore Technology and Hatch are helping Ozernoye to develop a mining operation in Buryatia, Russia.

The mining and processing operation would produce zinc and lead concentrates. Ozernoye’s Grigory Koldunov said the company is preparing the area for the Ozernoye polymetallic mine and concentrator in the Yeravninsky region, 60 km away from the Sosnovo-Ozerskoye regional centre. “We’ll start mining works and stripping waste by November. Expected stripping volume by the end of the year will exceed 350 000 m3 of waste”, said Koldunov. In November, the company will begin the construction of temporary roads and a tailings storage facility.

Glencore Technology’s Adam Price said the ore mineralogy at the site was remarkably similar to Glencore’s McArthur River project which originally brought about the need to create the IsaMill ultrafine grinding technology which turns 25 this year. “Ozernoye’s mineralogy is complex, and it’s going to need the right flowsheet to improve the recovery and concentrate quality and therefore ensure the economic viability of the project”, said Price.

He said the fine-grained lead zinc ore at the Australian operation made for an obvious benchmark.

Coated titanium anodes for Glencore Nikkelverk Outotec has agreed with Glencore Nikkelverk AS on the delivery of coated Titanium Anodes to the new tankhouse for copper electrowinning plant in Norway.

The delivery will include over 5,000 of the new mixed metal oxide coated titanium anodes. The order value is approximately EUR 10 million. Glencore Nikkleverk refinery in Kristiansand Norway produces approximately 40,000 tonnes of copper per annum.

Outotec’s coated titanium anodes were tested on-site for 5 years, and the results verified that Outotec anodes will operate at a significant reduction in energy consumption and provide higher current efficiency than traditional lead anodes.

The Outotec Coated Titanium Anodes provide totally lead-free electrowinning operations and increased occupational health and safety by eliminating lead and lead sludge handling. The end result for Glencore Nikkelverk AS is green technology electrowinning operations with higher quality copper product at lower energy consumption and operating costs. www.outotec.com

Outotec to modernise Madneuli concentrator

This year, Ozernoye has been embarking on mining, capital works and construction of infrastructure facilities: tailing dam, water distribution system, pit stripping, and camp expansion. Major construction of the plant’s facilities is planned for 2020-2022 and the company plans to reach design capacity of 8 Mtpy in 2024.

Glencore’s McArthur River Mine in Northern Australia contains a complex ore that remained uneconomical until the IsaMill was created to produce a steep particle size distribution without needing internal screens or closed-circuit cyclones. The horizontal plug-flow design prevented short circuiting and provided for a reliable and easy to operate technology. The original 1994 IsaMills are still operating at McArthur River Mine, but the IsaMill technology has been refined to occupy a small footprint, with very high availability and significant energy efficiency.

A contract for the delivery of minerals processing technology and equipment to modernise the Madneuli copper concentrator in southern Georgia has been signed between Outotec and Rich Metals Group Copper (RMGC). The contract is valued at approximately EUR 10 million. Outotec’s scope of delivery includes a tertiary ball mill, Outotec® HIGmill® high intensity grinding mill, flotation cells, a complete process control system as well as a pressure filter and a high rate thickener. The deliveries will take place in the second half of 2020. Currently, Outotec and RMGC are completing basic engineering for the project.

Outotec has been involved in the modernisation project from the early stages to support in process design to improve the efficiency and value of production. Extensive test work, along with the chemical and mineralogical characterisation of different ore samples, were carried out at the laboratories of Outotec Research Centre in Pori, Finland.

www.glencoretechnology.com.au

www.outotec.com

Infrastructure

Copper Worldwide Vol 9 No 4

CONTRACTS & PEOPLE | 21

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Update on Freeport in Indonesia FCX has a 48.76 percent ownership interest in PT-FI and manages its Grasberg District mining operations in Papua, Indonesia. PT-FI’s estimated annual capital spending on Grasberg underground mine development projects is expected to average US$ 0.8 billion per year for the four-year period 2019 to 2022, net of scheduled contributions from PT Indonesia Asahan Aluminium (Persero) (PT Inalum). PT-FI aims to complete mining in the open pit in the fourth quarter of 2019.

In connection with the extension of PT-FI’s mining rights from 2031 to 2041, PT-FI committed to construct a new smelter in Indonesia by 21 December 2023. A site for the new smelter has been selected and ground preparation is in progress. Engineering and frontend engineering and design for the selected process technology are ongoing, with construction of the smelter expected to begin in 2020. The preliminary capital cost estimate for the project approximates US$ 3 billion, and PT-FI is pursuing financing and commercial arrangements for this project. The economics of PT-FI’s share of the new smelter will be shared by PT-FI’s shareholders according to their respective share ownership percentages. www.fcx.com

Glencore weighs in with 1 Mt of output

The FLSmidth Group Chief Financial Officer, Lars Vestergaard, stepped down at the end of November. A new Group Chief Financial Officer (CFO) has been selected and will join FLSmidth on or before 1 July 2020. A formal announcement will be made in due time. The Board of Directors thanked Mr. Vestergaard for his contribution to the business’ goals. www.flsmidth.com

Glencore’s Mutanda large-scale copper and cobalt operation in the DRC

For the third quarter YTD, Glencore reported own sourced copper production of 1,015,800 tonnes, which was was 47,300 t (-4%) lower than the comparable prior period, mainly reflecting: • Mutanda’s re-optimised 100,000 tpy plan (from 200,000 t), impacting the current period by 67,000 t • M opani’s smelter being shut for extensive refurbishment (equivalent 21,600 t of metal) • D isposal/depletion of 2 South American assets in the base period (20,200 t), partly offset

by Katanga’s ramp-up (66,500 t favourable).

Collahuasi attributable production YTD was 176.5 kt, with Antamina

at 113.8 kt. Regionally, Australian output was 137.7 kt and ownsourced African copper production was 283.2 kt for the period. Custom metallurgical copper asset YTD output from Altonorte, Pasar, Horne and CCR combined was 323.9 kt.

Own sourced cobalt production of 34,400 t was 5,900 t (+21%) higher than the comparable prior period, primarily reflecting Katanga’s ramp-up. Other Glencore metals production for the quarter included 809.2 kt zinc and 89.4 kt nickel.

Glencore operations comprise around 150 mining and metallurgical sites. The businesses produced a total of 1.45 Mt copper in 2018. www.glencore.com

KME Mansfeld stands for proven quality MKM Mansfelder Kupfer und Messing GmbH officially took the new name KME Mansfeld GmbH from 4 June 2019. The name change completed the formal integration process of MKM GmbH into the KME Group. With the completed integration the Board of Directors of the KME Group also act as Managing Directors for the operations of KME Mansfeld GmbH. The CEO of KME Mansfeld GmbH is Ulrich Becker.

In brief…

Three copper plants in Osnabrück, Hettstedt and Fornaci di Barga are now united under the umbrella of the KME Group. All three sites will focus on specific product segments. In the Osnabrück site, the headquarter of KME, the focus will be on the production of rolled products from copper alloys and DHP qualities within the ‘Copper Semis’ Division in addition to the well-established ‘Special Products’ Division. Brass rolled products

and roofing strips for the Southern European markets are manufactured at the Fornaci di Barga site in Italy. In addition to the production of wire, tube and rod products, Hettstedt will focus on the rolled products for industrial applications made of pure copper grades. The KME Group sees further potential in the copper market as a result of ongoing digitalisation, electrical mobility and renewable energies. www.kme-mansfeld.com

RHI Magnesita has begun trial production at its newly acquired plant at Tangi near Cuttack in Odisha state, its first Magnesia Carbon Bricks production unit in India. The idea was initiated by the “Make-in India” invitation of the Indian government. The plant was acquired

by RHI Magnesita (RHIM) in August.

Commercial production is expected to start soon. www.rhimagnesita.com

Outgoing World Refractories Association (WRA) President Stefan Borgas (CEO RHI Magnesita) said it was essential to keep a re-orientation momentum going, or the industry could shrink.

Carol Jackson, Chairman & CEO of HarbisonWalker International, will be the first North American to assume the WRA presidency in January 2020. www.worldrefractories.org

HarbisonWalker International (HWI) recently celebrated the completion of new capital projects with a ribboncutting event at its Fulton Rotary Kiln facility in Missouri, USA. A US$ 1.9 million renovation investment has converted an 8,500 sq ft warehouse space into a manufacturing facility for making highly specialised foundry powder-silica products. www.thinkhwi.com

SMS group is moving to an innovative SMS Campus in 2023 next to existing buildings on the Mönchengladbach site in Germany. The decision stems from a long-term wish to unite employees under one roof with state of the art workplaces. The SMS Campus will bring together employees spread across five locations in the immediate area. www.sms-group.com

Metals summit marks SMM milestone The 2019 SMM Annual Nonferrous Metals Summit took place in Shanghai on 22-23 November, with more than 1,300 industry participants.

The year 2019 is the 20th anniversary of SMM, which has just set up a subsidiary in Beijing called Beijing Zhongzai Resources Information and Technology Co., Ltd., jointly established by SMM and Zhongzai

Resources Innovation and Innovation Institute (Beijing) Co., Ltd, which has expertise in resources recycling.

Rising copper smelting capacity in China has boosted demand for seaborne concentrate, increasing the bargaining power for domestic smelters, said SMM Vice President Logan Lu at the event. Lu made a presentation to delegates about

the methodology of the SMM Copper Concentrate Index, which was launched on 25 October to better reflect the spot prices of the copper concentrate treatment charge (TC) in China. Senior Analyst Wei Xue estimates an H2 y-o-y decline of 270 kt Cu content in imported scraps. www.metal.com

Copper Worldwide Vol 9 No 4

Rio Tinto Kennecott has retired the Utah Power Plant located in Magna, Utah. Kennecott will pair 1.5 M megawatt hours of electricity with Green-e Energy certified carbon-free renewable energy certificates, primarily from Rocky Mountain Power’s growing portfolio of wind and solar resources, removing over 1 Mt CO2 from Kennecott’s Wasatch Front operations. www.riotintokennecott.com

22 | OPERATIONAL EFFICIENCY

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

Common froth pumping challenges Weir Minerals offers advice for dealing with froth pumping’s key challenges, maximising pump availability and minimising maintenance in operators’ flotation circuits.

To counteract declining ore grades, more and more mine operators are investing in techniques to increase the minerals reclaimed from froth pumping. However, when these techniques are deployed without making allowances for the design of the mine’s froth pumping equipment, it can result in the loss of valuable minerals and profits. Froth pumping remains one of the most complex engineering challenges in minerals processing, as air management issues in the hopper, sump and pump itself lead to inefficient pumping, increased maintenance and even lost product.

“We’ve started to notice a pattern among our customers who’re having trouble with their froth pumps,” says Les Harvey, Regional Product Manager for Slurry Pumps at Weir Minerals. “By using more flocculants and other chemicals designed to improve mineral recovery, they’re exacerbating existing problems in circuit design and reducing the returns they’re looking for.”

Close examination of the froth’s makeup and physical qualities is often needed to resolve issues. Ensuring operators’ froth handling equipment adheres to best design practices is an important first step in resolving problems.

Maintaining pump pressure

The key challenge in froth pumping is dealing with air in the pump itself, as it tends to naturally centrifuge into the impeller’s eye, where it builds up into an “air lock” which impedes the movement of slurry through the pump. In addition to reducing the pump’s efficiency, the air build-up in the pump will reduce the flow through the pump and increase the slurry level in the suction hopper. The increased slurry level may push the pocket of air through the pump, causing surging and excessive vibration which can damage the pump bearings, impeller and shaft.

“The best way to manage air in a froth pump is to invest in a froth pump with a Continuous Air Removal System (CARS), which we have in our Warman AHF, MF and LF pumps,” says Harvey. CARS allows air to move from the pump’s impeller eye to an air collection chamber in the back through a vent hole in the impeller. From that chamber, a flow inducer removes the air from the pump through a vent pipe. “It’s also important to position the pump’s discharge pipe at the top of the pump, or at a 45 degree angle, as this will give air trapped at the top of the casing a way to escape the pump.”

Sump and hopper solutions

“A persistent problem we see is when hoppers designed to meet the demands of slurry pumping are used in a froth pumping application. Slurry hoppers require turbulence to prevent the mineral content from settling,

Froth pump in profile

while turbulence in a froth pump prevents the air from escaping and leads to blockages,” says Harvey.

Tanks designed for froth pumping promote continuous circular movement, where solids and liquids are sent to the outside of the sump for further transport while air centrifuges into the centre where it can be removed.

This ‘whirlpool’ movement can be encouraged by introducing the slurry from the top of the tank at a tangential angle. Conical designs, rather than those with a flat or rounded floor, further improve the flow of minerals and froth into the pump.

From tank to pump

To prevent blockages, the intake pipe which links the tank to the pump should be large diameter and slope downwards towards the pump. This design allows escaped air to separate and travel back up the pipe where it can escape from the sump, rather than building up into blockages.

“The shorter your intake pipe, the harder it is for blockages to build up. However, in addition to a maintenance spool and isolation valve, it’s a good idea to leave enough space for a water injection port, which is useful for flushing out any solids build up,” says Harvey.

“To make maintenance easier, a dump valve can be included on the suction side of the pump, between the pump and the isolation valve. This will allow you to drain slurry from the pump and discharge pipe system when stopping the pump for maintenance.”

Understanding tenacious froths Froths are often classified as either brittle, with large air bubbles that break easily, or

Copper Worldwide Vol 9 No 4

A Warman® Froth Pump in situ

tenacious, where air forms tight bubbles around minerals and is difficult to separate. Froth being more tenacious than was accounted for is a frequent cause of blockages as air cannot effectively be removed.

“Two things are happening in the market today. On the one hand, mine operators are grinding the product much finer than before to liberate more from the waste rock. They’re also using flocculants that produce much smaller bubbles which lock up the air a lot more than brittle froths,” says Harvey.

“We’re working together with customers to find ways to manage these more tenacious froths, by looking at their circuit design and dealing with areas where the air could accumulate and block the system, paying particular attention to their pumps, pipes and sumps.

Weir Minerals has extensive experience with froth pumping and our specialist engineers can help mine operators resolve issues in their flotation circuit. Tenacious froths particularly benefit from the CARS system available with our Warman® froth pumps for managing air accumulation. www.global.weir

MANAGERIAL REVIEW | 23

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Solid FY start for BHP recorded

Outputs for FCX Americas affected

Reporting for the quarter to 30 September 2019, outgoing BHP CEO Andrew Mackenzie said it was a solid start to the FY. Total copper production increased by five per cent to 430 kt. Escondida copper production decreased by one per cent to 293 kt, with record concentrator throughput of 369 ktpd in the quarter offsetting expected grade decline.

Ongoing improvements in maintenance implemented as part of the Transformation agenda contributed to the higher throughput, with the rate increasing to 377 ktpd in September 2019. Pampa Norte copper production increased by 47 per cent to 64 kt, reflecting the impact of a fire at the electrowinning plant at Spence in the September 2018 quarter. The US$ 2.46 bn Spence Growth Option project in Chile was 74% complete.

Olympic Dam copper production increased by five per cent to 35 kt as a result of the prior period acid plant outage, partially offset by the impact of planned preparatory work undertaken in the September 2019 quarter related to the replacement of the refinery crane. The physical replacement and commissioning of the refinery crane is scheduled for the March 2020 quarter. Underground operations, the mill and the smelter performed to plan, enabling the build of anode stocks for processing through the refinery in the subsequent three quarters. Antamina copper production increased by two per cent to 38 kt and zinc production decreased by 33 per cent to 20 kt, reflecting higher copper head grades and lower zinc head grades.

FCX Third-quarter 2019 copper sales of 795 million pounds were four percent lower than the July 2019 estimate of 830 Mlb copper, primarily because of lower production from Cerro Verde in Peru and timing of shipments, partly offset by higher production and sales from North America. North America’s consolidated copper sales volumes of 395 Mlb in the third quarter were higher than 3Q 2018’s 350 Mlb, primarily reflecting higher leach production and higher mining and milling rates.

North America copper sales are estimated to approximate 1.45 billion pounds for the year 2019.

Cerro Verde’s expanded operations benefit from its large-scale, longlived reserves and cost efficiencies and have continued to perform well.

Debottlenecking projects and additional initiatives to enhance operating rates continue to be advanced. FCX continues to evaluate a large-scale expansion at El Abra in Chile to process additional sulphide material and to achieve higher recoveries. El Abra’s large sulphide resource could potentially support a major mill project as at Cerro Verde.

South America’s consolidated copper sales volumes of 261 Mlb in thirdquarter 2019 were lower year-on-year (2018: 326 Mlb) reflecting lower ore grades and recovery rates at Cerro Verde and the timing of shipments.

Third-quarter 2019 production and sales were impacted by unaffiliated project protests in Peru that blocked access to the shipping ports and main transportation routes, mill maintenance activities and mine sequencing changes at Cerro Verde, that delayed access to higher grade material. Sales from South America mining are expected to approximate 1.2 billion pounds of copper for the year 2019.

www.bhp.com

www.fcx.com

KGHM happy with higher production

Wave of Mexican projects for SCC

In the first 9 months of 2019, KGHM recorded a 14% y-o-y rise in copper production to 530 thousand tonnes. In Chile, Sierra Gorda mine copper production increased by 11.3 kt (+16%), mainly through higher extraction and processing of ore and higher copper recovery during processing. In the third quarter, the KGHM Group earned PLN 696 million (+91% y-o-y), and revenues were higher in each of the Group’s segments. Production of payable copper in the third quarter of 2019 amounted to 178 kt (+4%). The production plan for all of the main metals - copper, silver, precious metals, molybdenum - was exceeded by several percent.

The greatest impact on the production and financial results of the KGHM Group came mainly from the results of parent entity KGHM Polska Miedź S.A., due to the completion and optimalisation of significant investments, such as the flash furnace at the Głogów I smelter and the auxiliary installation for the roasting of concentrate. The proper functioning of these investments, important for the production line, had a large impact on the results achieved.

KGHM’s strategic approach calls for optimisation in the following areas: adaptation of the model of functioning of the KGHM Group to the market environment, higher efficiency in the utilisation of resources and production processes, integration of the KGHM Group around the concept of sustainable development, and technological transformation under the 4.0. Program.

Copper production increased 12.7% to 252,380 tonnes in 3Q19 compared with 3Q18 due to higher production at the Toquepala mine (+55.5%) in Peru and the Buenavista mine (+4.6%) in Mexico. These increases were partially offset by lower production at the Cuajone mine (-3.1%) due to lower ore grades. Copper production increased 13.7% in the first nine months of 2019 when compared with 9M18 as a result of higher production at Toquepala (+54.4%) due to the successful start-up of the new Toquepala concentrator, and higher production at Buenavista (+7.5%) principally as a result of operating improvements at its SX-EW plants (+18.8%). The SCC Mexican expansion program includes: •T he Buenavista Zinc project, with an investment of US$ 413 million, which when completed in 2022 will add 20,000 tpy of copper and 80,000 tpy of zinc •T he Pilares project, with an investment of US$ 159 M, which when completed in 2021 will add 35,000 tpy of copper and will increase the ore grade mix at the La Caridad mine •T he El Pilar project, with an investment of US$ 310 M and expected to complete in 2023, will add 35,000 tpy copper.

Capital investments in 9M19 were US$ 536.1 million, in line with the growth program, which aims to reach annual production of 1.5 Mt of copper by 2026. Mr. German Larrea, Chairman of the Board, was confident that Southern Copper was on track to increase its production capacity to 1.1 Mt of copper and 200,000 t of zinc by 2023.

www.kghm.com

www.southerncoppercorp.com

The flash furnace at Glogow I Smelter saw major investment. Photo: KGHM

Copper Worldwide Vol 9 No 4

24 | QUALITY CONTROL

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Quality on inspection

Copper analysis in progress in the Liverpool laboratory

Alex Stewart International’s global inspection and sampling services help to deliver fast and accurate laboratory analysis and laboratory

testing. For example, its UKAS ISO 17025 Accredited metal testing laboratory in Liverpool, England covers non-ferrous and ferrous ores and concentrates, minor metals, precious and platinum group metals, ferroalloys, recycled scrap metal, complex materials

and plastics, as well as fuels, agricultural and soft commodities, food products, all the while working towards maintaining a sustainable environment.

Strategically located inspection operations cover all major load and discharge ports and refineries for base and non-ferrous metals such as copper, zinc and lead at all main locations in South American, Africa, Asia, Asia Pacific, Baltic Sea, Black Sea and European countries.

Inspection services include full supervision of loading and discharge, inspection, draft survey, transportable moisture limits, shore scale or belt weighing surveillance, stockpile control, sampling. Alex Stewart International services all base metals including copper, lead and zinc, ferrous ores such as iron and other bulk shipments, for inspections and analysis. www.alexstewartinternational.com

Quality work at COM + Copper 2019 Outotec compared different process technologies by using flowsheet simulation using commercial HSC Chemistry software version 9.8 with various additions. Energy was only about 10-18% of the total simulated operational costs, whereas technical oxygen and copper recovery have the greatest impact (57-66%). Downtime was also a significant factor with a share of 7-19%.

There were almost constant overall costs while the quality and feed rate of concentrate change.

The highest cost range was 275 to 375 USD/t blister copper and the lowest 170 to 240 USD/t, depending on if 29% or 22% Cu concentrate treated. Total operational costs appear to be strongly dependent on copper smelting technology applied. The FSF-FCF, FSF- PSC, ASF-ACF and SBF-TBC processes achieved the lowest costs with the applied parameters and unit costs here.

Presenter: Lauri Pesonen of Outotec The expansion project in Naoshima smelter and refinery to meet enhancing recycling business of e-scrap was successfully completed in 2016 to have a capacity of 110,000 tpy of e-scrap treatment. The increment of Ni content in copper anode and electrolyte to 4,000 ppm on average adversely affected the electrorefining process, slime leaching process, and NiSO4 crystallisation process at the tank house. The Ni content of anode slime increases steeply with increasing that of the anode if the anode contains Ni of over 3,500 ppm. Pressurised leaching increased the leaching rate of nickel.

Presenter: Takashi Yamashita of Mitsubishi Materials Corporation The Harjavalta smelter commissioned a new sustainable landfill area for final slag in May 2018 after six years of intensive work involving

flying squirrel habitat protection concerns and archaeological digs. Slag is pumped as an aqueous slurry underground to the storage site. Good local relations expedited the project.

The Harjavalta site is the same size as the adjacent town centre.

flow sheets) this PRO hybrid route deserves a close examination for adoption.

Presenter: Hanna-Leena Heikkilä of Boliden Harjavalta

Blister tapping is a high-risk activity with personnel operating in close proximity to molten metal. BHP Olympic Dam operates a Direct-toBlister copper flash smelting Furnace (DBF) and an Electric Slag Cleaning Furnace (ESCF).

By following BHP’s risk management framework the Taphole Development Program has led to a change in the way in which tapholes are critically assessed with the introduction of real-time condition monitoring, and standardised taphole monitoring including quality control of materials.

Recent regulations limit the tolerated lead concentrations in copper alloys. In 2016 approximately 1 Mt of leaded copper alloy semi-finished goods with an average lead content of 2.1 Ma% have been produced in the EU. The global production in the same period exceeded 5.5 Mt. Lead concentration has stayed constant at around 2.4 Ma% for the last 50 years.

Up to 80 % of the current production volume is covered with end-of-life scraps.

Three pyrometallurgical methods were considered to achieve lower lead levels in alloys, namely vacuum distillation, intermetallic precipitation and fractional crystallisation.

It was determined that a two-stage distillation process is the most balanced approach to produce high quality lead-reduced brass in a short time without generating critical by-products.

Presenter: Simon Hilgendorf, Institute of Process Metallurgy and Metal Recycling (IME), RWTH Aachen Process Research ORTECH Inc. (PRO), with its in-depth knowledge on cobalt behaviour in nickel matte smelters and its novel mixed chloride hydrometallurgical processing, presented its progress in developing a hybrid process to enhance cobalt recovery from copper / nickel matte producing smelters. With indications of potential increase of cobalt recovery of over 500 tpy in current operations (e.g. Canadian plant Copper Worldwide Vol 9 No 4

Presenter: Ramamritham Sridhar, Process Research, ORTECH Inc. (PRO)

Presenter: Farai Musaka, BHP The biological heap leaching at Zijinshan gold and copper mine is currently the largest industrial application of biohydrometallurgy and one of the earliest mines to develop biological metallurgy technology in China. The practice of Zijin mine shows that bioheap leaching can be adopted for the large-scale low-grade copper mine. The height of each heap layer is 8-10 m, which can not only ensure the air diffusion, but also prevent a large amount of heat loss of the heap. Combined with proper water treatment technology, bio-heap leaching is not only a copper metallurgy method, but also an acid mine environmental protection project.

Presenter: Jinghe Chen, Zijin Mining Group www.com.metsoc.org

Author: Chris K. Holding, Industry Correspondent

25 | SECONDARY SMELTING

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SUPPLIER DIRECTORY

Tuyere line management class

BULK MATERIAL HANDLING Kopar Oy

Gaspé Tuyere Punchers ready for shipment

Born out of the Northern Ontario Gold Boom of the 1920’s, Heath & Sherwood Limited has been operating since 1927 with 90 years of service to the mining industry from its home in Kirkland Lake, Canada. Today it serves the mineral processing and copper and nickel smelting industries with innovative and specialised products.

Heath & Sherwood has been supplying Tuyere Line management products for over 50 years including; Gaspé Puncher, Tuyere silencers, Tuyere Pyrometer, and the puncher Mounted Refractory Drill. Used in most Cu & Ni smelters these products help customers maximise their smelter operation with quick payback.

The benefits include extended

campaign life, increased blowing capacity, enhanced process uniformity and improved working conditions.

For over 40 years Heath & Sherwood has also suppled a complete line of standard and custom-designed automatic samplers for feeding process control analysers, metallurgical accounting and inventory control requirements. The product line includes a variety of samplers for pipes, high-flow launders, conveyors, chutes and bulk containers. Concentrators and smelter concentrate reception areas are only two examples of operations that benefit from H&S expertise. When following good sampling, customer’s profits are protected within the process. www.heathandsherwood64.com

Refractory pioneer excels HarbisonWalker International (HWI) supports customers in the primary and secondary copper and heavy non-ferrous industries across the globe. HarbisonWalker International was the first to introduce chrome alumina refractories to the industry.

It also pioneered technology to help optimise the life of customers’ units through specific application of products that provide extreme protection in select high-wear areas. This innovative design has extended the campaign life of many customers’ units.

HWI provides world-class products, in-depth consultation,

Refractory expertise from HWI

and problem solving that enhance customers’ overall operations. Dedicated application specialists have deep experience recognising and addressing process reactions that can take a toll on refractory performance.

Refractory solutions are available in a variety of leading brick and castable formulations that combat high temperatures as well as the erosive and corrosive effects of slag.

HWI specially engineers products to meet the specific lining demands of primary smelting, anode, and secondary copper furnaces, as well as copper converters. They also have products tailored to the needs of secondary lead and brass processes.

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

CONCENTRATE DRYING Kumera Corporation

ELECTROLYTIC REFINING 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

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

CONTINUOUS ROTARY EXTRUSION Holton Crest Limited

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

COOLING SOLUTIONS

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

Mettop GmbH CAgroup

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

ELECTROLYTE PURIFICATION

32 Industrial Avenue Thomastown 3074, Victoria Australia Tel: +61 3 8301 7100 Fax: +61 3 9359 4076 E-mail: sales@caanodes.com Web: www.caanodes.com Contact: Sebastian Ortega Galli

Metalex

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

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

www.thinkhui.com

Copper Worldwide Vol 9 No 4

26 | SUPPLIER DIRECTORY FURNACES Kumera Corporation

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

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

MATERIALS HANDLING Combilift Ltd

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

Kumera Corporation

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

FURNACES, MELTING DROSS AND SCRAP 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

FURNACES, MELTING, TILTING AND ROTARY ANDRITZ Maerz GmbH

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

HEAT RECOVERY 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

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

PolyMet Solutions GmbH

Küttner GmbH & Co. KG

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

REFRACTORIES AND INSULATION

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

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

PNEUMATIC CONVEYING/ INJECTION Schenck Process

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.co.uk Contact: Richard Sims

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

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 GmbH

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

Kranichberggasse 6 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

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

PolyMet Solutions GmbH

Mettop 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

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

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

Copper Worldwide Vol 9 No 4

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

SMELTING – PRIMARY ANDRITZ Maerz GmbH

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

Alfredstr. 28 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

D-45130 Essen Tel: 0049 201 7293 0 Fax: 0049 201 7293 134

Alex Stewart (International) 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

Schenck Process

Email: team-knf@kuettner.com Web: www.kuettner.com Contact: Dr. Farzad Salehi

SMELTING – SECONDARY ANDRITZ Maerz GmbH

SAMPLING AND ANALYSIS

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

WEIGHING AND FEEDING

Germany

Primetals Technologies USA LLC

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

Heath & Sherwood (1964) Limited

Corneliusstraße 36

Küttner GmbH & Co. KG

MINO S.p.A.

TUYERES - PUNCHING, SILENCING, PYROMETRY

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

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

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

SOLVENT EXTRACTION Metalex

SCREENING Schenck Process

Hernando de Aguirre 162 Of. 806 Pallaswiesenstraße 100 64293 Darmstadt Germany Tel: 0049 61 51 15 31 0 Fax: 0049 61 51 15 31 66 E-mail: screening-eu@schenckprocess.com Web: www.schenckprocess.com Contact: Ingo Fjelsten

Santiago Chile Tel: 0056 2335 2217 Fax: 0056 2321 8280 E-mail: alillo@metalex.cl Web: www.metalex.cl

You will find these firms exhibiting at upcoming events

Contact: Alejandro (Alex) R. Lillo

Copper Worldwide Vol 9 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 | SOUTH AMERICA INSIGHT

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

Latin America offers rewarding mining The challenges and opportunities of mining and exploration in Latin America were examined in detail at this year’s International Mining and Resources Conference and Expo (IMARC 2019) in Melbourne in October.

An IMARC 2019 Panel discussion

Latin America accounted for 30 per cent of mining’s global exploration budget as recently as 2017. The US Geological Survey says Chile has the world’s largest reserves of copper and lithium and the seventh-largest silver reserves.

Peru has the world’s largest silver reserves, third-largest copper reserves, third-largest zinc reserves, fourth-largest nickel reserves and fifth-largest gold reserves From September 2019, Brazil was expected to auction around 1,000 mining areas - mostly gold, copper and iron ore prospects - where previous rights have either expired or were lost by the previous lease holders. In Brazil, National Mining Agency director Eduardo Leao told Reuters news agency he expected investors may be more cautious after the Vale SA mining disaster in the town of Brumadinho that killed more than 240 people in January. Nevertheless, he expected the auctions to still attract a lot of interest from domestic and foreign companies.

In the leadup to IMARC 2019, three Latin American experts discussed the issues in a special webinar. Natalia Gorrono, Senior Trade and Investment director with the Victoria Government; Kate Bennett, past Director of the Australian-Latin America Business Council; and Tim Dudley, of Tembo Capital, all agreed that the outlook for mining in Latin America was positive.

Ms Gorrono said Peru had about US$ 50 billion of projects in the pipeline with the

Government “pushing hard for those projects to come to fruition”. “Chile has a pipeline of about US$ 17 billion. Most of these are further developments of existing mining operations,” she said. “The outlook for copper in Peru and Chile is very promising. Ecuador, with gold, silver and copper also makes it an investment hot spot. When it comes to lithium, Chile will continue to lead when it comes to exploration, but Argentina has had some very interesting injections of foreign investment over 2018 and Peru will continue going strong with gold.”

Mr Dudley, also a speaker at IMARC 2019, said the funding environment was different for exploration and development. “In exploration the current market is very risk averse,” he said.

“Greenfield exploration is being led by the junior end of the market, and (that) has been suffering from a scarcity of capital. Particularly risk capital at present. A large amount of the exploration to date has largely been funded by large companies looking with a strategic purpose around existing operations. With the demand for copper and interest in lithium there is ability to develop projects if they are at that construction development ready stage, and there are substantial amounts of equity capital plus also debt funding that is available.”

Ms Gorrono and Ms Bennett said companies looking to explore and mine in Latin America had to ensure they had strong processes around social licence to operate. Ms Bennett said Copper Worldwide Vol 9 No 4

companies often said Latin America was “too dangerous, and yet they are quite happy to go to Africa”. “The main difference is the social licence to operate,” she said. “Indigenous communities in Latin America are quite empowered. They do have a voice.

“It is not necessarily any easier to have those conversations now than it was in the past, but companies are held a lot more to account by their investors, and by the international community.”

Ms Gorrono said: “If properly approached, social licence to operate hasn’t become harder to secure. It has been demonised a little bit, and big companies have a much better record than critics claim. If stakeholders are properly identified before embarking on a project and all parties are informed of what’s going on and consulted, I think projects can avoid a lot of issues and there is an increasing amount of successful cases occurring in Latin America.

The knowledge from some of these cases has been shared by Government institutions and that’s leading to more constructively educated stakeholders being involved in the creation of projects.”

The prospects for mining in Latin America were examined as part of the Global Opportunities conference at IMARC. Opportunities for the mining industry in Australia, Africa, the Middle East, USA, Canada and Asia were also examined throughout the three-day conference.

As part of the conference, Argentina’s Government Secretary of Mining Policy, Carolina Sanchez and Ecuadorian Government Vice Minister of Mining, Fernando Benalcazar were interviewed by Paola Lasso, Principal, Social Performance and Country Assessment Coordinator, Newcrest Mining and Director of the Australia-Latin America Business Council in a panel discussion on the prospect of doing business in the region. www.imarcmelbourne.com

Best wishes for 2020

re fo 20 be 20 0 r 0 te ry 1 is ua $ eg n E R Ja V 31 SA

&

World Copper Conference 2020 23-25 March 2020

• Santiago, Chile

The definitive copper conference

30+

46%

countries

C-level executives

491

Great

delegates

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Christopher Richings, Director Technical Services, Minera Candelaria Part of

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