Selection and Design of Texasgulf Canada’s Copper Smelter and Refinery

Abstract

M. P. Amsden was born in British Columbia and graduated from the University of British Columbia with a BASe. in mining engineering in 1959. After three years of mill flotation work at Giant Yellowknife Mines Ltd. he joined Lakefield Research of Canada Ltd. as a project engineer. He joined Texasgulf to work on the Timmins metallurgy in 1965 and has been flotation engineer, assistant mill superintendent, mill superintendent, manager of metallurgy, and is now Vice President and Assistant General Manager. Texasgulf Canada is constructing a new copper smelter and electrolytic refinery at Timmins in Northern Ontario. The smelter design is based on the advanced technology of the Mitsubishi Continuous Smelting Process, while the refinery design is based on the Jumbo tank system presently operating in the new No.3 Tankhouse of the Onahama Smelting and Refining Co. Ltd. in Japan. The construction of this smelter-refinery complex is to be done in two stages. First stage construction will be completed in mid-1979 providing an estimated annual productive capacity of 65,000 short tons ofcathode copper. The smelter and refinery along with ancillary facilities are expected to start up in late 1979. Design production should be realized in 1980 . The second stage of plant construction is expected to begin sometime in the early 1980 's. Capacity will then be expanded to 130,000 short tons per year of cathode copper. The second stage smelter expansion will consist mainly of the addition of a second continuous smelting line of furnaces and a duplicate of the sulphuric acid plant. The refinery will be expanded by doubling the number of jumbo tanks and installing some additional electrode handling equipment. . About 18 months after start-up a copper sulfate plant will be incorporated into the refinery. Later, a separate precious metals recovery plant will be constructed. The reasons for phased plant construction were two fold : 1. Due to inflation and rising construction costs, the current capital outlay required for the copper smelting complex is high. It is economically advantageous for Texasgulf to build a smaller 65,000 STPY plant first, which can be expanded at a later date to 130,000 STPY. Concentrates produced in excess of smelter capacity will continue to go to a customs smelter. 2. It is expected that it will be possible to improve on the design features of the second furnace line through experience gained during the operation of the first furnace line. The Mirsubishi process is relatively new and, therefore, offers promise for further development. It is expected that numerous small modifications will be made during the next few years to improve furnace operation. Any significant improvements made in operating technology at the Naoshima smelter and Onahama electrolytic refinery in Japan subsequent to 1977 probably will be incorporated in the new Timmins plant. The results of full-scale smelting and refining tests carried out on Texasgulf concentrates at Naoshima and Onahama in late 1976 have already been incorporated into present plant design.