CWDigital 2021 Issue 1 March

CWD 2021 ISSUE 1 MARCH

CWDigital 3

Issue 1 - Introduction and Testimonials

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Key news stories from the Global Copper Supply Chain

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Highlighting trends and a story that spans a decade

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You can believe that normal things are still happening

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Everyone is on the clean and green agenda

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Leaders on being much more holistic and open

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Huelva leading the smelter energy conservation field

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Controlling rolling; Thin-gauge foil; Trolley rolls

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Profiles created around copper - rod, tube and wire

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Country Profile - Russia is in it for the long term

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Statistics

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Contracts and People

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Event Previews

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Event Reviews

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Event Diary / Future CWDigital and CW Issues

A Copper Worldwide Magazine Publication ISSN 2634-7040

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AN INTRODUCTION | 3

www.copperwor ldw ide. co m

Welcome to the first Edition of CWDigital online magazine, a sister publication to Copper Worldwide magazine, which has just passed its tenth Anniversary Year.

My fascination with copper and its alloys production and processing technologies began during my time in the early 2000s as an international Technical Sales Engineer, supplying induction billet heating systems to the ferrous and non-ferrous sector.

I then worked for a time with a continuous rotary extrusion manufacturer, and (as they say) the rest is history!

As key technology trends and market issues develop globally, this regular update will both increase awareness of and build upon the established Editoria l r a nge of Co p per Worldwide print magazine.

The ongoing global pandemic and vaccination rollout continues to challenge supply chains in new ways, but as anyone who has had career changes will know, every problem is an opportunity to achieve something better.

I hope you enjoy reading this Issue.

“Over the last 10 years Copper Worldwide has become a valuable source of news, insights and information about the international copper industry - in particular for the copper processing industry.

At the IWCC we have been delighted to regularly contribute to Copper Worldwide magazine, and continue to see the publication as an important way to promote our work and events to the wider copper industry. I expect that under the leadership of Editor Chris Holding, Copper Worldwide will continue to go from strength to strength in the next 10 years as well.”

Mark Loveitt, IWCC President

“The SMS group team would like to congratulate to Chris Holding and Copper Worldwide for a decade’s work by the magazine in support of the Copper Industry. The accompanying good reporting of innovations and technologies by the magazine was always important for us and we appreciate the good cooperation. Wecontinue to wish you all the best for the future.”

SMS group

“This year Copper Worldwide magazine is celebrating their 10th anniversary and ContinuusProperzi is happy to share in this joyous occasion.

This publication has been our gateway to the world allowing us to promote our engineering and technology which is the result of our most treasured asset, our Research and Development Department. This is simply a tribute to the friendship that has evolved between Continuus-Properzi and Mr. Chris Holding, a man who turned his passion into a successful business. We wish him the best of luck for the next 10 years!”

Continuus-Properzi Team

Chris K. Holding Editor (2011 -) Publisher: Chris K Holding BSc BEng Contributing Editors: Phillip Mackey Jonathan Barnes Published by Wimborne, UK Tel: +44(0)7731 784798 www.copperworldwide.com The articles within Copper Worldwide and CWDigital 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.

Designed by: The Magazine Production Company Shoreham-by-Sea, UK info@magazineproduction.com

“Copper Worldwide Magazine is a complete, reliable, comprehensive and continuously updated source of information regarding not only the worldwide copper and copper alloys market but also the latest technologies of copper alloys processing and copper products manufacturing. The accurate preparation of each issue of the Magazine and the variety of contents of the articles make Copper Worldwide Magazine an indispensable reference for all the industries, engineering companies, equipment suppliers and research organisations.”

Geminiano Chiesa, Business Area Manager, MINO S.p.A.

“The International Copper Association (ICA) works to develop and defend copper markets. For almost a decade we have valued the support received from Copper Worldwide magazine and Chris Holding, its editor. Copper World0wide gives ICA the opportunity to bring important industry issues to a larger audience, and we look forward to working with this essential resource for many years to come.”

International Copper Association (ICA) CWDigital 2021 e1

“Copper Worldwide is the only periodical magazine that focuses solely on all aspects of the copper business. It is much more than the collection of press releases, as it looks also behind the information of companies. As Chris Holding – the Editor – himself is an expert of copper, he is active to get information also by own research – like visiting important copper events and doing interviews.

The magazine touches the copper business as a whole: Products, Technologies, Events, Companies, People News.

It has a readable layout and the articles are not too long but always informative, so it is a must for every leading manager in the Copper Industry to stay up-to-date in an ‘info-taining’ way.”

Bernd E. Langner, Author, Understanding Copper - Technologies, Business, Markets

“Copper Worldwide gives a great and still compact overview of all activities happening in our industry all over the world. For me personally, Copper Worldwide is the magazine where my number of read articles is by far the highest regarding the offered articles. Another very special highlight is the annually updated wall map of all copper smelters and refineries in the world.”

Dr. Andreas Filzwieser, Managing Director, Mettop GmbH

“Copper Worldwide offers a valuable service to the copper sector with its magazine focusing on copper production and processing which provides a convenient way to keep up with current news and developments in the industry. ALTA has worked with Copper Worldwide since 2015 for advertising and publishing and they have co-sponsored the annual ALTA conference since 2015. We look forward to continuing this important partnership for years to come.”

Allison Taylor, Conference & Exhibition Manager, ALTA Metallurgical Services

“With the quarterly journal Copper Worldwide, Chris Holding has created an essential support service for both copper industry executives and professionals. It is informative, engaging in both content and style.

Having collaborated closely with Chris for many years now, I find him very capable, knowledgeable, well-informed and thorough in his work. Not only has he a sound, wide editing experience, but also a good head for business, which reflects in his professionalism.

I look forward to further productive co-operation with him in the future.”

Phillip Mackey, P. Eng, PhD, FCIM, FAIME Honoured by the Phillip Mackey Copper Pyrometallurgy Symposium held in 2019 The 2020 EPD (USA) Distinguished Lecturer Award The 2021 John Elliott Lectureship Award

4 | NEWS In brief…

DEC 15 Glencore has entered a global agreement with Tre-Altamira to expand satellite monitoring to over 110 of its dams worldwide. The monitoring provides measurements of surface movements every 11 days. The typical resolution on the ground is 3m x 3m with detectable movement resolution in the order of a few millimetres. www.glencore.com

SEP 13 Wanbao Mining reported the first batch of cathode copper was successfully produced in Pumpi Copper - Cobalt Mine project near Kolwezi in DRC’s Katanga province. The Pumpi copper and cobalt project aims to produce 40,000 tpy of copper and 5,000 tpy of cobalt. It originally expected to start commercial production in mid 2020. www.wbmining.cn

FEB 3 Rio Tinto is setting a new standard in transparency and traceability for the Aluminium Industry with the launch of START, a ‘nutrition label’ for responsible aluminium. START customers will receive a digital sustainability label using secure blockchain technology, thus providing ESG credentials to consumers for supply chain transparency.

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New ICSG copper first use capacity directory

Global structural adjustment for SMS group

DEC 15 - The International Copper Study Group has released its 2020 edition of the ‘Directory of Copper and Copper Alloy Fabricators – First Use’. This directory provides a systematic global overview of companies and plants involved in the use of refined copper, copper scrap and copper alloy scrap. Plants covered are those using refined copper and scrap to produce copper wire rod, tubes, other copper semis and brass mill products. The 2020 edition includes an updated overview of plant capacities for 2019, new copper use capacity commissioned in 2020 and the future pipeline of copper and copper alloy fabrication projects by country and by product. New capacities are reported in every region, together with an update of the current plant status.

A significant number of new plants using refined copper and scrap are reported in China, Vietnam, the United States, Malaysia, Japan, Thailand and Bulgaria. ICSG continues to monitor the reallocation

NOV 30 - To optimise the conditions for future market success, SMS group is to adjust its corporate structure.

Key components of the planned new organisational structure are a crossdivisional and international focus on customer projects. In contrast to the present structure, six regions will assume project responsibility for sales and execution. In place of the current business units, Centers of Excellence (CoEs) will be created that will deliver their services and technologies to the projects. The entire organisation will be served by Global Support Functions. Consultations about the new organisation, which will be implemented worldwide from spring 2021, are underway.

of production capacity from North Asia, China and the Korean Republic to Vietnam, Thailand and to other ASEAN countries. The reallocation of plants from North East Asian fabricators to South Asia for cost and trade reasons are identified case by case. A detailed description of the capacity situation for every fabricated product and country is included, with a description of the status of each of the new plants expected to be commissioned in 2020-2022. A review of the global capacity pipeline of the projects to be commissioned in 2021-2022 reveals an important expected addition of over 3 million tonnes with copper wire rod zcapacity addition of 1.5 million tonnes. The publication also includes a comprehensive Excel database.

The newly updated Directory costs EUR 40 0 to organisations in Member Countries and EUR 800 to others. Copper Bulletin subscribers would receive a 20% discount on the above prices. www.icsg.org

www.riotinto.com

Monitor detects 2020 smelting activity rise

DEC 22 Kamoa-Kakula Copper Project of Zijin Mining achieved 2,069 metres in September, bringing the total underground development to more than 22.6 kilometres. The project’s total preproduction ore stockpiles c. 803,000 t of ores that now contain 540,000 t grading at 3.73% copper, with 125,000 t of high-grade ore grading 6.00% copper.

JAN 25 - According to a January update from Earth-i and Marex Spectron’s SAVANT platform, average global activity levels for 2020 were higher than 2019, driven almost entirely by the recovery in China from the first quarter impact of COVID-19. The observations from SAVANT, which monitors up to 90% of the world’s copper smelting capacity, indicated activity had continued to accelerate in December despite US weakness. It put the global activity dispersion index average at 55.2, up from 53 in November.

It said the China index saw a significant increase to 55.5 from

www.zijinmining.com

DEC 22 According to Tongling Nonferrous Metals Group (TNMG), Tongguan Copper Semis Company had produced 54,498 tons of low-oxygen copper wire by 30 November, just exceeding its annual target. Tongguan Copper Foil Company achieved acceptance for the main workshops for its 15 ktpy high precision special copper foil project (second stage of Phase II). www.tnmg.com.cn

JAN 20 China Molybdenum Co., Ltd (CMOC) has indirectly acquired a 95% interest in the Kisanfu copper and cobalt mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The Kisanfu project is 33 km southwest of Tenke Copper-cobalt mine held by CMOC. The average grade of copper is about 1.72%, and the average cobalt grade is about 0.85%. www.en.cmoc.com

the previous month’s 48.6, as capacit y utilisation continued to climb. Europe maintained its recent high levels of activity with a December reading of 59.9, marginally down from November’s 61.7. South America dropped from 62.2 in November to 49.7. North America fell to 33.6 (compared with 36.6 in November, 45.4 in October and 56.5 in September), which suggested pandemic-related shutdowns continued to be a major factor. Smelting activity levels are expected to moderate during the Chinese New Year from 11 – 17 February. www.mining-journal.com

www.sms-group.com

Refined imports to China FEB 10 - According to Antaike Copper & Copper Fabrication Monthly February 2021 No.289, China imported 4.67 million tonnes of refined copper in 2020, up 31.6% year on year, and the year-on-year growth rate slowed down rapidly.

The import of refined copper was 322,000 t in December, down 10.1% year on year and 8.2% month on month. The import of refined copper has returned to the normal range from the peak in June 2020.

In 2020, China imported 943,789 t of copper scraps (material quantity), a sharp decrease of 36.5% year on year, showing a narrowed decline.

In December, the import volume of copper scrap was 116,739 t, a yearon-year increase of 63.4% and a month-on-month increase of 25.2%.

The main reason for the year-toyear increase in imports of copper scrap was the implementation of the standard for recycled copper and brass on 1 November. www.antaike.com

Glencore CEO Glasenberg set to retire DEC 4 - Glencore plc has announced that Ivan Glasenberg is to retire as CEO and as a member of the Glencore Board during the first half of 2021. Gary Nagle will then become the Glencore CEO and join the Board.

Mr Nagle intends to relocate from Australia to Switzerland and work with Mr Glasenberg to effect the transition.

Gary Nagle is currently Global Head of Glencore’s coal industrial business based in Sydney, Australia. He joined Glencore in 2000. www.glencore.com

Auto recycling The 20th International Automobile Recycling Congress IARC 2021 takes place from 23-25 June 2021 in Geneva, Switzerland with a live stream option. A desire for sustainable electro-mobility sector growth will impact the recycling trade.

The EU also plans to ban the export of certain recycled materials under its Green Deal. Presentations, Plant Tours and an exhibition are planned.

Abstracts sought by 15th March.

Gary Nagle is to become Glencore CEO

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www.icm.ch

NEWS | 5

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Copper balance shows deficit for 2020

Metals Gateway online portal launched

FEB 17 - According to World Bureau of Metals Statistics’ January to December 2020 Metals Balances, the copper market recorded a deficit of 1,391 kt in January to December 2020 which follows a deficit of 383 kt in the whole of 2019. WBMS advises that metal shipments are in transit for some weeks and stock levels are under reported, so it is likely that the demand for all metals will be overstated for the next few months amid varying pandemic impacts.

Wo r l d m i n e p ro d u c t i o n i n January to December 2020 was 20.79 million tonnes which was unchanged from the same period in 2019. Global refined production for January to December 2020 was 23.94 Mt, up 2.0 per cent compared with the previous year, with significant increases recorded in China (up 1,032 kt) and Chile (up 60 kt). Global demand in 2020 was 25.33 Mt compared with 23.86 Mt for 2019. Chinese apparent demand for the period 2020 was up 17.1 % y-o-y to 14.99 million tonnes Reported output of semi manufactures rose by 1.4 per cent, which suggests that the apparent demand figure overstates real demand. EU28 production rose by 3.5 % and demand was 155 kt lower than the comparable 2019 total. In December 2020, refined copper production was 2,182.8 kt and demand was 2,274.5 thousand tonnes respectively.

OCT 19 - The Metals Gateway online portal brings together a wealth of information to provide regulators and risk assessment professionals with the metals risk assessment tools they need to help protect people’s wellbeing. The portal’s scope includes: Metals in the Environment - factsheets on what makes metals different from other chemicals, how they interact with other substances and biological organisms under different conditions, water quality, pH, etc.

REACH Metals Gateway - Guidance for the EU and International Metals Industry in the implementation process of the EU REACH and

www.world-bureau.com

CLP Regulations. The REACH Metals Gateway allows quick and structured access to relevant information from authorities and from the metals industry.

The Metals Toolbox - Tools and guidelines to enable regulators and stakeholders to accommodate metal-specificities in hazard identification and risk assessments.

The Metals Gateway is a joint initiative of the Cobalt Institute, Eurometaux, European Copper Institute, International Molybdenum Association, International Lead Association, International Zinc Association, Nickel Institute, and World Aluminium. www.nickelinstitute.org

www.elcorreo.com

NOV 25 Under the jointly issued Notice on Matters Concerning the Total Ban on the Import of Solid Waste, as of 1 January 2021 it is prohibited to import solid waste in any form. Antaike estimates that imports of recycled copper raw materials in 2021 are expected to rise by about 300,000 t (Cu content) from 2020 to around 1 Mt, (2019: 1.23 Mt). www.antaike.com

DEC 3 The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) announced the first batch of enterprises that meet the copper smelting industry standard (No. 35, 2019) requirements, including Daye Nonferrous Metals Group Holdings Co., Ltd, Yunnan Copper Southwest Branch, Guangxi Jinchuan Nonferrous Metals Co., Ltd, etc. and 19 others. www.antaike.com

Rio Tinto fourth quarter and 2020 summary JAN 19 - According to Rio Tinto Fourth Quarter Operations Review, mined copper production for 2020 fell 9% y-o-y to 528 kt. Kennecott (140 kt) saw 28% lower grades, whilst Escondida and Oyu Tolgoi remained constant. The Kennecott smelter became fully operational during October after a delayed re-start. A flash converting furnace rebuild was also required following the March 2020 earthquake. An 84.8 kt refined copper output resulted (-54% y-o-y), with Escondida making 70.2 kt (-7% y-o-y) in the period.

Mined copper production from Oyu Tolgoi open pit was 2% higher than 2019, reflective of the

JAN 28 - Bold Baatar has been appointed Chief Executive Rio Tinto Copper. The Copper product group includes operations and assets in North America, South America, Australia, and Mongolia.

Commenting on his appointment, Bold Baatar said: “As a Mongolian national myself, I am extremely proud of what the team has achieved with Oyu Tolgoi, an important project for Rio Tinto and the people of Mongolia.

I acknowledge the Government’s wish to improve the Underground Development Plan (UDP) and I am looking forward to discussing that with them.”

Bold has been Chief Executive Energy and Minerals since 2016, having joined Rio Tinto as President

DEC 25 The AMER Chenzhou New Material Co. Ltd. 100 ktpy high project (first phase) came into operation formally. The project was built in Chenzhou, Hunan Province. After the first phase of the project is put into operation, it will have an annual output of 100,000 tonnes of precision copper rods with an output value of nearly 6 billion yuan. www.antaike.com

Rio Tinto Chief Executive Jakob Stausholm commenced work on 1 January 2021.

Photo: Rio Tinto

anticipated move to higher grade areas of the open pit. Access to higher copper and gold grades is expected to continue throughout 2021. Shipments were maintained across the Chinese border despite COVID-19 measures in Mongolia. www.riotinto.com

Metallo Spain invests in emissions reduction Bold Baatar is Chief Executive Rio Tinto Copper FEB 19 - The Metallo Spain plant in Berango has managed to reduce CO emissions from its smelting furnace by 90% with the entry into operation of a Regenerative Thermal Oxidizer (RTO) installed at the end of 2020 for 1.5 million euros. The RTO received a grant from the Department of Economic Development of the Basque Government and enables smelting furnace emissions to be kept below 10 mg. The RTO is the first of environmental and energy efficiency and other investments worth 8 MEUR that Metallo Spain plans to make until 2023. Now part of Aurubis, the Metallo Spain factory in Bizkaia employs around 90 people and saw 212 million euros turnover in 2019.

In brief…

FEB 10 In 2020, China imported 4.67 million tonnes of refined copper, up 31.6% year on year, and the year-on-year growth rate slowed down rapidly.

The import of refined copper was 322,000 t in December, down 10.1% year on year and 8.2% month on month. The import of refined copper has returned to the normal range from the peak in June 2020. www.antaike.com

FEB 3 Vale reports copper output of 360.1 kt in 2020, down 5.5% y-o-y, citing around 35.3 kt lower production from COVID-19 impacts and 10.8 kt reduction from limited Canadian mill production.

These decreases were partially offset by 22.2 kt higher production from Sossego. The 4Q20 production rose 7% to 93.5 kt on stronger Brazil and Canada results. www.vale.com

The new Chief Executive Rio Tinto Copper is Bold Baatar. Photo: Rio Tinto

of Copper, International Operations in May 2013. Arnaud Soirat, the previous Chief Executive Copper & Diamonds, will assume the new role of Chief Operating Officer at Rio Tinto. www.riotinto.com

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DEC 2 Vale’s US$ 500 M Sol do Cerrado Solar project for the municipality of Jaíba (MG) comprises a photovoltaic plant (17 sub-parks totalling 766 MWpeak), elevator substation, transmission line and Substation connection bay. With operational start-up by Q4 2022, it will produce approximately 193 MWav, or 13% of Vale’s estimated demand in 2025. www.vale.com

6 | LEGACY OF THE LAST DECADE

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

ICSG 2020 Statistical Yearbook reveals trends DEC 30 - The International Copper Study Group released its 2020 Statistical Yearbook covering world copper supply and demand data for the 10-year period 2010-2019. World copper mine production rose from 16 million tonnes (Mt) in 2010 to 20.5 Mt in 2019, with concentrate production rising by around 31% (3.9 Mt) and solvent extraction-electrowinning (SX-EW) by 19% (0.6 Mt). There was a small decrease in the SX-EW share of total mine production, from 20.8% in 2010 to 19.3% in 2019. SX-EW annual output declined by about 500,000 t in Chile in the period but increased by over 750,000 t in the D. R. Congo, from around 260,000 t in 2010 to nearly 1.1 Mt in 2019 (CAGR 17.5%).

Notable changes in annual mine production levels over 2010-2019 included increases of 1.2 Mt in Peru (CAGR 8.5%), 500,000 t in China (CAGR 4%), 920,000 t in the D.R. Congo (CAGR 16%), and 500,000 t in Mexico (CAGR 14%). However, annual production in Chile, by far the largest world copper mine producer, increased by only 370,000 t (CAGR 0.8%). Consequently, the country’s share of world production declined from 34% to 28% with Peru (the second largest copper mine producer) increasing its share from 8% to 12%. The revival of the African copper belt led to an increase in African annual output of around 1 Mt. World refined copper

production rose from 19 Mt in 2010 to 24.1 Mt in 2019, with a CAGR of 2.7%. Over the period, China’s annual refined production more than doubled from 4.5 Mt to 9.8 Mt (CAGR 9%), while production in Chile (the second ranked refined copper producer) declined by 30% from 3.2 Mt to 2.3 Mt (CAGR -4%), though Chilean electrolytic refined output was constrained in 2019 due to temporary smelter shutdowns whilst undergoing regulatory-driven upgrades.

The Statistical Yearbook is included in the ICSG Monthly Bulletin annual subscription or available separately for EUR 200 in ICSG member countries or EUR 400 elsewhere. www.icsg.org

Spence Growth Option desalination plant needed overcome a 2,000 m elevation from sea level.

There are 3 electrical substations and a 65 km, 66 kV overhead transmission line. At Escondida, a second 2,500 l/s capacity desalination plant has been in operation since 2017.

The availability of groundwater has become more prominent over the last decade, particularly in Chile. This is one of its latest desalination projects.

OCT 2017 - The contract for the seawater desalination plant water supplied to La Minera Spence in Northern Chile, as part of the general Spence Growth Option (SGO) project for BHP, is awarded to Grupo Cobra of Spain. The EPC stage (Engineering, Procurement and Construction) is scheduled to last 30 months, with an initial 20 year operating phase (extendable). The project comprises design, engineering and construction of an 86,400 m3/day (1,000 l/s) desalination plant to increase the water supply

The Escondida water desalination plant

capacity of the Spence surface-underground copper mine. The plant has a 154 km long water transmission system, with dia. 36” (900 mm) steel pipe and three pumping stations to

OCT 2019 - 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 www.grupocobra.com www.bhp.com

Kamoa-Kakula Copper Project moves ahead The Kamoa-Kakula Copper Project is a joint venture between Ivanhoe Mines (39.6%), Zijin Mining Group (39.6%), Crystal River Global Limited (0.8%) and the Government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (20%). It is a very large, near-surface, flat-lying, stratiform copper deposit with adjacent prospective exploration areas within the Central African Copperbelt, approximately 25 km west of Kolwezi. Kamoa was discovered by Ivanhoe in 2008. In August 2012, the DRC approved Ivanhoe’s application to convert three exploration permits at Kamoa to exploitation permits (mining licences). Kakula is the first of multiple, planned, high-grade mining areas on the 400 sq m Kamoa-Kakula mining licence. Vying to be one of the biggest stories of the past ten years, it is now set to be one of the biggest of the next ten years and beyond: SEP 8 (2020) - Ivanhoe Mines announces independent Integrated Development Plan (IDP) for the tier one Kamoa-Kakula Copper Project. The PEA (part of the IDP) includes an analysis of the potential for an integrated, 19-Mtpy, multi-stage development, beginning with initial 3.8 Mtpy production from the Kakula Mine, to be followed by subsequent, separate underground mining operations at

the nearby Kansoko, Kakula West and Kamoa North (five) mines, along with the construction of a direct-to-blister smelter, maintaining an overall life in excess of 40 years. The scenario shows the potential for average annual production of 501 kt of copper during the first 10 years of operations and 805 kt of copper by year 8.

The smelter is based on Finland-based Outotec’s direct-to-blister furnace technology, suitable for treating Kakula-type concentrates with relatively high copper/sulphur ratio, and low iron. The smelter design capacity is 1,000 ktpy of concentrate feed, producing in excess of 500 ktpy copper in the form of blister and anode. An on-site smelter offers numerous cost savings, including treatment charges, certain taxes and transportation costs. The sulphuric acid by-product would generate additional revenue in the DRC by being used in processing ore from oxide copper deposits.

of more than 6.0% copper over the first five years of operation.

SEP 21 (2020) - Kamoa-Kakula Copper joint venture agrees to proceed with long-lead item orders for the second, 3.8 Mtpy concentrator module at the Kakula Mine. This is expected to accelerate the completion of the Phase 2 mill expansion from Q1 2023 to Q2 2022.

Kakula has a projected average feed grade

MAR 1 - In February 2021, the Kamoa-Kakula Copper Project mined and stockpiled 339,000 tonnes of ore grading 5.50% copper from the Kakula and Kansoko mines. Initial production at the Kakula Mine processing plant is scheduled in July 2021.

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NOV 10 (2020) - The initial two 220 KV transformers (weighing 85 t each) arrive at the Kakula Mine site. The Kakula Mine will be powered by hydroelectricity and be among the world’s lowest greenhouse gas emitters per unit of copper produced. Kakula also will have a relatively small surface footprint, as approximately 55% of the mine’s tailings will be pumped back into underground workings.

FEB 10 - Ivanhoe Mines announces plans for an expansive 2021 exploration program on its 100%- owned Western Foreland exploration licences, which include around 2,550 sq km in close proximity to the Kamoa-Kakula Copper Project, and its Kiala and Makoko Sud Discoveries. In 2019, Ivanhoe acquired 1,711 sq km of the Western Foreland exploration permits.

www.ivanhoemines.com

NEWS | 7

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First ever virtual Aurubis AGM held FEB 11 - At the Aurubis AG Annual General Meeting covering fiscal year 2019/20, CEO Roland Harings announced that the company wants to continue growing, particularly in the area of recycling. As well as the joint venture for cable recycling with TSR, he emphasised the acquisition of Metallo in May 2020 as a key milestone for implementing Aurubis’ multimetal and recycling strategy. The integration of the new sites Beerse (Belgium) and Berango (Spain) in the Aurubis smelter network is coming to fruition even faster than planned. The synergy target of EUR 15 million, which had originally been set for fiscal year 2022/23, will be achieved in the current fiscal year. Details about the next steps of the continued implementation of the strategy were promised for this summer.

Emission control In environmental protection, Harings at the Hamburg site Aurubis will

stability and strong underground min e p e r f or m an c e. Re f in e r y crane commissioning is due to be completed in the March 2021 quarter. Guidance for the 2021 financial year remains 180 to 205 kt. A major smelter maintenance campaign is planned for the first half of the 2022 financial year.

On 15 January 2021, the Final Environmental Impact Study (FEIS) was published for the average 1.5% Cu grade Resolution Copper Mining (RCM) project JV between Rio Tinto (55 per cent) and BHP (45 per cent), managed by Rio Tinto.

JAN 13 - ANDRITZ Maerz GmbH and SMS group GmbH have entered into an agreement to transfer the global copper furnace business, including the related intellectual property (knowhow, references, patents) and service activities, from ANDRITZ Maerz to SMS group. This acquisition further strengthens the position of SMS group as a system supplier in the field of nonferrous metals production. During the last few years, under the New Horizon initiative, SMS has markedly expanded and intensified its activities in supplying holistic solutions to the non-ferrous metals industry. The integration of the copper business of ANDRITZ Maerz into SMS is a significant milestone in becoming the leading partner for full-line solutions in non-ferrous metals production. SMS continues the traditional copper business of ANDRITZ Maerz with a team of highly experienced specialists and engineers.

ANDRITZ Maerz brings 60 years of experience and more than 70 references of smelting and refining furnaces for primary and secondary copper production, including tilting refining furnaces, elliptical furnaces, shaft and hearth-shaft furnaces, drum-type furnaces (including PeirceSmith converter and anode furnaces), bath smelters as well as Top Blown Rotating Converters (TBRC). The tilting and drum type furnaces enable high-quality wire, tube and section production, as well as production of anodes for electrolysis.

SMS’s recently developed innovations such as BlueControl (dynamic process control simulation), H2-ready systems (solutions for carbon footprint reduction using innovative burners and refining technologies based on hydrogen) as well as various performance-enhancing modules (as equipment and instrumentation upgrades) will be integrated into the products of the ANDRITZ Maerz copper furnace business.

Furthermore, SMS is going to expand its service activities, building on its existing strong international network of 3,000 specialists and over 50 workshops, which provide modular, machine-specific spare parts solutions for any customer requirements. With its wide product portfolio, SMS offers complete solutions for primary and the growing number of secondary metals production lines - including for the recycling of electronic scrap (BlueMetals Process), bat teries (BlueBattery Process) and catalytic converters (BlueCAT process).

www.bhp.com

www.sms-group.com

Aurubis Executive Board (l to r): Dr. Thomas Bünger, Chief Technology Officer from 15 August 2020; Rainer Verhoeven, CFO since 1 January 2018; Dr. Heiko Arnold, Chief Operations Officer since 15 August 2020; and Roland Harings, CEO from 20 May 2019. Front is Prof. Dr. Fritz Vahrenholt, Chairman of the Supervisory Board since 1 March 2018. Photo: Aurubis

Aurubis CEO Roland Harings addresses shareholders at the virtual AGM. Photo: Aurubis

be investing EUR 100 million in the coming years in a new ‘ridge turret suctioning system”’- a type of giant exhaust duct - to reduce fine particulates in the primary smelter by a further 70 %. The work is already well underway. Under its Performance Improvement Program, Aurubis also plans to sustainably reduce costs by EUR 100 million and to implement the measures necessary for this by fiscal year 2022/23. www.aurubis.com

Agua Rica project integration completed DEC 18 - Yamana has completed the integration of the Agua Rica project with the Minera Alumbrera plant and infrastructure. Going forward, the integrated project will be known as the MARA Project.

The integration creates significant synergies by combining existing substantive infrastructure which was formerly used to process ore from the Alumbrera mine during its mine life, including processing facilities, a fully permitted tailings storage facility, pipeline, logistical installations, ancillary buildings,

and other infrastructure, with the future open pit Agua Rica mine.

Relatively modest modifications to the existing processing circuit will be implemented to process Agua Rica ore to produce copper and by-products concentrate, which will then be transported to port for commercialisation. Distance between mine and plant is approximately 36 km and ore will be transported by overland conveyor.

The result is a significantly de-risked project with a smaller environmental footprint and improved efficiencies,

creating one of the lowest capital intensity projects in the world as measured by pound of copper produced and in-situ copper mineral reserves. Yamana, as the sole owner of Agua Rica, and the partners of Alumbrera have created a new joint venture in which Yamana holds a controlling interest of 56.25%, Glencore International AG holds a 25.00% interest, and Newmont Corp. holds an 18.75% interest.

Yamana will be the operator of the Joint Venture. www.yamana.com

BHP projects progress and half year update JAN 20 - The BHP operational review for the half year ended 31 December 2020 revealed that total copper production decreased by five per cent to 841 kt. Guidance for the 2021 financial year was narrowed to between 1,510 and 1,645 kt.

Escondida copper production decreased by five per cent to 572 kt with record concentrator throughput of 386 ktpd, enabled by improved maintenance practices, offset by the impact of lower concentrator feed grade and lower cathode production. As a result of the reduced operational workforce and the need to balance mine development

and production requirements, concentrator throughput continues to be prioritised over cathode production (approximately 30 kt impact on cathode volumes in the December 2020 half year).

Project-wise, in December 2020, the Spence Growth Option achieved first production on schedule and on budge t. Ramp up to f ull production capacity is expected to take approximately 12 months. The commissioning of the desalination plant occurred in December 2020.

Olympic Dam copper production increased by 16 per cent to 99 kt, reflecting improved smelter

SMS group acquires ANDRITZ furnace business

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Copper green tech usage growth forecast JAN 26 - A Renewables Insight

by Charlie Durant, Principal Consultant in the Copper Team at CRU Consulting, says covid-19 has accelerated the transition towards copper intensive sustainable energy sources and solutions. There have been increasing calls for a ‘green recovery’ following the economic fallout caused by the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. Copper seems to be an obvious potential beneficiary of this, with a high intensity of use in renewable energy and EV markets.

In recent times, cumulative solar photovoltaic (PV), offshore wind, and

onshore wind capacity has increased at 25% CAGR. With China’s recovery, CRU forecasts that copper cathode demand from EVs and renewables should grow by over 15% and exceed 1 Mt for the first time in 2021.

Forecasts for global EV production drive copper use in this sector from 425,000 tonnes in 2020 to closer to 1.4 Mt in 2025, whilst copper demand from renewables will increase at double digit rates, taking demand from this sector to around 1.2 Mt in 2025. Further ahead, CRU expects full battery electric vehicles will see a penetration rate of 34% of new sales

in 2035, with even more growth after this. This could help take copper demand from the EV sector to 3.2 Mt in 2030 and 4.6 Mt in 2035 respectively.

An interesting observation of this Insight is that Chinese refined copper demand grew from 1.8 Mt in 2000 to over 12 Mt last year. Consequently, much of China’s copper intensive infrastructure has now been built.

In contrast, first use refined copper demand in the rest of the world has fallen from 12.25 Mt to under 10.5 Mt over the last two decades. www.crugroup.com

NAMA funding for demonstrable green technologies DEC 12 - Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs) are seen as concrete measures to achieve the objectives of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) that were adopted through the Paris Agreement at COP21 in December 2015. The NAMA Facility Board members, currently comprising representatives of the Donors of the NAMA Facility (currently BMU, BEIS, EFKM and the European Commission), take all decisions on strategy and project selection.

The present Ambition Initiative for NAMA Support Project Outlines is open between 12 December 2020 and 31 May 2021.

Commercial entities can participate in all stages of the process as Applicants / ASPs and then NSOs. Funding levels from EUR 5 M up to EUR 25 M per NSP are accessible. Project DPP is 10 or 15 months. Selection takes place before or during COP 26 in Glasgow. For more details, see: • Webinar II: NSP Outline Development: Case Studies

and Examples, 24 March 2021 • Webinar III: Clarification and FAQs, 21 April 2021 The Self-Supply Renewable Energy (SSRE) NAMA Support Project ran in Chile (-2019), and under the China Integrated Waste Management NAMA Support Project (IWM NAMA), the multiple waste treatment facilities established have been operating since the fourth quarter of 2020. www.nama-facility.org www.iwm-nama.org

Cradle to product emissions analysis tool FEB 17 - CRU Group has announced a one-stop global greenhouse gas emissions data shop for metals and mining called the CRU Emissions Analysis Tool.

CRU has been evaluating emissions data alongside costs of production since the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme was launched on New Years’ Day in 2005. Its

data set has since been extended to encompass all major steel and aluminium-producing assets globally, covering 1,100 assets and an estimated 3 gigatons or 5-6 percent of Scope 1 and 2 global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

Although CRU already includes some important Scope 3 categories, it will add further to these, with Copper,

Nickel and Nitrogen fertiliser coverage in the coming months. The data matters as miners, metals and fertiliser producers work with their stakeholders to rise to the collective challenge of decarbonising their supply chains, tackling climate change and adhering to ESG standards. www.crugroup.com

Net-zero Finnish cable plant for Prysmian JAN 25 - Prysmian Group is to improve the sustainability of its operations by making its Finland submarine, high- and mediumvoltage cable plant the company’s excellence centre also for green energy consumption. The Pikkala plant is a centre of excellence for production of cables employed for land and submarine interconnections, for both onshore and offshore wind farms all over the world. One hundred percent of energy used at Pikkala will be from certified

renewable sources. The plant’s new on-site biomass heating system will cut its annual CO2 emissions using recycled wood from sources such as Prysmian’s own cable transport drums after they become unsuitable for industrial use. Surveying and preparations for the on-site biomass heating system at the 500-person plant started in January 2021, with construction due to begin in February.

Pikkala is one of Prysmian Group’s three submarine cables plants in Europe, along with Arco Felice

(Naples) and Drammen (Norway).

Using renewable energy at Pikkala will help Prysmian Group meet several goals on its Sustainability Scorecard for 2022: to cut C02 emissions by 2-3%; to recycle as much as two thirds of its own waste; and to reuse 27% of its own drums.

Starting from 2020 for the next three years, Prysmian will invest around EUR 450 million to further improve the sustainability of its organisation and supply chain. www.prysmiangroup.com

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EU sets out sustainable trade strategy F E B 1 8 - The European Commission has set out the EU open strategic autonomy trade strategy. It includes open support for the green (climate-neutral) and digital transformations, as well as a renewed focus on strengthening multilateralism and reforming global trade rules to ensure that they are fair and sustainable. Where necessary, the EU will take a more assertive stance in defending its interests and values, including through new tools. In 2019, the EU exported over EUR 3.1 trillion worth of goods and services and imported EUR 2.8 Tn of goods and services. The EU average tariff rate is 5.1%, whilst China’s average tariff rate is 7.6% and India’s is 17.6%.

As well as contributing to achieving the European Green Deal objectives, the strategy prioritises a major reform of the World Trade Organization, including global commitments on trade and climate, new rules for digital trade, reinforced rules to tackle competitive distortions, and restoring its system for binding dispute settlement. The strategy is based on a wide and inclusive public consultation, including more than 400 submissions by a wide range of stakeholders and public events. The latest European Commission Economic Forecast estimates that the global economy could grow by 5.2% in 2021, while EU GDP is expected to rise by 3.7%. This follows a 3.4% drop in world GDP in 2020 and a 6.3% fall in EU GDP. Eurometaux Director General Guy Thiran commented: “Supply chain investment will only be possible if the EU tackles global market distortions and prioritises free, fair, and rulesbased trade … we invest into domestic value chains wherever possible … we are losing ground in the race to secure long-term global supply sources for critical inputs … Europe will now need workable due diligence rules for guaranteeing responsible sourcing across supply chains”. www.trade.ec.europa.eu www.eurometaux.eu

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Latest news Circular economy WEEE from The project at Atlantic Copper Copper Mark FEB 19 - Atlantic Copper in Huelva, will cost around 260 million euros.

MAR 1 - The Copper Mark is proud to share our Theory of Change.

The Theory of Change shows our vision, the short-term and longterm objectives and how we plan to achieve those. It informs the organisation’s efforts to ensure our standards and assurance process are credible and effective. The Copper Mark will monitor and report annually on our progress towards these objectives.

The Copper Mark continues to grow: Five sites operated by Freeport-McMoRan Inc have been awarded the Copper Mark.

• Atlantic Copper Smelter & Refinery • El Paso Refinery • Miami Smelter & Mine • Sociedad Contractual Minera El Abra • Sociedad Minera Cerro Verde S.A.A. Two new Partners joined the Copper Mark. Our partners support the Copper Mark’s vision and recognise responsible producers of copper in their business activities.

The two organisations are: • Applied Materials • MM Kembla An important milestone for the Copper Mark and our partner organisations is the FEB 9 launch of the Joint Due Diligence Standard for Copper, Lead, Nickel and Zinc. The Joint Standard enables companies to comply with the LME’s Responsible Sourcing Requirements. Covering copper, lead, nickel and zinc as well as any other associated metal produced by the site, the Joint Standard is expected to reduce the costs and administrative burden for LME brands. The Copper Mark now accepts applications from sites to implement and get assessed against the Joint Standard. Contact us for more information.

Upcoming virtual events in which the Copper Mark is hosting or participating include: • The Fastmarkets Copper Seminar: 11-12 March 2021 • CESCO Week: 12-14 April 2021 • 2021 OECD Forum on Responsible Mineral Supply Chains: 27-28 April 2021 A series of virtual events consisting of a panel and roundtable discussion with industry and stakeholders on key topics throughout the year.

Climate Risk: Apr ‘21; Human Rights Due Dil. / Responsible Sourcing: Jun ’21. www.coppermark.org

Spain is in the final phase of the basic engineering study for the construction of a plant technology with the capacity to recycle 60,000 tons per year of recycled electronic material from WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment in disuse).

The ‘CirCular’ project would create 70 direct jobs and would recover, among other metals, copper, gold, silver, platinum, palladium, tin and nickel. The local Andalusian Government has declared it to be of strategic interest. Construction would take around two years and start-up is scheduled for early 2024. The project

Freeport-McMoRan, a shareholder of Atlantic Copper, is considering the possibility of including the project in its Investment Plans. Atlantic Copper received the Copper Mark in December 2020.

In 2019, around 53.6 Mt of WEEE was generated globally, according to Global E-Waste Monitor, with 30% generated in Europe. The report also predicts that electronic waste will reach 74 Mt by 2030 and 120 Mt by 2050.

The EU wants to increase overall WEEE recycling from the current 45% to an 85% level.

Basic engineering studies point to a reduction of between 55% and 65% of the CO2 emissions generated per unit of copper equivalent in the recycling of electronic material.

Additionally, the project can selfsupply 50% of the electricity it will need by using residual heat from the process. The ‘CirCular’ project is therefore ideally suitable for the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism Program to Promote Competitiveness Tractor Projects and Industrial Sustainability, which has an endowment of around 12,000 million euros. www.atlantic-copper.es

Bespoke tailings management NOV 12 - The tailings dam at Hindustan Zinc Ltd’s (HZL) Zawar location was reaching capacity for conventional wet deposition with no space nearby to expand.

The company was looking for a tailings management system that offered significant benefits in terms of environmental sustainability, process water recovery, and footprint of the tailings storage facility. After evaluating a number of alternatives, HZL chose the FLSmidth dewatering concept, comprising high-density thickener and E-disc filter technology, to expand the storage capacity of the

Filtered dry tailings ready for stacking. Photo FLSmidth

existing tailing dam and ensure the longevity of the site. HZL operates zinc concentrators with combined capacity of about 4 Mtpy at Zawar. The tailings slurry generated during beneficiation contains about 40-45% solids and has traditionally been managed in a conventional wet tailings dam.

The FLSmidth dry-stack tailing solution enables the recovery of up to 95% of process water. The system had ideally to achieve zero-effluent discharge, as well as reduce fresh water use to the point where no additional fresh water was required to operate the system. The final installed system has a capacity of 680 tph. Designed cake moisture was 16% but the system actually achieved moisture of 13-14% during the performance guarantee and has managed levels as low as 10-13%. www.flsmidth.com

Raising the green standard debate DEC 14 - The London Metal Exchange (LME) has been applauded as well as strongly criticised for proposing a new spot market trading platform for sustainably produced metals. Satish Pai, Managing Director of Hindalco Industries, has suggested the concept of green (aluminium) is being hijacked for economic benefits by a few companies, and urges a more “holistic environmental and

sustainable point of view across the whole value chain”. Matthew Chamberlain, LME CEO, says on this subject: “Everybody has a different view of sustainability, and that’s why the LME is keen to embrace a broader picture of sustainability. A lot of people have different views - whether hydro power is better than wind power or vice versa or what the thresholds are, there is no common vision of

carbon footprints. The last thing we could want to do is to go out and say this producer is green, the other one greener or less green. There is no standard for carbon emissions and it is not our intention to set out a green standard”.

Author: Dr. Katharina Otzen-Odrich, Economic Correspondent at VDI Nachrichten/ EID www.aluminium-exhibition.com

Comminution energy benchmarking The Coalition for Eco-Efficient Comminution (CEEC) was Established in 2011 and produced its definitive Roadmap in Summer 2012. Commencing in 2014, the CEEC Energy Curve Program is a tool which allows comminution circuit operators to benchmark the energy efficiency of their operations and contribute anonymously to the dataset. It was developed by Dr Grant Ballantyne and Professor

Malcolm Powell at The University of Queensland. A new team, led by Julius Kruttschnitt Mineral Research Centre (JKMRC) Senior Research Fellow Dr Cathy Evans, was announced in March 2019.

A suite of four energy curves have been configured to rank the relative energy intensity of a mine of interest with respect to the effect of ore hardness, circuit efficiency, grind size and feed grade. The database

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had 58% of global copper and 30.3% of global gold production in its database in 2017, and 21.2% of zinc output, but only 4.4% of nickel.

CEEC has just appointed Bryan Rairdan, Teck Resources Limited Technical Director Processing, to its volunteer Board, whilst in February, Janine Herzig, Director of MetVal Consulting Pty Ltd, became one of its latest Advocates. www.ceecthefuture.org

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Former CEOs tips for managing crises Andrea Hotter of Fastmarkets interviewed Tom Albanese, former CEO of Rio Tinto and Vedanta, and Cynthia Carroll, former CEO of Anglo American, in a turbulent May 2020, who gave their personal opinion on the Covid-19 crisis as compared to the 2008-9 Global Financial Crisis.

Tom Albanese

to be more visible benefits of a diversified portfolio this time around.

Q. With the benefit of hindsight were there any warnings in the 2008-9 crisis?

A. There were signals in the market, but until the fall of Lehman Brothers on 15 September 2008 not much was being done. Each crisis is going to be different. The mining sector was more of a lagging indicator then.

Q. What did Rio Tinto do at that time?

A. All sectors went down around the same time.

There weren’t any winners and losers like you have today. We brought the executive and worker teams together and aimed to keep everyone focussed, motivated and encouraged, and basically acted as a cheerleader.

Tom Albanese was CEO of Rio Tinto from May 2007 to January 2013

is it is up to companies to create inner resilience to deal with it. In a cyclical industry you sort of have a muscle memory. Exploration and R&D usually gets cut quite quickly. You also look at costs of the shutdown or re-opening of operations.

Q. What kind of recovery did you expect?

A. Everyone was second guessing around V, U, or L-shaped recoveries. It became an L-shaped recovery in Europe, U-shaped in the US, and V-shaped in China. Whatever the recovery shape,

Q. Was having a wide portfolio useful?

A. Everything was hit in 2008. Today is different really, as there is a shift in the demand pattern.

Gold and iron ore are doing well, whilst copper hasn’t been quite as resilient. There are likely

Cynthia Carroll

time, and were quick to push back. We couldn’t and didn’t stop our ‘One Anglo’ initiative. Also in these circumstances you have to be very dynamic in your decision making. We had to meet very regularly and prioritise people, alignment and performance. We were mostly being advocates.

Q. With the benefit of hindsight were there any warnings in the 2008-9 crisis?

A. It is easy to say with hindsight. There was concern over the real estate bubble, but it was an all-time commodity high. We thought demand was just going to keep charging ahead.

Q. What did you do just after Lehman Brothers?

A. Eighteen months prior to the crisis, I was brought into Anglo as a change agent to address the safety culture and production mix. Our employees on 6 continents were working in silos.

In June 2007, I shut down Lower Rustenburg after a fatality, and this catalysed the desired change.

We set out a 2-year US$ 2 bn value delivery over two years. New CEOs and divestments followed, and H2 2008 was strong before September.

Immediately when it happened, we had to move fast and take action. Safety was still a top priority. We looked at scenarios and lowest cost expandable and long life assets. We decided to cut capex and suspend dividend, a really tough choice and decision to make. Working constantly to gain alignment, value and focus, we restored the dividend in 2009 and the company was much more resilient on 2010. We followed this with a record performance in 2011, with US$ 11 bn profits.

Q. What was your mindset around how to handle the financial crisis?

A. This is a very good question for today’s world.

We were all soft targets at the time, and Xstrata approached us in 2009 for a ‘merger of equals’.

We were largest in PGM and diamonds at the

Q. How do you know how far to cut supply back?

A. We stopped high cost platinum and coal production firstly. Again, you don’t have time to get there, you’ve got to get there very quickly.

We created visibility of our cost positions on the cost curve and everyone knew they had support to move theirs along. Sustaining C&M is absolutely key, maintaining infrastructure, and when to mobilise and de-mobilise people.

Q. Any there any particular voices that hold sway in a crisis?

A. You can find yourself very isolated. I see a lot of CEOs acting in silos today, and that is not the thing to do. You have to think about the mining industry bodies, ICMM, Chamber of Mines, who play a key role here, and utilise outside support. Reinforce the rules of engagement in your sector.

Q. This being a health crisis, what are the similarities and differences with 2008?

A. This time we started with healthy economies.

The US was looking solid, now it has 36 M unemployed. People are worried. You can rebuild an economy, but you cannot replace human beings, and returning to work today will be very different. The pandemic is a fundamental change that won’t go away, and the economic recovery will take years in my opinion. Countries will CWDigital 2021 e1

Q. How well will automation lend itself to social distancing?

A. Even in an open pit you have social distancing issues. The Covid-19 crisis is only going to fast forward that technology in mining.

Generally there is a move towards phasing projects from a more modest start, which is a more resilient approach both in this situation and the current market dynamic, with regard t o NGO and stakeholder engagement.

Q. What advice would you give to current CEOs? A. You have just got to communicate and engage even if you’re only doing it on a screen. Key qualities are awareness and resoluteness, as well as ensuring 360 degree communication. Even after all my CEO experiences, which at times did require a very thick skin, I’m still smiling. You have to be a bit of an optimist in this sector!”

Cynthia Carroll was CEO of Anglo American from January 2007 2013

focus much more on becoming self-sufficient, with a nationalisation and interior growth focus.

Future supply chains will need much more careful consideration, with less reliance on China.

Q. What lessons were learned last time around and what resulting advice would you give to present CEOs? A. That we need to much more adaptable, agile and responsive. We have to align stakeholders, be inclusive and focus on people. Seize the opportunity that the crisis brings, be courageous and inspirational, and maintain the momentum.

Start planning for the future in the new normal. www.fastmarkets.com View free on YouTube channel: Fastmarkets MB Events Managing in times of crisis - Exclusive interviews Tom Albanese, former CEO, Rio Tinto Cynthia Carroll, former CEO, Anglo American Svein Richard Brandztaeg, ex CEO, Norsk Hydro Regarding free upcoming webinars, please Email: kate.skinner@fastmarkets.com Follow exclusive updates on Twitter: @Fastmarkets Linkedin: Fastmarkets

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A beacon of energy efficiency The Huelva smelter benchmarks as a plant with low energy consumption. Here the evolution of Huelva is briefly described, and the approach to energy management is discussed, by Phillip Mackey

In Copper Worldwide (Vol 10 No 3, page 8), a brief article discussed energy in copper smelting.

The Atlantic Copper Huelva Smelter and refinery complex, located a few kilometres from the town of Huelva in South-West Spain facing the Gulf of Cadiz, is an energy-efficient and environmentallysustainable copper plant, providing valuable red metal for a range of electrical and EV uses. The plant, treating imported custom copper concentrate, continues a long tradition of metal production in this corner of the country, where the famed Rio Tinto River flows from the Sierra Morena mountains to the Atlantic Ocean at Huelva.

Atlantic Copper, a wholly-owned unit of Freeport McMoRan based in Phoenix (AZ), USA is one of the largest smelters in Europe and treats the order of 1.1 million tonnes of copper concentrate annually, producing some 330,000 tonnes of cathode copper, over 1 million tonnes of sulphuric acid for the European market, plus significant quantities of gold and silver (Figure 1).

In 2019, the company’s North American copper mines supplied 22% of the concentrate feed, other company mines (in South American and Indonesia) supplied 5% of the copper concentrate feed, with the balance supplied by third parties. In 2019, Atlantic Copper revenues totalled US$ 2.1 billion (1).

Origins of Huelva While this part of South-West of Spain, which includes the Iberian Pyrite Belt, has a long history of mining and metallurgy stretching back many millennia to Roman times, large-scale metallurgical operations at Huelva are relatively recent. The last of the older smelters in the Rio Tinto mine area, some 75 km North West of Huelva and which operated two Momoda blast furnaces of Japanese design, closed in 1969.

In 1966, the company Rio Tinto Patino (RTP), in which the Rio Tinto company held a minor share, was created to develop the Cerro Colorado CuAu deposit in the Rio Tinto area. At about the same time, RTP realised that a port location for the smelting and refining plant was preferred to the inland Rio Tinto area. Of interest, a long pier, which was used over decades for shipping metallurgical products from the earlier Rio Tinto area operations - such as pyrite which was shipped as far as the USA, or copper from the smelters - was also located at Huelva.

The same technology as successfully used at the older Rio Tinto smelter - two Momoda blast furnaces - was adopted for the new smelter to be located at Huelva. This plant, including a copper refinery, commenced operations in 1970 with a capacity of 40,000 t cathode Cu / yr. The smelter included Peirce-Smith converters for converting and an anode casting plant.

In 1972, after evaluating the use of oxygen enrichment as a means to expand the capacity of the blast furnaces, instead, adoption of the relatively new Outokumpu flash furnace

1 The Atlantic Copper complex at Huelva, Spain

technology was considered the best approach for achieving the proposed higher smelting capacity. At the time, there were about nine fairly new Outokumpu flash furnaces operating around the world, including the new one at Hamburg, and five flash smelters in Japan. The new flash furnace at Huelva commenced using preheated air and oil as the main fuel in 1975, with a nominal capacity of about 310,000 t Cu conc. /yr, replacing the Momoda blast furnaces.

The copper refinery was also expanded.

Following the world oil crisis in 1975, modest oxygen enrichment originally supplied by tanker was introduced in 1985, and later a 300 t/d over-the-fence oxygen plant was commissioned, bringing capacity up to about 440,000 t Cu conc. /yr. Oil consumption dropped considerably as a result, from 2,700 kg/hr in the mid-1970s, to about 450 kg/hr in the

2 Huelva smelter flowsheet

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mid-1980s. This commenced Huelva’s journey towards high energy efficiency.

During this period, the original 9.8 m high reaction shaft, which had been designed for operation with preheated air and fuel oil, was shortened to 6.8 m for more efficient operation on oxygen enrichment. The reaction shaft was also fitted with a new, single burner assembly, replacing the older 4-gun burner. Additionally, cooling blocks were installed towards the lower part of the reaction shaft. At this point (~1985), along with a number of other plant and environmental upgrades, concentrate capacity was about 530,000 t Cu conc. /yr, with a reduction in unit energy consumption.

During the decade 1985 to 1995, a major expansion to bring the capacity to 870,000 t Cu conc. /yr was undertaken. It was also during this period that Freeport McMoRan acquired

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1,000,000 t Cu conc./yr, or close to 300,000 t Cu/yr. A flowsheet of the current plant, which now has a capacity of over 1.1 million t Cu conc. /yr, is given in Figure 2.

Low energy leader Recent industry benchmark data show that the energy consumption at Huelva is amongst the lowest in the industry. In 2009 Huelva introduced a new energy management strategy at the complex with the objective to both monitor energy use and to identify projects leading to lower energy consumption, including projects to recover waste heat; as an example, one project studied was the recovery of waste heat from smelter slag.

Constant benchmarking, reviewing theoretical energy data and examining actual plant data were also undertaken to help identify potential improvements.

Figure 3 taken from recent Huelva presentations(2),(3) illustrates one example of an energy flow map used at Huelva. At the lefthand side, the diagram shows all purchased energy inputs including input electricity, all fuels and the like (= 750 GWh/yr), as well as inferred energy in raw materials at the right hand side (= 1,200 GWh/yr). Energy losses are also shown.

Of interest, the purchased energy input here is towards the low end of the benchmark scale discussed in the article in Copper Worldwide Vol 10 No 3 issue. Figure 4 illustrates how projects at the Huelva complex can be prioritised using the energy management system. Huelva is well placed today to operate with close to the lowest energy consumption amongst advanced copper smelters, improving operating cost and operational efficiency.

3 Huelva energy flow map

www.atlantic-copper.es References: (1) Freeport-McMoran, Annual Report 2019, Phoenix, Arizona, USA. 4 The Huelva energy management system - establishing project priority

the plant through the purchase of Rio Tinto Minera SA. A larger concentrate burner capable of operating up to 180 t feed/hr was installed and a second over-the-fence oxygen plant was introduced, bringing the oxygen capacity to about 600 t/d or 17,800 Nm3/h). Many other upgrades were undertaken, including

Unbenannt-1 1

additional converting capacity and a second anode furnace and casting wheel, plus environmental improvements.

A further series of expansions, including the copper refinery, now based on the ISA system, over the period to about 2000 allowed concentrate smelting capacity to reach about

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(2) Tejera, J.M. et al., Energy Management Systems in Copper Smelting: the Atlantic Copper Case Study in, Energy Efficiency in the Minerals Industry, Best Practices and Research Directions, Kwame Awuah-Offei (Ed.), Springer International Publishing AG, 2018, pp 251-269.

(3) Palacios, M, Optimum use of Natural Resources Based on an Energy Management System, Plenary Paper presented at EMC 2019, GDMB, Germany, 2019.

Author: Phillip Mackey

20.07.2017 11:05:21

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Foil reversing mill to Shanxi North Copper JAN 28 - Chinese producer Shanxi North Copper New Material Technology Co., Ltd. (NC), a subsidiary of Zhongtiaoshan Non-ferrous Metals Group Co., Ltd., has placed an order with Primetals Technologies to supply a copper foil reversing mill for its production site in Yuncheng, Shanxi Province.

The rolling line is composed of cluster mills (X-Mill) specifically designed to roll foils of non-ferrous materials, ensuring a stable and highly efficient production. Start-up is expected in 2022.

The mill will roll C10200 and C11000 copper with an entry thickness of 0.3 mm, resulting in foil with thicknesses down to a minimum of 0.006 mm.

Foils with widths varying from 350 to 660 mm can be processed at a maximum speed of 800 metres per minute. The maximum coil weight will be 3 tons.

Primetals Technologies is responsible for engineering, manufacturing, and supplying the mechanical, electrical and automation equipment, and will supervise installation and commissioning.

The X-Mill consists of non-segmented type nonsplit supporting rolls and has features to ensure best operational performance and simplified maintenance compared to 12HI and 20HI mills, which consist of many segmented supporting rolls.

Primetals Technologies has already supplied nine sets of 6Hi cluster mill to several customers. The cluster mills (X-Mill) were developed by Primetals

X-Mill (cluster mill) from Primetals Technologies. Photo: Primetals

Technologies to realise smaller work roll diameters.

The X-Mill with intelligent shape control using Automatic Flatness Control is designed for ultra-thin strip and foil rolling. The rolls are arranged in an X configuration in which a pair of parallel back-up

JAN 20 - The ABB process and power system, designed for cold rolling mills, offers advanced solutions for quality supervision and analysis to meet the needs of cold rolling steel in terms of thickness tolerances, flatness and surface characteristics.

Northern Copper Industry Co., Ltd (NCI), based in Yuncheng, China, has selected ABB to supply and install a complete electrical and automation system for its new 20-high cold rolling finishing mill.

Based on ABB Ability™ System 800xA distributed control system (DCS) with high-performance AC 800PEC master controller, the package integrates ABB Metals Roll@xA Optimize cold rolling control solution and ABB’s Collaborative Production Management for Metals (CPM4Metals) system for the copper production process.

On completion, the mill will become a first-class high-performance rolled copper strip and foil production line with an annual output of 50,000 tons. The products will be widely used in aerospace, 5G communications, new energy industries, smart manufacturing and other high-tech application fields. Start-up is scheduled for 2021.

www.primetals.com

How to quench a thirst for copper

Electrical and automation system for China CRM

Operator using ABB AbilityTM System 800xA. Photo: ABB

rolls support each side of the small diameter work rolls at a tangent below the work roll top to prevent horizontal deflection. This enables stable and reliable thin-gauge rolling to be performed.

ABB’s Roll@xA Optimize solution incorporates alloy measurement and advanced thickness control functions, ensuring rolled products, including a hard alloy-bronze that contains tin elements, fulfil stringent requirements. It also ensures strict synchronisation between the roller surface and the copper strip foil to eliminate surface scratches caused by non-synchronised rotating of deflection rollers, and enables the customer to meet specific surface quality requirements. This is achieved through a range of proprietary drive control functions including static friction compensation, online controller parameter adaptation, dynamic compensation for acceleration and deceleration for deflection rollers.

Also to be installed are ABB’s latest drive system model ACS880, AXR engineering high-pressure cast-iron motor, AMI high voltage modular motor, ABB’s dedicated instrumentation Millmate Tensiometer System, and measuring instrumentation and sensors. www.abb.com/metals

An ABB ACS880 drives system. Photo: ABB

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Bespoke craft drinks trolley by Sadie Clayton. Photo: Sipsmith London

OCT 12 - The London College of Contemporary Arts (LCCA) Fashion Course Director, Sadie Clayton produced a distinctive copper drinks trolley for London Craft Week. Ginmaker Sipsmith London had tasked artists with creating bespoke products and works inspired by their brand. Sadie was commissioned to create the piece with copper, a component largely used by the distillery.

“The project had to reflect two distinctive elements, the material and their signature swan icon, and I combined the two in the design with the large copper curve. For this project I used a 1.0 mm slab so that it was weighty and stable enough to hold the bottles, and the curve was created by hand,” said Sadie. www.lcca.org.uk

COPPER PROFILES | 15

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New extrusion line for South-East Asia FEB 25 - Danieli Breda of Italy has been selected by a top producer of brass and copper based in South-East Asia for the supply of a new extrusion line. The customer delivers high-tech brass and nonferrous alloys, with advanced capabilities for R&D, oriented towards developing innovative materials for applications including aerospace and electronics.

Projects like this represent a very tough challenge for plant makers, as they require to efficiently manage a very wide variety of products while maintaining the highest reliability, productivity and product quality standards. In consideration of the complexity of the project, the customer decided therefore to rely on the long-term experience and technological strength of Danieli Breda, which will allow them to obtain tailor made technical solutions together with an outstanding project execution capability.

Besides a 36 MN direct-indirect extrusion press, featuring the ESED 4.0 energy saving system and the new web-based HMI with tablets, the scope of supply also includes the complete downstream handling line, comprising among others: • Tank for underwater extrusion • Walking beam cooling bed for straight products • Coilers for coiled products • Coil cooling and recirculation system.

As well as maintaining very high-performance standards, high reliability and ease of operation, the line will be designed to grant also high flexibility and high automation level, for example using robots extensively for press auxiliary movements. Danieli Breda will take care of designing, manufacturing, delivering, installing and starting up the new line,

Danieli Breda control pulpit for a brass and copper extrusion line. Photo: Danieli

allowing the customer to have one interface only for the complete project. The commissioning of the line at the customer’s site is planned for the second quarter of 2022. This order demonstrates Danieli

www.danieli.com

Malaysian foil plant for SK nexilis SK nexilis, a leading world manufacturer of copper foil for EV batteries, as a fully owned affiliate of SKC, has decided to build its first overseas factory in Malaysia. It will fully utilise its accumulated knowhow and will fulfill RE100 (a renewable commitment). At its January 26 session of the Board of Directors, SK nexilis settled on the KKIP Industrial Complex in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah,

Merger increases JCCL Huabei rod capacity JAN 20 - JCCL Huabei (Tianjin) Copper Co., Ltd. (JCCL Huabei) and Tianjin Dawufeng Investment Co., Ltd. (Tianjin Dawufeng Copper Material) officially signed a merger agreement on 16 December 2020. Under the terms of the agreement, JCCL Huabei will hold 91.59% of the shares of Tianjin Dawufeng. The JCCL Huabei copper processing and production base in North China is jointly invested by Jiangxi Copper Group and Tianjin

Breda’s leading position in the Brass and Copper Industry and capability to supply complete automatic lines with the highest technological content.

Huabei Group. With a previous capacity of 440,000 tonnes copper rod annually, after the merger completion JCCL Huabei will be able to reach annual output of 740,000 t copper rod, and co-investor Jiangxi Copper Group will reach 2.01 million tonnes, becoming probably the world’s largest copper rod production enterprise. www.en.jxcc.com

The Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht - Zentrum für Material- und Küstenforschung GmbH research rolling mill, which was overhauled by Danieli Fröhling after fire damage in 2020. Photo: Danieli

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Malaysia as the site of its first factory outside Korea. It plans to build a factory with a capacity of 44,000 tons a year, by investing 650 billion won, starting work in the first half of 2021 and starting commercial operations of the factory in 2023.

With this factory, its total production capacity will increase three-fold to 100,000 tons a year. www.skc.kr

New seawater cooling materials selection guidance NOV 23 - The Nickel Institute publication ‘Copper alloys versus stainless steels for seawater cooling systems - the pros and cons’ (First Edition, Published November 2020), a paper by Roger Francis on the use of nickel-containing alloys, advises there is no single material solution for all seawater cooling systems. Two common options are copper alloys and high alloy stainless steels, and both of these have advantages and disadvantages. The study covers a broad range of corrosion and failure modes across both sets of alloys.

In seawater cooling systems utilising copper alloys, it is common for the pipes, fittings and flanges to be 90/10 copper-nickel (UNS C70600), while the valves and pumps are cast nickel aluminium bronze (NAB, C95800). While 90/10 copper-nickel is often used for heat exchanger tubing, there are two 30% nickel alloys that can used when the fluid is more corrosive. When copper-nickel tubes are used for heat exchangers they are usually rolled into the tubesheets, which can be made from a number of wrought copper alloys. Nickel aluminium bronze is common and both C63200 and C63300 have been used successfully. Water boxes for copper alloy systems may be carbon steel coated with neoprene or lined with 90/10 copper-nickel sheet. www.nickelinstitute.org

16 | COPPER ROD, TUBE AND WIRE

Wire and cable rebound risks DEC 10 - In a CRU Wire and Cable Q4 2020 Update, Michael Finch, Head of Wire and Cable at CRU Consulting, forecast world ex-China cable demand would contract by near doubledigit rates, whilst world insulated metallic wire and cable demand will contract by around 5-6% y-o-y in 2020. China’s Q3 GDP grew by 4.9% y-o-y, up from a 3.2% y-o-y increase in Q2. For

the global wire and cable market, despite the expected rebound in demand in 2021, overall cable consumption will still be 1% lower than 2019 and 4% below its pre-Covid-19 forecast by the end of 2021. However, CRU forecasts market value will bounce back even stronger next year, reaching almost US$ 180 bn.

MAY 11 - Amprion GmbH, the German grid operator, awarded Prysmian an EUR 500 M contract for the A-Nord underground cable connection, part of the 2GW German Corridor “A” electricity transmission project. Prysmian are to design, manufacture, supply, lay, joint, test and commission a 1GW underground cable system along the entire Northern route of this German Corridor. Prysmian will deliver a fully qualified ±525 kV high voltage DC (Direct Current) cable system consisting of copper cables, insulated with their own proprietary P-Laser technology, complete with a separate insulated metallic return cable.

The Group will provide all related accessories and integrated PRY-CAM monitoring system. The 300 km route runs from Lower Saxony to NordrheinWestfalen. Construction of the HVDC system is scheduled to commence within 2023. www.prysmiangroup.com

Shandong Hesheng Copper Company’s 10 ktpy copper foil project (Phase II) is due to complete in 2021. Its second 10 ktpy project is due to complete by end 2022. The project investment is 700 million yuan.

Longzhi New Material Technology Co., Ltd’s 12 ktpy copper foil line began in October of 2020, phase I of a 50 ktpy project. Construction began in September 2018 with total investment of 3.5 billion yuan.

Guangdong Chaohua Technology Co., Ltd. plans a 20,000 tons high-precision ultra-thin lithium copper foil project. The project started construction in November 2020 and is due to start up in October 2022.

Jiujiang Defu Technology Co., Ltd.’s 14,000 tons/yr electrolytic copper foil plant commenced May 2020 to produce lithium battery copper foil and electronic circuit copper foil is due to reach operation in the first half of 2021.

Nuode Investment Co., Ltd. holding subsidiary Qinghai Electronics Co., Ltd.’ s 15 ktpy lithium battery copper foil project (Phase II) started on 28 June in Qinghai, and reaches full production by end 2021.

Jiangxi Xinborui Technology Co., Ltd’s 40 ktpy high-end copper foil project was built from June 2019 in Yingtan High-tech Zone, Jiangxi Province. By November 2020, 12 lines had been put into operation.

New rod plant for Southwire in Carrollton FEB 11 - Supporting its long-term modernisation strategy and building on its goal to remain generationally sustainable for the next 100 years and beyond, Southwire will soon begin construction of a copper rod manufacturing plant in Carrollton, GA, featuring an SCR-9000S Copper Rod System.

“Southwire is investing in a multimillion-dollar initiative that will allow us to best serve our customers, increase our efficiency and introduce newer and better equipment, systems and technology. In doing so, we’re reaffirming our commitment to providing a work environment that supports the wellbeing of our employees, our communities and the environment,” said Rich Stinson, Southwire’s President and CEO, “Copper rod is the start of the manufacturing process for many of the products that make Southwire an industry leader.”

Southwire started operation of its current copper rod system in Carrollton in 1980, and four decades later, copper continues to be the primary source of metal for the company’s wire and cable operations. Construction of the new plant is expected to begin in the first quarter, and production should begin in the new facility by the end of 2022. When the construction project is completed, the current system will be decommissioned.

The new, 100,000 square foot facility will be located on the same property as the existing manufacturing plant and will utilise the company’s

Chinese foil plants make progress

www.crugroup.com

German transmission projects MAY 5 - Prysmian Group was awarded by TenneT TSO GmbH, the Dutch-German grid operator, a circa EUR 500 million contract for the SuedOstLink project in Germany, the first ±525 KV HVDC (High Voltage Direct Current) extruded underground cable connection. Prysmian are to design, manufacture, supply, lay, joint, test and commission a 2GW underground cable system through the TenneT region of this first German Corridor. Working with large copper conductor cables and Prysmian own developed innovative P-Laser insulation technology, with higher operating temperature, enables a transmittable power of more than 2GW on a single system. The 250 km route starts near Landshut in Bavaria. Prysmian will provide all related accessories, as well as an integrated PRY-CAM monitoring system. Project completion is planned in early 2026.

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Amer International Group subsidiary Ningde Electronic New Material Science and Technology 8 bn yuan project Phase I with 100,000 tons of precision copper wire production and Phase III copper foil project in Fujian Province began construction in December.

Southwire Carrollton plant is to invest in a new rod mill

patented Southwire Continuous Rod (SCR®) technology, which transformed the wire and cable industry in the early 1960s and is still a highly regarded system around the world. The new SCR system in Carrollton will have the capability to produce more copper rod than any other SCR rod system in the world.

“Fifty percent of all copper rod made in the world passes through one of our SCR systems at some point in its lifetime,” said Charlie Murrah, Executive Vice President of Metals. “Having a new SCR system in place for Southwire’s copper rod production will help keep us strong and sustainable for decades to come.” In addition, in support of Southwire’s Carbon Zero initiative to achieve 100% carbon free energy for its operations by 2025, Southwire is partnering with Carroll EMC to utilise all renewable electricity for the facility. www.southwire.com

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Jiangxi Copper Yates Foil Inc.’s 7.5 ktpy lithium battery copper foil expansion project began commissioning in December 2020 and expects operation in 2021. The 15 ktpy project started construction on 8 August 2019. www.antaike.com

Caution after Chinese New Year FEB 24 - According to an SMM China Metals Briefing, copper rod makers surveyed said they would be back at normal operating levels by midMarch, as new orders were sluggish. Another reason cited was shortages of copper scrap, but these are only expected to be temporary. Copper tube makers said they were more affected by high copper prices keeping downstream buyers on the sidelines, whilst wire and cable makers were expecting normal operation by mid-March, after a cautious ramping up amid low inventories. www.smm.cn

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A notable copper player Destined to remain a powerful resource superpower, the Russian Federation is the world’s largest country.

The nation stretches over eleven international time zones from Continental Europe in the West to the Bearing Sea and the Pacific Ocean in the East. It shares land borders with fifteen different countries including Finland and Norway in Western Europe, the Ukraine and the Baltic States in Central Europe and Kazakhstan, Mongolia, China and North Korea in Central and Eastern Asia. The population of the Russian Federation is around 140 million, of which 75% is urbanised. The majority of its citizens are concentrated in the Western end of the country with its capital of Moscow.

Half of the country is covered by snow for six months of the year including much of the sparsely populated Siberian artic. However, the oil and gas fields of Western Siberia provide over half of the country’s natural gas and petroleum production, a major source of its wealth and its largest exports. The country’s economy is also based heavily on chemicals, iron and steel, iron ore, aluminium, coal, manganese, nickel, platinum, gold, lead, zinc, tin, copper (as detailed later) and wheat, wood and timber products. Because of the country’s large exposure to natural resource extractive industries (particularly oil and gas) wild movements in commodities prices can have a significant impact on the pattern of economic growth. However, the economy and economic reform has stalled in recent years. In 2019, the Russia state statistics bureau Rosstat reported that GDP had risen by just 1.3% last year, half the pace of the 2.5% expansion in 2018, and the slowest rate since it emerged from economic crisis in 2016. Following the slump in oil and gas prices and the Covid-19 outbreak (Russia has the second highest number of recorded infections globally) the country is expected to enter recession.

A major contributor

The Russian Federation is among the world’s largest producers and exporters of copper (in various forms) and its output has been steadily growing over the past five years. In 2019, and based on some provisional data, it is estimated that Russia was the world’s ninth biggest copper miner behind Chile, Peru, China, Democratic Republic of Congo, the United States, Australia, Zambia and Mexico with an output of around three-quarters of a million tonnes. Measured in terms of refined copper production its ranking is even higher at fifth, behind China, Chile, Japan and the United States, with output of just over 1 million tonnes in 2019. This reflects the country’s status both as a net importer of concentrate, and a significant smelter and refiner of copper from a variety of secondary materials.

The Russian copper mining, smelting and refining industry is comprised of just three vertically integrated companies. These are the Mining and Metallurgical Company Norilsk Nickel, the Ural Mining and Metallurgical Company (UMMC) and the Russian Copper Company (RCC). According to Russian sources, Norilsk Nickel accounted for a 42% share of domestic cathode output in 2019, followed by UMMC with 40% and RCC with

18%. The first and third of these companies also make downstream semi-manufactured copper products while Norilsk Nickel is solely focussed on its upstream operations.

Key enterprises

In 2019 Norilsk Nickel reported that its total copper production from its Russian operations had increased by 7% year-on-year to 486 kt.

It attributed the growth to the gradual ramp up of concentrate production at its Bystrinsky project as well as rising copper concentrate output for sale to third parties and higher cathode production from the matte received from the polar division at Kola MMC. UMMC’s activities are mainly located in the Urals, specifically in the regions of Sverdlovsk and Orenburg and the Bashkortostan Republic.

The main productive assets are the mines of Gaiskiy, Uchalinskiy and Bashkirskaya Med and the concentrator at Svyatogor, while the major metallurgical assets are the Sredneuralsk and Svyatogor smelters, the Mednogorsk copper and sulphur plant and the Uralelektromed refinery.

The latter is also the home of the Group’s 290 ktpy capacity copper wire rod mill. UMMC’s downstream activities in Russia also include three non-ferrous metals processing companies (‘brass mills’) at Revda, Kirov and Kolchugino, which manufacture a range of flat rolled products, rods, bars and wire and tubes and pipes in copper and various alloys.

The Russia Copper Company was founded in 2004 and is the third largest producer of refined copper domestically. Its operations are in the regions of Chelyabinsk, Sverdlovsk, Orenburg and Novgorod, and also in Kazakhstan. RCC’s eight mining enterprises, one hydrometallurgical plant and three metallurgical plants have the capacity between them to produce 220 ktpy of copper cathode and 235 ktpy of copper wire rod. The two most important group companies for the production of cathode and wire rod are the Kyshtym Copper Electrolytic Plant and the CWDigital 2021 e1

Novgorod Metallurgical Plant. The former was modernised fairly recently and now has a balanced capacity of 140 ktpy of cathode and wire rod, the latter using the Southwire continuing casting process. Additionally, a 1.2 ktpy electro-deposited copper foil mill is presently under construction at the site as it seeks to enter higher value-added markets.

The Novgorod Metallurgical Plant has a capacity to produce 70 ktpy of cathodes from a secondary metallurgical process utilising both lower grade scrap of 55% content and higher-grade scrap of 93% content. The factory also has an up to 95 ktpy capacity.

Consumption trend

Much smaller scale producers of copper wire rod in Russia also include Elkat, Rosskat, Transkat, Nalkat, Ruskat and a recent entrant Baltkat. Total Russian copper wire rod output is estimated to have been in the range of 400-425 kt in recent years. Approximately two-thirds of shipments are sent to the domestic insulated wire and cable industry whose sales are overwhelmingly focussed on serving the home market. The remain one-third is competitively priced for export via traders to the international market, with North Africa and the Middle East proving popular sales destinations in recent years. Due to the weakness of global demand last year even Russian wire rod was difficult to place and exports dropped 12% from 161 kt t o 142 kt. Fortunately, local rod mills were more than able to compensate for this by increased deliveries to the local market.

As a result, Russian apparent consumption of refined copper is estimated to have edged up by 2% to around 350 kt in 2019. Russianorigin cathode was easier to sell overseas and shipments rose 6.5% from 634 kt to 675 kt.

Author: Jonathan Barnes, Principal Consultant, Roskill

18 |

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STATISTICS | 19

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Preliminary mine output to November FEB 22 - According to the ICSG February 2021 Copper Bulletin, preliminary data indicates that world copper mine production fell 0.2% to 18.665 Mt in the first eleven months of 2020 (the period), with concentrate production increasing by 0.4% and solvent extractionelectrowinning (SX-EW) declining around 2.2%.

Chilean output was up by 2.5% y-o-y in H1 2020, but saw a 2.9% decline over July-November 2020 comparatively, resulting in

essentially unchanged output for the period. In Peru, pandemicrelated and operational issues/ adverse weather effected a 13.5% decline in mine output over the first eleven months of 2020, including a significant decline of 38% in AprilMay compared to the same period of 2019. On the plus side, October and November outputs were the highest of the year. Australia, Mexico and the United States also all saw declines in production for the period.

Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)

and Panamanian outputs increased significantly, mainly due to the rampup of new mines or expansions. In Indonesia, production grew by 36% as output levels improved following the transition of the country’s major two copper mines to different ore zones in 2019.

The ICSG Copper Bulletin is available for sale (annual subscription ?550/?850 for orders originating from/outside institutions based in ICSG member countries).

The U.S. Geological Survey announced 2 February that U.S. mines produced approximately US$ 82.3 billion in minerals in 2020. Copper was 5th in the mineral value table, behind crushed stone, gold, cement, and construction sand and gravel, but just above iron ore.

The Resolution Copper Mine project in Arizona is at feasability stage.

If constructed, it would yield up to 454.5 kt per year on average over a projected 40 year lifetime. The grade is roughly 1.5% copper.

DEC 14 - Roskill has released a new report - Copper Demand to 2030 which explores copper’s accelerated short-term recovery and assesses its medium-term fundamentals in the wake of the COVID-19 recession.

The report includes a dedicated chapter on the growth potential for copper demand in electric vehicles.

The study also analyses the negative short-term impact of the virus on consumption by country and semimanufacture by sector.

One of the key conclusions is that mine supply was not the weakest link in the industry’s supply chain, but international trade flows in scrap were and are still affected. World shortages of scrap, partly caused

by China’s artificially imposed import quota system (to achieve p rev io u s l y ann o un c e d S t a t e commitments to environmental targets by end-2020), forced consumers to replace missing units of scrap with extra volumes of refined cathode, accelerating the speed of the global price recovery.

In June 2020, Roskill identified a structural shift in Chinese purchases of refined metal. Imports surged by 60% from the January to May monthly average and continued at these levels long after a brief arbitrage window closed. Yearto-date calculations of Chinese apparent consumption of refined copper reveal a startling 14% annual expansion. While stockpiling is undoubtedly a major explanation of this surge, Roskill has identified growing evidence that suggests downstream demand is actually performing much more strongly than anyone could have expected. Scrap replacement, the commissioning of multiple new large scale wire rod plants, and a vastly accelerated programme of wind farm electrical power generation infrastructure have been amongst the main stimuli.

Chinese recovery in demand (and purchasing) accounted for 56% of world refined consumption in 2020, offsetting the 10% slump in ROW demand, leaving just a 1-2% decline in global consumption. The world’s refined copper producers have largely been shielded and ended the year with prices much higher than when it began. Roskill predicts that global copper consumption (refined demand and direct use scrap) will grow from a little under 30 Mt in 2020 to 38 Mt by 2030, an increase of 28 per cent.

www.usgs.gov

www.roskill.com

www.icsg.org

ICSG refined data reflects 2020 FEB 22 - According to the ICSG January 2021 Copper Bulletin, world refined copper production increased by 1.8% to 22.392 Mt during the first eleven months of 2020 (the period), with primary production (electrolytic and electrowinning) up by 2.9% to 18.805 Mt and secondary production (from scrap) down by 3.1% to 3.587 Mt respectively.

Total Chilean refined copper production (electrolytic and electrowinning) increased by 3.5%, although electrowinning production

fell by 7% in the period. Chinese refined production growth was negatively impacted by temporary shutdowns, tight scrap supply and constraints associated with concentrate imports and sulphuric acid oversupply. In Africa, refined production was up 5% in the DRC due to the ramp-up of new or expanded SX-EW plants, and by 32% in Zambia, where output has been recovering from smelters’ operational issues and temporary shutdowns in 2019.

Indian refined output decreased by 19% for the period. In the United States, temporary shutdowns and a long strike at Asarco’s operations led to a 12% decline in refined output. Japanese refined production rose by 6% y-o-y following maintenance shutdowns in 2019. Constrained scrap supply due to the lockdown and lower copper prices during H1 2020 negatively impacted world secondary refined production. www.icsg.org

Refined copper usage to November shows increase JAN 20 - World apparent refined copper usage increased by 2.5% to 22.981 Mt over the first eleven months of 2020. World ex-China usage is estimated to have declined by about 10%, falling regionally by 15.5% in Japan, 12% in the EU, 5% in the United States and about 11% in Asia (Ex-China) respectively. A 43% (1.25 Mt) increase in net refined copper imports allowed Chinese apparent usage to rise 14%, offsetting usage declines in other regions of the

world. The preliminary world refined copper balance in the first ten months of 2020 indicates an apparent deficit of about 590,000 t due to a strong Chinese apparent usage, whilst the world refined copper balance adjusted for changes in Chinese bonded stocks (SRB - average estimate of changes in bonded inventories provided by two expert consultants) indicated a market deficit of about 475,000 t.

As of 31 Janaury 2021, copper stocks held at the major metal

exchanges (LME, COMEX, SHFE) totalled 207,597 t, a decline of 43,578 t (-17%) year-on-year.

Stocks were up at COMEX -5%) and down at the LME (-30%) and SHFE (-11%). The January high and low copper prices were US$ 8,146 /t (on 8th Jan) and US$ 7,778.50 /t (on 28th Jan) respectively, and the average was US$ 7,970.50 /t (29% above the 2020 annual average). www.icsg.org

U.S. copper sector picture in 2020 F E B 2 - According to U.S. Geological Survey 26th annual Mineral Commodity Summaries published in February 2021, the 2020 U.S. mine production of recoverable copper decreased by 5% to an estimated 1.2 million tons and was valued at an estimated US$ 7.5 billion. Arizona was the leading copper-producing State and accounted for an estimated 74% of domestic output, followed by, in descending order, Utah, New Mexico, Nevada, Montana, Michigan, and Missouri. Copper was recovered or processed at

25 mines (18 of which accounted for 99% of mine production), 3 smelters, 3 electrolytic refineries, and 14 electrowinning facilities.

Refined copper and scrap were used at about 30 brass mills, 15 rod mills, and 500 foundries and miscellaneous consumers. Copper and copper alloy products use: • Building construction 43% • Electrical and electronic 21% • Transportation equipment 19% • Consumer and general products 10% • Industrial machinery and equipment 7%.

Roskill report highlights refined consumption surge

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20 | CONTRACTS & PEOPLE

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Ames orders secondary copper smelter DEC 21 - Germany’s SMS group is supplying a secondary copper smelter to Ames Copper Group, a joint venture between Prime Materials Recovery Inc. and Cunext Group, as part of a 30,000 sq ft extension its facilities in Shelby, North Carolina, U.S.A. The plant will produce up to 50,000 tonnes of copper anodes annually, and start-up is scheduled for 2021. Currently, PMR’s affiliate, IMC Metals America, employs 76 people in the state, manufacturing copper for wiring and lightning rods.

The new plant will be the first secondary copper recycling facility in the United States to produce copper anodes from copper scrap and copper fines. SMS scope of supply will include a tilting refining furnace, anode casting wheel, gas cleaning system, and electric and automation systems. In addition to the equipment supply, SMS will provide technical assistance for the installation and start-up and be responsible for the layout of the core equipment. The plant will be prepared for a future upgrade with additional digitalisation features.

With this important project, SMS underlines its strong position as a supplier of integrated solutions for the non-ferrous metals industry.

Ames Copper Group plans to invest more than US$ 50 million in infrastructure, equipment and working capital over the course of the project, according to local 2020 reports.

Anode casting. Photo: SMS group

www.sms-group.com

Anode casting wheel. Photo: SMS group

JAN 19 - Glencore subsidiary Carlisa Investments Corp. (Carlisa), in which Glencore holds 81.2% of the shares, has signed an agreement with ZCCM Investments Holding plc (ZCCM) to transfer its 90% interest in Mopani Copper Mines plc (Mopani) to ZCCM, the owner of the remaining 10% interest in Mopani, for US$ 1 and the Transaction Debt. Completion of the sale is conditional on receipt of certain regulatory approvals in Zambia and on the approval of the shareholders and board of directors of ZCCM, and is expected to occur within the next three months. On completion, the US$ 1.5 billion of Transaction Debt will remain owed

by Mopani to Glencore group creditors. See Glencore website News for full details. www.glencore.com

Sofia Offshore Wind Farm for Prysmian

www.riotinto.com

NOV 17 - Prysmian Group signed a preferred bidder agreement with RWE Renewables Sofia Offshore Wind Farm, the world’s second biggest offshore wind farm developer, for the development of the turnkey high voltage submarine and land export cable connection worth over EUR 200 million for the 1.4 GW Sofia Offshore Wind Farm project located on Dogger Bank in the North Sea. The finalisation of the contract is subject to final negotiations and to the final investment decision by RWE of the Project (expected Q1 2021).

Once it becomes operational in 2025, Sofia will be able to generate enough power to supply over 1.2 million homes with renewable electricity.

Pr ysmian Group will be responsible for the design, supply, installation and commissioning of an HVDC symmetrical monopole cable system that will connect Sofia’s offshore converter station with the onshore converter station in Teesside. The project involves more than 440 km of ±320 kV submarine export cables, and 15 km of ±320 kV land cables. The offshore cable operations will be performed using the Leonardo da Vinci, Prysmian’s new cuttingedge cable laying vessel.

Commissioning of the project is scheduled for late 2024.

(See also page 5)

www.prysmiangroup.com

Multiple Rio Tinto executive changes made JAN 28 - Rio Tinto is increase its focus on operational excellence, project development, ESG credentials, and rebuilding trust, particularly in Australia. To achieve these goals, incumbent Rio Tinto Chief Executive Jakob Stausholm (appointed from 1 January 2021, with Peter Cunningham appointed interim CFO from the same date) has made changes including several key appointments: Copper & Diamonds Chief Executive Arnaud Soirat will become Group COO, and as such will use his extensive operational experience to drive company-wide improvements in the Rio Tinto production system during a fixed 18-month term; Simon Trott, currently Chief Commercial Officer, will become Iron Ore Chief Executive; and Kellie Parker, Managing Director Pacific Operations Aluminium, will join the Executive Committee (ExCo) as Chief Executive Australia.

Glencore transfers Mopani stake to ZCCM

New Rio Tinto Chief Operating Officer Arnaud Soirat. Photo: Rio Tinto

Rio Tinto will retain four product groups - Aluminium, Copper, Iron Ore, and Minerals, which will now also include the Diamonds business.

Further appointees: Ivan Vella, Interim Iron Ore Chief Executive, will become Aluminium Chief Executive; Energy & Minerals Chief

Executive Bold Baatar will become Copper Chief E xecutive; and S in e a d Ka u f m an, M an a gin g Director Operations Copper & Diamonds, will join ExCo as Minerals Chief Executive.

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GT starts mentorship programme for women FEB 10 - Glencore Technology celebrated International Women and Girls in Science Day by inviting three women and girls from around the world who want to grow a science career to be mentored by one of the company’s own women in science.

The Women and Girls in Science Programme opened on Thursday 11th February and is open to Secondary School Students, University Students and Entry-level Professionals. One of each will be selected in the 8-month trial programme, which is centred on mineral processing sciences. If successful, the company envisages it will continue and expand the programme in 2022. www.glencoretechnology.com.au

The new Women and Girls in Science Programme. Image: Glencore Technology

Tongling units complete overhaul projects FEB 10 - According to Antaike Copper & Copper Fabrication Monthly February 2021 No.289, Jinlong Copper Company has completed the overhaul of its Kaldo furnace, mainly including furnace body removal and replacement of flue, quench cooler and first stage

power wave circulation pipeline cleaning, helicopter flue water circulation improvement and other maintenance projects. Another TNMG subsidiary, Tongguan Copper Semis Company, completed the annual maintenance of its continuous casting and rolling

production line in January. The overhaul lasted 9 days, and the overhaul items mainly included 15 major items and 116 minor items, such as replacement of firebrick of the shaft furnace burner and replacement of pouring flow tank.

New marcomms head for SMS group

www.antaike.com

New Director for shredding firm FEB 17 - Erdwich ZerkleinerungsSysteme GmbH is a medium-sized company in the field of shredding and recycling technology, including for e-waste. Mr. Florian Böhm-Feigl has taken over the role of Managing Director of Erdwich since 1st February 2021. He succeeds Hans Erdwich, who is retiring but will remain with the company as a consultant.

Mr. Florian Böhm-Feigl will lead the company with Mr. Harald Erdwich (MD commercial area) and Mr. Reinhard Hirschmille (Member of Executive). www.erdwich.com

Kilian Rötzer is to be the new Head of Corporate Communications and Marketing at SMS group. Photo: SMS group

Mantoverde’s existing desalination plant, and the attractive grade of the copper deposit (avg 0.80% Cu equivalent sulphide ore first 10 years). At least 50% of the power will be renewable energy. Cobalt and magnetite recovery from waste material studies are well advanced.

John MacKenzie, Executive Chairman of Mantos Copper, commented: “Mantos Copper is well advanced in realising our strategy in becoming a world class sustainable copper business with nearly 200 ktpy total copper production.”

FEB 8 - Kilian Rötzer is to take over as Head of Corporate Communications and Marketing at the SMS group from 1 April 2021, reporting directly to CEO Burkhard Dahmen. The position brings together previously separate areas to ensure a uniform global presence towards all target groups.

This step is part of the strategic development of the technology and world market leader. The core task of the newly established team will be to communicate more strongly in particular the project expertise in the growth areas of decarbonisation, hydrogen and recycling for the global metals industry.

Rötzer comes from thyssenkrupp, where he was responsible for corporate communications, marketing and governmental affairs for the global steel business for eight years. Prior to that, Rötzer spent four years as head of business press at the Metro Group in Düsseldorf and before that eight years at communications consultancy CNC in Munich.

www.mantoscopper.com

www.sms-group.com

Left to right are Mr. Reinhard Hirschmille (Member of Executive), Mr. Florian Böhm-Feigl (Managing Director) and Mr. Harald Erdwich (Managing Director). Photo: Erdwich

Mantoverde Sulphide Development Project financed FEB 12 - Mantos Copper subsidiary Mantoverde S.A. has secured an US$ 846.6 million financing package for its MVDP sulphide development projec t at its exis ting mining operation in Atacama, Chile. Debt financing complements US$ 275 M in equity proceeds secured from MMC taking a 30% interest in Mantoverde.

MVDP is a brownfield copper project in the Atacama region of Chile that involves the building of a copper concentrator and associated facilities to process ore from the tier 1 sulphide deposit at Mantoverde. It will expand the

current Mantoverde oxide operation that has been profitably producing LME-branded cathodes for the past 25 years. The project will extend the life of Mantoverde to at least 2041 whilst significantly reducing operating costs. Upon completion of the project, Mantoverde will produce an average of 110 kt of copper and 33 koz of gold per year from 2023 to 2030.

Project construction will be a lump-sum, turnkey EPC contract with Ausenco. The US$ 783.6 M p ro j e c t u t i l i s e s e x t e n s i v e existing infrastructure, including

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The Fastmarkets Copper Seminar

Copper Worldwide is going to be at The Fastmarkets Copper Seminar on 11-12 March. At the free digital event, combining both Fastmarkets Copper Seminar and International Copper Conference, delegates will hear from key market participants and take away pointers to improve business strategies. Insights into

copper’s role in new energy, the changing copper scrap dynamics and supply and demand updates are included.

The event has exclusive CEO interviews with Freeport McMoRan, Trafigura and Codelco, as well as panels featuring the CEO’s from La Farga, Aurubis, Anglo American Chile and more. Key topics for discussion include responsible production, copper’s role in the electrification boom, the changing copper scrap regulations, the picture for investment and much more. www.events.fastmarkets.com/copper

GDMB EMC 2021 and Copper Committee OCT 22 - The annual GDMB Copper Expert Committee Meeting took place as a Video Conference on 22 October 2020, hosted

by Dipl.-Ing. Andreas Krüger, Managing Director of GDMB e.V., and Committee Chairman Magnus Ek, M. Sc., of Boliden Mineral AB, Sweden. Attendees received ten presentations as well as there being discussion time throughout. Topics covered included modelling of P-S converting, flotation tailings copper recovery, and hydrometallurgical metals recovery from e-waste via the ADIR next generation urban mining project which ran to December 2019.

FEB 24 - The 11th European Metallurgical Congress EMC 2021 is to take place virtually

from 27-30 June 2021 in Salzburg, Austria. The theme is ‘From Mine to Metal: The search for an integral solution to process complex ores and residues (with high impurities) and produce high value multi metal at lowest CO2 footprint.’

At EMC 2021, the sustainability of the non-ferrous metals industry will be duly examined in respect to its technological, ecological and economic aspects in various topical sessions with special focus on the four main areas: (I) Resources / Metals, (II) Materials Processing, (III) Sustainable Production, and (IV) Themes of Current Issues / Best Practices. A metallurgical exhibition online is also planned as part of the Congress. www.emc.gdmb.de www.adir.eu

World Copper Virtual Conference MAR 1 - The World Copper Conference is taking place during CESCO week from 12-13 April on CRU Events’virtual conference platform, and Copper Worldwide will be on hand for discussions.

Over 500 attendees are expected.

Speakers and Panellists at the World Copper Conference announced include: Juan Carlos Jobet, Chilean Minister for Energy & Mines Octavio Araneda, CEO, Codelco Ragnar Udd, President Minerals Americas, BHP Martin Chludzinski, CEO, KGHM Aaron Puna, CEO, Chile, Anglo American Ivan Arriagada, Group CEO, Antofagasta Minerals Shehzad Barmal, Senior VP Base Metals, North America and Peru, Teck Resources Limited Peter Kukielski, President and Chief Executive Officer, Hudbay Kurt Breischaft, President, SDI LaFarga Copperworks Diego Hernández, President, Sonami

Dr Luis Tercero, Head of Business Unit Systemic Risks, Fraunhofer Institute Michael Lion, President, Lion Consulting Asia Ltd, and Everwell Resources Ltd An ICA Workshop: Future Material Intelligence exploring select global trends including Urban Mining, impacts of COVID-19 and world substitution, and power electronics is taking place on 12 April as part of the programme. The World Copper Virtual Conference 2021 platform will remain open for 30+ days after the event for delegates to continue to watch the agenda on-demand, interact with exhibition booths and continue networking. www.crugroup.com/events www.copperalliance.org

Copper / Cobre 2022 The Copper 2022 International Conference is to be held again in Santiago from 13 to 17 November 2022, after a 9-year absence. The Chilean Institute of Mining Engineers / Instituto de Ingenieros de Minas de Chile (IIMCh) will organise this important global event. Mr. Iván Arriagada, Executive President of Antofagasta Minerals S.A., has confirmed his interest in continuing

as Chairman of this new edition.

The Institute must have a Technical Chairman, with time and skills in English, in addition to having management and organisation skills. For this purpose, the Institute is to receive interested applicants among the directors, former directors and professionals awarded by the institution. www.iimch.cl

Sustainable energy practices at COM 2020 MAR 2 - The 59th COM 2020 Canadian Conference of Metallurgists was held in October 2020 as a Virtual event. Copper is vital for the Electric Vehicle (EV) revolution, being used in all components - the wiring in the car, the motor, the inverter, as well as at the charging station and the electrical grid. Sustainable production of copper will be very important going forward.

The COM 2020 Conference of Metallurgists, ably organised by The Metallurgical Society of CIM on a virtual platform, did not specifically cover copper (coming just one year after the successful Copper 2019 event), nevertheless a number of papers in the Symposium held as part of COM 2020, ‘Towards Sustainable Energy

Practices in Metal Processing’, touched on themes of interest to copper watchers.

For example, Damian Connelly, Principal Consulting Engineer at METS Engineering Group presented the paper, “A Western Australian Gold Mine Powered by Wind, Solar, Battery and a Gas Micro grid”, a good example of the use of renewable energy for a mining project. Readers may recall an earlier report in Copper Worldwide Vol 6 No 2 issue describing the use of a 10.6 MW solar power plant and a 6 MW Li-ion battery arrangement at Sandfire’s high-grade copper project at Meekatharra, Western Australia.

The solar unit provides about 20% of the plant’s power, the balance is supplied by diesel generators.

Sandfire produced some 72,000 t of Cu in concentrate in 2020.

Other papers at COM 2020 that will be of interest are the following: M. Sedighy, M. Raoofat and M. Mitchell, (Hatch Ltd. and Tugliq Energy), “Lithium-ion Battery Technology Application for Renewable Power Generation at an Off-Grid Mine” J. Zuliani, J. Guilbaud and M/. Carreau, (Hatch Ltd.), “Decarbonisation of Remote Mine Electricity Supply and Vehicle Fleets” A. D. Dalvi, (Dalvi Associates Inc.), “Metallurgists’ Sustainability Challenges in the 21st Century” J.A.Abols and F. Caron, (Mirarco/ Laurentian University), “Production of Electricity using Small Modular Reactors (SMRS) for Off-grid Mining and Other Applications”.

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A paper at COM 2020 Uranium 2020 symposium entitled “Steel from Uranium”, M. Dry and R. Dry examined scenarios in which a nuclear power station is operated and surplus power is used to generate hydrogen in off peak periods. This hydrogen is then used to replace carbon for the production of iron. Of interest regarding carbon capture, Dry et al. also reported on recent laboratory work published in Nature Communications in which CO2 was electrolytically reduced to elemental carbon in a special cell - an interesting concept.

Author: Phillip Mackey

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Virtual ALTA 2020 Conference roundup ALTA 2020 Online, the 25th anniversary and first online event, attracted a record attendance of 650 participants from 48 countries.

The conference was held over three weeks from 9-27 November, to suit the online format. The entire event including presentations, papers, short courses, recorded panel discussions and webinars remained available to new attendees from around the globe until 12 March. Keynote presentations and some other resources have also been made available in the ALTA Free Library.

Week One included the threeday Nickel-Cobalt-Copper Conference, sponsored by Solvay, with 41 presentations and a panel discussion. One particular paper from Murdoch University Faculty of Energy and Engineering looked at ‘Copper Slag Waste Resource Potential for a Circular Economy’.

It estimates that between 1999 and 2019, around 752 million tonnes copper slag has been generated worldwide, with Chile being the main generator (nearly one-third of the total) over the whole period, and Peru’s contribution rising significantly over the last 5-10 years to over 60 Mt, overtaking USA, China and Australia (all in 40-60 Mt range). The Review notes smelter slag, containing on average 1.2% copper and 0.5% cobalt (based on 86 composition studies), has a better ore grade than most mines.

Flotation tailings, converting slag, and fire-refining slag make up the remainder of the processing waste mountain.

CRU Sulphur + Sulphuric Acid 2020

The conference finale was an hourlong panel discussion and Q&A, chaired by ALTA’s Alan Taylor, on the hydromet processing of Ni-Co-Cu sulphides - an area of increasing industry interest due to the projected demand of the EV and battery industries.

The second week featured the In-Situ Recovery conference with 16 presentations. Dr Laura Kuhar, CSIRO Mineral Resources (Australia), chaired the panel discussion on the application of ISR to copper, which is becoming the next major target for ISR after uranium.

The agenda covered: enabling technologies, approaches and methodologies; priorities to unlock/ increase future potential; main challenges to implementation; unconventional applications (e.g. remediation) and crossover of tools from other industries (e.g. oil and gas); economics and permitting; and achieving social licence to operate.

FEB 18 - ALTA 2021 will be held from 13-20 November 2021 at the Pan Pacific Hotel in Perth, WA. ALTA Metallurgical Services is designing it as a hybrid event with in-person attendance for Australians and online for internationals. If the Australian borders open in time, online registrations can be converted to attend the physical event.

The dedicated website for the hybrid event is in the pipeline, but the Call for Papers and Abstract Submission requirements can already be found on the main ALTA website.

MAR 3 - The CRU Sulphur + Sulphuric Acid 2020 Virtual Conference and Exhibition held in November contained several papers of interest. Technology for the manufacture of sulphuric acid is a key aspect of the modern copper smelter. Depending on the particular concentrate grade and other factors, for example if any scrap copper is handled, etc., the copper smelter can produce approximately 3 to 3.5 t of sulphuric acid/t of copper.

Many acid plants at smelters today are entering their third decade or even more, hence maintenance is an ongoing key topic.

The event has been held for over 35 years at international cities.

The 2020 version was successfully held virtually with presentations, networking, interactive discussion and meetings scheduling. The conference attracted some 600 professionals (including over 250 operators) representing 44 countries. Important papers from a copper smelter perspective included the following: B. Daly (CRU), “Acid prices recover from the extreme lows of Q2 2020 but are further increases to be expected?”

S.Chandrol, (Metso Outotec),”

www.altamet.com.au

Properzi five-day In House Fair The innovative Continuus Properzi In House Fair took place from 7 - 11 December 2020. The event comprised webinars, Face to Face ’on request’ private meetings, Technical Paper Presentations, Videos, and more.

Day One included a Welcome from Giulio Properzi, President and CEO, followed by a set of presentations on aluminium rod production solutions. Day Two featured a series of presentations on ETP Rod Production, FRHC Rod Production from copper scrap and Properzi Refining Furnaces, and the SAM – Self Annealing Microrolling® Mill.

Day Three covered Properzi Technical Consulting and Smart E-Commissioning services, and IULIUS 4.0 for Integration of Properzi Smart Lines into Industry 4.0 Smart Factories. Day Four looked at the Properzi Wheel and Belt Caster and Rolling Mill, as well as the Zinc Wire Breakdown Operation by CCR Line.

Finally Day Five comprised another Welcome from Giulio Properzi, then a look at Properzi Track & Belt Ingot Casting Equipment, and lastly the Pro-Form Continuous Rotary Equipment line. Each talk was made twice daily. www.properzi.com

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Gas cleaning: the key to acid quality and acid plant longevity” A. El Hafeiz, A. and J. Hanekom (Fertilizers and Chemical Industries Co. and DuPont MECS), “AZFC Unit 6 Revamp: Reviving a 30-Year Old Sulphuric Acid Plant” B. Nesic (Chemetics), “Smart sustaining capital projects – Using new technology to unlock value in your plant” Ali Goudarzi (CECO Environmental), “Reducing NOx emissions in metallurgical oleum tower production with TWIN-PAK® Candle Filter Technology” Daniel Menniti (Breen), “Technical showcase: Sulfuric Acid Plant Process Gas Dew point/Moisture Leak Detection Measurement System” M. Davies (Nickel Institute), “Corrosion and materials selection for modern sulphuric acid plants” M. Baerends (Fluor B.V.), “Successful start-up of a new wet sulphuric acid plant” J. Shook (AirBTU), “Utilizing tube wall temperature mapping in high temperature gas-to-gas heat exchangers to mitigate sub-dewpoint corrosion” V.Sturm (Clark Solutions), “Small sulfuric acid plants: Viability solutions”

Author: Phillip Mackey

24 | COMING SOON

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

UPCOMING EVENTS

It is strongly recommended that any below information is confirmed via event organiser/website directly.

Key: R = Real World V = Virtual 2021 Mar 11-12 V The Fastmarkets Copper Seminar (Fastmarkets, London, UK)) 30 Speakers & Moderators, Free Registration Copper Worldwide is a Media Partner www.events.fastmarkets.com

15-18 V TMS 2021 VIRTUAL (TMS, USA) Ni-Co 2021 - The Fifth International Symposium on Nickel and Cobalt www.tms.org

Apr 12 V ICA Workshop: Future Material Intelligence (ICA, Washington, DC) www.copperalliance.org

12-13 V World Copper Virtual Conference 2021 (CRU Events, London, UK) 500+ Attendees, Registration US$ 600 until 28 February 2021 Copper Worldwide is a Supporting Publication with a Virtual Booth www.events.crugroup.com

12-14 V CESCO Week 2021 Mining Policy to 2050 and new smelting capacity are hot topics www.cesco.cl

May 12-14 V Sustainable Mining 2021 7o Congreso Internacional de Medio Ambiente y Responsabilidad Social en Minería, Santiago, Chile (GECAMIN) 70+ Presentations, 300+ Attendees www.gecamin.com/sustainablemining

Jun 22-24 R CWIEME Berlin, Berlin, Germany 600+ Exhibitors, 6,700 Visitors The global coil winding, transformer, electric motor, generator and e-mobility supply chain

23-25 R ROLLS 6 (IOM3) London, UK www.rolls6.org

13-20 R ALTA 2021, Perth, Australia 5 Conferences, 100 Presentations.

Now open for Abstract Submission www.altamet.com.au

27-30 V EMC 2021 (GDMB), From Mine to Metal: The search for an integral solution to process complex ores and residues (with high impurities) and produce high value multi metal at lowest CO2 footprint.

Early Bird Registration 30th April

22-25 R Asia Copper Week 2021, Shanghai, China Nov 25 - CESCO Dinner www.cesco.cl

www.emc.gdmb.de

2022

Aug 4-6 V Hydroprocess 2021 Santiago, Chile (GECAMIN) Abstracts deadline 5th April.

Early Bird Registration 4th June.

70+ Presentations, 300+ Attendees

May 3-5 ET 2022 Extrusion Technology & ET Expo, Orlando, FL, USA (AEC) 100+ Technical Sessions, 1,300+ ET Seminar

www.gecamin.com/hydroprocess

Sep 1-3 V Tailings 2021 7a Conferencia Internacional en Gestión de Relaves (Tailings Management), Santiago, Chile (GECAMIN) Abstracts deadline 23rd April.

Early Bird Registration 2nd July.

90+ Presentations, 400+ Attendees www.gecamin.com/tailings

27-30 V+R 8th Sulphur and Sulphuric Acid Conference 2021 Cape Town, South Africa www.saimm.co.za

28-30 R ALUMINIUM 2021 Duesseldorf, Germany (Reed Exhibitions) 1,000+ Exhibitors (2018), 23,000+ Attendees (2018)

www.ET-21.org www.aec.org

9-13 wire and Tube 2022, Duesseldorf, Germany 70+ Presentations, 400+ Attendees Companies wishing to exhibit at wire and Tube 2022 can register from the end of March 2021. www.wire-tradefair.com

14-16 R 3rd Cobalt Copper Africa / 10th Southern African Base Metals (SAIMM), Livingstone, Zambia Abstracts by 22 November 2021 www.saimm.co.za

November 13-17 Copper / Cobre 2022 (IIMCh) Santiago, Chile www.iimch.cl

www.aluminium-exhibition.com

Oct 26-27 Interwire 2021 Atlanta, GA USA

www.berlin.coilwindingexpo.com

www.interwire21.com

23-24 V Sustainable Minerals ’21 / Biomining ‘21, Falmouth, UK Abstracts of no more than 150 words should be emailed to Dr. Barry Wills in Rich Text Format (.rtf) by the end of March 2021.

20-22 Procemin GEOMET 17a Conferencia Internacional de Procesamiento de Minerales y Geometalurgia, Santiago, Chile (GECAMIN) 70+ Presentations, 400+ Attendees

6 issues per year Next copy dates: Apr 27, June 25

4 issues per year

www.gecamin.com/procemin.geomet

23-25 R + V 20th International Automobile Recycling Conference IARC 2021, Geneva, Switzerland Abstracts are requested by 15th March.

Next copy dates: May 14, Aug 10

Nov 8-11 Flotation ’21 Cape Town, South Africa

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