Telfer produces a gold Dore bar which is sent to the Perth mint for processing.
Contains approximately 75% gol and silver. Rest is mainly iron.
It also produces a copper concentrate this is exported to refiners to turn into copper matte
“Copper matte is a mixture of copper sulfide (Cu2S) and some iron sulfide (FeS). Matte is a process in which copper is extracted before the final reduction.
when a hot blast of air is blown through a molten matte placed in a silica lined converter, FeS of the matte oxidizes to FeO. This FeO combines with SiO2 (silica) to produce FeSiO3;(slag).
2FeS + 3O2 ⇒ 2FeO + 2SO2
FeO + SiO2 ⇒ FeSiO3
During the extraction phase of copper, matte is the phase before the final reduction. For this process, the ore is introduced into a blast furnace after roasting and mixing with coke and silica. The FeO is converted to ferrous silicate after air is blasted in the furnace. The slag will float on the molten state of copper matte.
Matte is made from concentrated copper ore or even recycled materials.
It is largely made up of copper (the majority), iron, and lead sulphides, with tiny amounts of other metal sulphides present.
Now, after the final reduction, copper is transformed to crude copper in the copper extraction process.
The composition of copper matte comprises copper sulphide (80-95 percent), as well as Fe – Co alloys, which make up 5-17 percent of the combination. In addition to Fe – Co, metallic copper, silver, Pb – Ag alloys, and arsenide can also be present.
In conclusion, copper matter is a combination of copper sulphide and a little quantity of iron sulphide recovered by the matte process.”
This is sent to further refineries to turn the matte into firstly copper anode and then a copper cathode .
What is copper matte
Re: What is copper matte
3 images
First showing the flow sheet( NB different ores ie sulphides and oxides have different flow sheets
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Secondary grinding mills
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Concentrate powder
NB! Leaching copper ores produce a liquid
Concentrate of a blue colour, most other ores are lost in this process
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Re: What is copper matte
Extremely pure copper (greater than 99.95%), called electrolytic copper, can be made by electrolysis. The high purity is needed because most copper is used to make electrical equipment, and small amounts of impurity metals in copper can seriously reduce its ability to conduct electricity. Even 0.05% of arsenic impurity in copper, for example, will reduce its conductivity by 15%. Electric wires must therefore be made of very pure copper, especially if the electricity is to be carried for many miles through high-voltage transmission lines.
To purify copper electrolytically, the impure copper metal is made the anode (the positive electrode) in an electrolytic cell. A thin sheet of previously purified copper is used as the cathode (the negative electrode). The electrolyte (the current-carrying liquid in between the electrodes) is a solution of copper sulfate and sulfuric acid. When current is passed through the cell, positively charged copper ions (Cu2+) are pulled out of the anode into the liquid, and are attracted to the negative cathode, where they lose their positive charges and stick tightly as neutral atoms of pure copper metal. As the electrolysis goes on, the impure copper anode dissolves away and pure copper builds up as a thicker and thicker coating on the cathode. Positive ions of impurity metals such as iron, nickel, arsenic and zinc also leave the anode and go into the solution, but they remain in the liquid because the voltage is purposely kept too low to neutralize them at the cathode. Other impurities, such as platinum, silver and gold, are also released from the anode, but they are not soluble in the solution and simply fall to the bottom, where they are collected as a very valuable sludge. In fact, the silver and gold sludge is usually valuable enough to pay for the large amount of electricity that the electrolytic process uses.
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