A method for producing copper metal from copper concentrates without generating waste by: (a) oxidizing copper concentrate; (b) cleaning and cooling the gases; (c) feeding to a reduction reactor; (d) cleaning the gases; (e) discharging hot powders and calcines into water; (f) performing magnetic separation; (g) thickening and filtering the magnetic fraction; (h) floating silica and inert materials; (i) thickening and filtering the silica and inert materials; (j) thickening and filtering the final concentrate containing the copper metal and noble metals; (k) smelting the final concentrate of copper and noble metals; and (l) recirculating ground smelt slag to a roasting reactor.

Disclosed is a process for recovering copper from secondary raw materials including in a feed batch smelting in a furnace a feedstock including copper oxide and elemental iron for forming a concentrated copper intermediate, whereby heat is generated by the redox reactions converting iron to oxide and copper oxide to copper, whereby copper collects in a molten liquid metal phase and iron oxides collect in a supernatant liquid slag phase, whereby at the end of the batch the liquid phases separate and may be removed from the furnace as smelter slag and as the concentrated copper intermediate, wherein during the smelting step an excess of elemental iron is maintained in the furnace relative to the amount required for completing the redox reactions, and further heat input is provided by the injection of an oxygen containing gas for oxidizing the excess iron.

A process which improves the environmental performance of primary non-ferrous metal smelters by reducing carbon emissions, providing enhanced energy utilization, improving consumption efficiencies, and improving worker safety. The smelters include those that smelt nickel, copper and zinc. The process includes a step of drying feedstock prior to the addition of a product conditioning solution that includes saccharides as a primary ingredient. Sucrose and fructose are preferred saccharides. A base saccharide solution may be prepared by either diluting a concentrated saccharide syrup (75 to 85 brix), or by dissolving a dried powdered saccharide in water to a concentration that yeilds a syrup of between 20 and 30 Brix, more preferentially 25 Brix. The Brix may be measured with any commercially available refractometer capable of measuring the Brix of sugar solutions.

The invention relates to method and to an arrangement for removing outgrowth in a suspension smelting furnace. The suspension smelting furnace comprising a reaction shaft having a reaction shaft structure. The reaction shaft comprises at least one opening for an outgrowth removal means. The movable piston is arranged such that the movable piston can move in the opening in the reaction shaft and into the reaction shaft to push possible outgrowth in the reaction shaft.

A method of operating a copper or other metal value concentrator is disclosed. According to some embodiments, the method may comprise producing a final copper concentrate; periodically or continuously analyzing the produced final copper concentrate to obtain a grade value of the produced final copper concentrate; and diverting the produced final copper concentrate 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; or, diverting the produced final copper concentrate to a downstream hydrometallurgical operation capable of producing copper cathode or other saleable copper product from the produced final copper concentrate, if/when the grade value of the produced final copper concentrate is below said minimum acceptable grade threshold. A copper concentrator capable of conducting the aforementioned method steps is also disclosed.

The invention relates to a method for multi-metal products recovery from pyrolytic waste integrated circuit boards. The method mainly comprises the steps of smelting and blending, atomization, acidolysis and filtration, noble metal recycling, copper extraction and back extraction, nickel extraction and back extraction. Compared with the prior art, the method has the advantages that smoke pollution and the smelting slag treatment in the process of preparing a black copper ingot through multi-metal collaborative smelting are reduced, and the problems of low anode efficiency of the black copper electrolysis process are solved. Meanwhile, the high-temperature high-oxygen atomized gas generated in the atomizing process provides a heat source and an oxygen source for subsequent acidolysis, so that the energy consumption is further reduced. The method has the advantages such as short process, remarkable energy conservation and emission reduction.

A process for a producing crude solder product and a copper product includes the steps of providing a black copper comprising >=50% wt of copper together with >=1.0% wt of tin and/or >=1.0% wt of lead, and refining a first portion of the black copper to obtain a refined copper product together with at least one copper refining slag. The process further includes the steps of recovering a first crude solder product from the copper refining slag, thereby forming a solder refining slag in equilibrium with the first crude solder product, and contacting a different portion of the black copper with the solder refining slag thereby forming a spent slag and a lead-tin based metal, followed by separating the spent slag from the lead-tin based metal.

A disclosed dilute copper metal composition has 57-85% wt Cu, ≥3.0% wt Ni, ≤0.8% wt Fe, 7-25% wt Sn and 3-15% wt Pb. A process includes partially b) oxidizing a black copper composition to obtain a first copper refining slag and a first enriched copper metal. The process further includes oxidizing h) 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 through steps b) and/or h) is retrieved in the first and second copper refining slags together, partially reducing c) the first copper refining slag to form a first lead-tin based metal composition and a first spent slag, adding the second copper refining slag to the first lead-tin based metal composition thereby forming a first liquid bath, partially oxidizing d) the first liquid bath, thereby obtaining the dilute copper metal composition.

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.

The invention relates to a method for multi-metal products recovery from pyrolytic waste integrated circuit boards. The method mainly comprises the steps of smelting and blending, atomization, acidolysis and filtration, noble metal recycling, copper extraction and back extraction, nickel extraction and back extraction. Compared with the prior art, the method has the advantages that smoke pollution and the smelting slag treatment in the process of preparing a black copper ingot through multi-metal collaborative smelting are reduced, and the problems of low anode efficiency of the black copper electrolysis process are solved. Meanwhile, the high-temperature high-oxygen atomized gas generated in the atomizing process provides a heat source and an oxygen source for subsequent acidolysis, so that the energy consumption is further reduced. The method has the advantages such as short process, remarkable energy conservation and emission reduction.