Abstract
Copper slag flotation was studied on an industrial scale at a concentrator plant in the region of Atacama, Chile. This study consisted of the physical, chemical, and mineralogical characterization of the copper slag, along with preliminary flotation tests. This article focuses on industrial flotation, which consisted of two oneyear campaigns (2016 and 2017). The first campaign was carried out using an existing copper slag flotation circuit in the plant. During the second campaign (2017), a circuit for sulfide ore flotation with an additional columnar flotation cleaning stage was evaluated. Results showed an improvement in metallurgical parameters on the second campaign (including improvements in processing capacity, concentrate copper grade, and metallurgical recovery). From the industrial copper slag flotation campaigns, it was concluded that it is possible to obtain a commercialquality copper concentrate, suitable for further processing in a copper smelter. This mitigates certain environmental impacts of copper processing.
Highlights
Empresa Nacional de Minerıa (ENAMI) (Empresa Nacional de Minería – National Mining Company) is a state-owned company from Chile, which promotes the development and growth of small and medium national mining through its metallurgical, economic, and exploration operations
The copper slag (CS) samples showed a density of 3,30 g/cm3, similar to what was reported by Valderrama, Gonzalez, Santander and Zazzali, (2018) for reverberatory furnace slag from the same smelter (HVL)
The copper grade of the concentrate ranged from 14,69% to 19,15% (16,92% on average) with a copper recovery of 73,93%
Summary
ENAMI (Empresa Nacional de Minería – National Mining Company) is a state-owned company from Chile, which promotes the development and growth of small and medium national mining through its metallurgical, economic, and exploration operations. The copper concentrates and precipitates produced and bought by ENAMI are smelted at the Hernán Videla Lira Smelter (HVL) (Herrera, 2018). HVL smelter operations started in 1952, and, as of today, it has become a strategic pillar of ENAMI. The capacity of this smelter is 300 kt/y, it and entails concentrate smelting in one Teniente Converter (TC) of 4 x 15 m, the converting of copper matte in two Peirce-Smith converters (PSC), and the recovery of some valuable metals from slag in one electric slag cleaning furnace (SCF) Devia, Parra, Queirolo, Sánchez, and Wilkomirsky, 2019). The methods for copper recovery from slags can be classified into three categories, namely physical separation (flotation, magnetic separation); pyrometallurgy (roasting); and hydrometallurgy (leaching) (Guo, Zhu, Pan, Wu, and Zhang, 2016; Wang and Erdenebold, 2020)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
