Processing of Copper Ores

Copper
Copper is a reddish metallic element found in the bowels of the earth. Among its different
characteristics, one of the most important is that copper is a great conductor of electricity, so it
is present in many ways on a day-to-day basis. The National Copper Corporation of Chile,
Codelco, is the company that produces most copper in the world. For our country this mineral is
very important since it plays a leading role in our economy.

1.Conminution
The crushing process consists mainly in the reduction of the size of the ore in large reduction
equipment such as crushers and mills, in order to optimize the following processes.

2.Leach
The leaching process consists mainly of the extraction of copper ions through sulfuric acid
watered in a previously crushed ore pile.

3.Sx
The objective of this phase is to free impurities copper sulfate to pass from a concentration of 9
to 45 grams per liter, by applying a paraffin compound and organic resin that captures the
copper ions selectively.

4.Electrowinning
Electrowinning refers to the process of using electrolysis to extract a metallic element from the
compounds in its ore.

5.Processing of Sulfide Ore

Sulfide ores are generally processed using pyrometallurgy, the extraction and purification of
metals by processes involving the application of heat. This process uses a series of physical steps
and high temperatures to extract and purify copper from copper sulfide ores, in four basic steps:
1) froth flotation, 2) thickening, 3) smelting, and 4) electrolysis.