A rotation-suspension smelting method, in which a powdered sulfide concentrate and an oxygen-containing gas are sprayed into a high-temperature reaction tower. The oxygen-containing gas is divided into two parts: the second oxygen-containing gas is sprayed in the form of an annular direct flow into the reaction tower and forms a bell-shaped wind curtain; and the first oxygen-containing gas is transformed into a rotation-jet and jetted into the center of the wind curtain. In the space between the gas flows, the concentrate entering in a direction deviated towards the center is drawn in the rotation-jet, and a high-temperature off-gas is sucked in, forming a gas-particle mixed two-phase rotation-jet. The sulfide concentrate is ignited, at the same time, a melt containing matte (or metal) and slag is formed; and the matte (or metal) is separated from the slag at the bottom of the reaction tower, completing the metallurgical process.

A process of treating complex sulfide concentrate includes the steps of roasting wet or slurried complex sulfide concentrate in a furnace at a temperature of at least 720 C. to obtain a calcine; smelting the calcine under inert or oxygen free atmosphere in a smelting furnace to obtain a matte, and optionally granulating the matte to obtain a granulated matte.

A method for the treatment of flue dusts containing arsenic and/or antimony from pyrometallurgical methods, wherein a reducing agent is added to the flue dusts, the flue dusts are heated together with the reducing agent, and volatile components are separated from a slag. The reducing agent is a carbonaceous compound.

A method of operating a concentrator may comprise producing a final copper concentrate and periodically or continuously analyzing the produced final copper concentrate to obtain a grade value of the produced final copper concentrate. The produced final copper concentrate may be sent to a downstream smelting operation if/when the grade value of the produced final copper concentrate is at or above a minimum acceptable grade threshold and may be sent to a downstream hydrometallurgical operation capable of producing copper cathode, if/when the grade value of the produced final copper concentrate is below or falls below the minimum acceptable grade threshold.

The processes of the present disclosure can comprise feeding a furnace with a raw material chosen from a copper-containing material, a nickel-containing material, a cobalt-containing material and mixtures thereof. These materials can be quite complex and contain various levels of impurities and valuable metals (base metals, precious metals, platinum group metals, minor metals). The processes allow the volatilization of arsenic and indium contained therein, thereby obtaining a material at least partially depleted in at least one of arsenic and indium, wherein before volatilizing the material, composition of the material is optionally modified so as to obtain a ratio % S/(% (Cu/2)+% Ni+% Co) of about 0.5 to about 2. The processes can comprise feeding a melting device with the depleted material, and with a source of carbon in order to obtain a multi-layer product and an off gas, wherein before melting the depleted material, the depleted material composition is optionally modified so as to obtain a ratio % S/(% (Cu/2)+% Ni+% Co) of about 0.5 to about 2. While one of the main purposes of the processes of the present disclosure is to recover Cu, Ni and Co from complex materials, it also provides a means of recovering several other metals, including In, Ge, Pb, Bi, precious metals and platinum group metals. Cu, Ni, Co and other metals are conveniently recovered in different products from the processes (gaseous, dust, slag, matte, speiss and metal).

Provided herein is a process of fire refining blister copper, comprising the steps of (a) providing molten blister copper into an anode furnace; (b) when sulfur concentration of the molten blister copper provided in step (a) is above a first prescribed target value, oxidizing sulfur in the molten blister copper by blowing oxygen containing gas into the molten blister copper until the first prescribed target value has been reached; (c) subsequently lowering the sulfur and oxygen content in blister copper by blowing inert gas into the molten blister copper until a second prescribed target value has been reached, wherein the inert phase (c) is continued until the second prescribed target value of the oxygen concentration is below 4000 ppm, and the second prescribed target value of the sulfur concentration is below 500 ppm; (d) when certain condition(s) occur, subsequently reducing oxygen in the blister copper; and (e) optionally casting.

A method and device for depleting copper smelting slag. The method comprises mixing copper smelting molten slag (1) with a reductant (2) and an inert gas (3) under pressure, and then depleting same. The device for depletion comprises a furnace body (4), which furnace body (4) is provided with a feed opening (413) and a slag discharge port (416), and gas nozzles (411) disposed on the side wall of the furnace body.

A method for treating a lithium ion battery waste according to the present invention is a method for treating a lithium ion battery waste using a converter furnace in a copper smelting process, wherein, prior to a treatment for charging a copper mat produced in a flash smelter in a copper smelting process into a converter furnace and blowing oxygen into the converter furnace to produce crude copper, the lithium ion battery waste is introduced into the converter furnace or a ladle that is used for the charging of the copper mat into the converter furnace and then the lithium ion battery waste is burned with residual heat in the converter furnace or the ladle.

A method and device for producing a crude copper. The method comprises: mixing and reacting copper smelting molten slag (1), a carbon-containing reductant (2) and an inert gas (3) under pressure, the pressure of the inert gas (3) being 100 kPa to 800 kPa. The device comprises: a furnace body (4) and gas nozzles (411) disposed on the furnace body (4), the gas nozzles (411) being located on the sidewall of the furnace body (4) and connected to the center of the molten pool.

A dilute copper metal composition includes 57-85% wt Cu, 3.0% wt Ni, 0.8% wt Fe, 7-25% wt Sn and 3-15% wt Pb. A process includes the steps of partially oxidizing a black copper composition to obtain a first copper refining slag and a first enriched copper metal, partially oxidizing the first enriched copper metal to obtain a second copper refining slag, whereby at least 37.0% wt of the amount of tin and lead processed is retrieved in the first and second copper refining slags together; and partially reducing the first copper refining slag to form a first lead-tin based metal composition and a first spent slag. The process further includes the steps of adding the second copper refining slag to the first lead-tin based metal composition, thereby forming a first liquid bath; and partially oxidizing the first liquid bath, thereby obtaining the dilute copper metal composition.