The present method can be used for converting nickel-containing copper sulphide materials. A method for continuously converting nickel-containing copper sulphide materials into blister copper, waste slag and a copper-nickel alloy includes smelting the materials together with SiO2 and CaO-containing fluxes and coal in a Vanyukov converting furnace to produce blister copper, gases with a high concentration of SO2, and slag with an SiO2/CaO concentration ratio of from 3:1 to 1:1, in which the sum of the iron, nickel and cobalt concentrations is not more than 30 wt %, at a specific oxygen consumption in the range of 150-240 nm3 per ton of dry sulphide material for conversion, and depleting the slag in a separate unit, namely a Vanyukov reduction furnace, using a mixture of an oxygen-containing gas and a hydrocarbon fuel at an oxygen consumption coefficient () in a range of from 0.5 to 0.9, together with coal, to produce waste slag and a copper-nickel alloy. The technical result is the production of blister copper, waste slag and a copper-nickel alloy using a continuous method, while separating the processes of conversion and reduction into separate units, namely two single-zone Vanyukov furnaces.

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).

A method and an industrial plant for separating a waste material comprises at least one metal and at least one organic material. A separated fraction of the waste material is provisioned which is isolated from the waste material in the course of a mechanical preparation operation. The separated fraction comprises briquettes produced from the waste material, and optionally a coarse fraction of the waste material or of another waste material. A reactor is charged with the separated fraction and gas containing oxygen is introduced into the reactor and the separated fraction is combusted in an incomplete combustion process. The separated fraction is melted into a liquid slag phase and into a liquid metal-containing phase. The slag phase and/or the metal-containing phase are poured off from the reactor.

Provided is a method for transporting reductant such as coke into a metallurgical furnace containing a bottom layer containing molten metal and a top layer on top of the bottom layer containing molten metal. The method comprises a first providing step for providing reductant, a second providing step for providing metal, a forming step for forming carriers containing reductant and metal of reductant provided in the first providing step and metal provided in the second providing step, and a feeding step for feeding carriers formed in the forming step into the metallurgical furnace. Also provided is a carrier and a production method for producing carriers.

A method for the pyrometallurgical processing of a sulphide material containing copper, the sulphide containing relatively high quantities of silica and relatively low quantities of iron, wherein the process comprises feeding the sulphide material to a TSL furnace operated under oxidising conditions such that the sulphide material forms blister copper containing between 1.2 and 1.5 wt % sulphur and a slag containing between 7 and 13 wt % copper.

The present invention provides a manufacturing method of crude copper from low-grade copper sludge, one embodiment of the present invention comprises the steps of: (1) calcining a low-grade copper sludge (step 1); (2) producing a mixture by adding at least one selected from a group consisting of binder, flux and combinations thereof to the calcined low-grade copper sludge (step 2); (3) producing a briquette by compression molding the mixture (step 3); (4) melting and reducing by charging the briquette into a submerged arc furnace with adding flux (step 4); and (5) separating crude copper and slag produced by melting and reducing (step 5).

Provided herein is a method for smelting high-arsenic copper sulfide concentrate, which comprises the steps of: mixing the high-arsenic copper sulfide concentrate with quartz sand and CaO-containing material to obtain a mixed material; mixing the mixed material with oxygen-containing reactant gas and heating for reaction to obtain matte, slag and SO.sub.2-containing flue gas. By the addition of CaO and SiO.sub.2 in the smelting process, the concentrate material, the CaO and the SiO.sub.2 are allowed to react in the furnace under high temperature. The arsenic sulfides in the concentrate are oxidized first and then chemically react with slagging flux CaO to enter the slag phase in the form of calcium-based compounds of arsenic, iron arsenates and etc., thus reducing the arsenic content in the copper matte.

Disclosed is a slag comprising, on a dry basis and expressed as the total of the metal present as elemental metal and the presence of the metal in an oxidized state, a) at least 7% wt and at most 49% wt of Fe, b) at most 1.3% wt of Cu, c) at least 24% wt and at most 44% wt of SiO.sub.2, and d) at least 2.0% wt and at most 20% wt of CaO, characterised in that the slag comprises, on the same basis, e) at least 0.10% wt and at most 1.00% wt of Zn, f) at least 0.10% wt and at most 2.5% wt of MgO, and g) at most 0.100% wt of Pb. Further disclosed are an improved object comprising the slag, a process for the production of the slag, and a number of uses of the slag, whereby the slag may comprise up to at most 1.50% wt of zinc and down to 1.0% wt of CaO.

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 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.