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COPPER :

Copper is a chemical part that carries the chemical symbol Cu and with an atomic number 29. It is a soft metal
with glowing electrical conductivity and is somewhat flexible in its pure state and has a reddish pink gleam which
is strange for metals which are usually shiny white. It discovers wide usage as a very good electrical conductor,
Thermal conductor, as a building matter, and as an ingredient of a variety of copper products.

Copper is a crucial outline nutrient to every one of high plants and animals. In animals, inclusive of the humans, it
is found mainly in the bloodstream, as a co-factor in a variety of enzymes, and in loads of copper based
pigments. However, in enough amounts, copper can be noxious and still lethal to mortals.

Copper metal has performed a notable part in the account of humankind, which has utilized the straightforwardly
reachable unrivaled metal for thousands of years in the past. A number of early civilizations have premature
corroboration of utilizing copper mine. During the times of Roman Empire, copper was mainly mined on Cyprus;
hence the primitive of the forename of the metal was Cyprium, which spells metal of Cyprus, later abridged to
Cuprum.

Various numbers of countries, such as Chile and the United States, still possess substantial reserves of the old
metal which are hauled through outsized open pit mines, nevertheless like tin there may be insufficient reserves
to uphold current rates of burning up.

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 Copper

Copper process :

The concentration of copper in ores averages only 0.6%, and most profitable ores are sulfides, especially
chalcopyrite (CuFeS2) and to a lesser extent chalcocite (Cu2S). These minerals are intense from crushed ores to
the level of 10 to 15% copper by froth flotation or bioleaching. Heating this material with silica in flash smelting
removes much of the iron as slag.

The procedure exploits the better ease of converting iron sulfides into its oxides, which in turn react with the silica
to form the silicate slag, which floats on top of the heated mass. The resulting copper matte consisting of Cu2S is
then roasted to change all sulfides into oxides.
2 Cu2S + 3 O2 ---> 2 Cu2O + 2 SO2

The cuprous oxide is converted to blister copper upon heating:

2 Cu2O ---> 4 Cu + O2

This step exploits the relatively easy reduction of copper oxides to copper metal. Natural gas is blown across the
blister to remove most of the residual oxygen and electro refining is performing on the resultant material to
produce pure copper.

Cu2+ + 2 e ---> Cu

Copper, like aluminium, is 100% recyclable without any loss of quality whether in a raw state or contained in an
artificial product. In volume, copper is the third most recycled metal after iron and aluminium. It is predictable that
80% of the copper ever mined is still in use today. According to the International Resource Panel's Metal Stocks
in Society report, the global per capita stock of Copper in use in society is 35 and 55 kg. Much of this is in more-
developed countries quite than less-developed country.

The process of recycling copper follows approximately the same steps as is used to extract copper, but requires
fewer steps. High purity scrap copper is melted in a furnace and then abridged and cast into billets and ingots;
lower cleanliness scrap is refined by electroplating in a bath of sulfuric acid.

Copper

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 MINING AND PROCESSING:

Copper is extracted in large amounts from the Earth’s crust by mining of sulphide ores and also oxide ores.
Studies reveal about 80% of copper is produced by its extraction from sulphide ores. Chalcopyrite is a certain
kind of suphide ore that can be converted to copper by a different method from silicate, carbonate or sulphate
ores. Generally, the method used for the extraction of copper from its ores depends on the nature of the ore.

HOW IS COPPER OBTAINED?

The procedure of copper processing involves mining and transporting. The open-pit mining is adapted for mining
copper regarding which a series of stepped benches are dug deeper and deeper into the earth over time. The
machinery is then used to drill holes into the hard rock, and explosives are inserted into the drill holes to blast
and break the rock to remove the ore. The resulting boulders are then ready for hauling. Most of the ores are

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 then sent through a primary crusher, which reduces the size of the ore from boulder to golf ball-sized rocks after
which it becomes easy for the extraction process to take place. Copper can be obtained by processing its oxide
ores or sulfide ores:

PROCESSING OF OXIDE ORE :

Oxide ores are generally processed using hydrometallurgy. Liquid solutions are used in these processes to
extract and purify copper from copper oxide ores at ordinary temperatures, in three major steps: 1) heap leaching
-to leach out metals, 2) solvent extraction- to separate the liquids, and 3) electrowinning- which is a type of
electrolysis helps in producing about 99.99% pure copper.

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 1. Heap Leaching :

The first step is the Heap Leaching process of allowing filtering chemical solutions to leach out metals. It is very
commonly used for low-grade ore, which is not economical enough to be sent through a milling process. Once
the mining and transporting is done, the ore is crushed to a consistent gravel or golf ball-size, the crushed ore is
piled into a heap on top of an impenetrable layer, on a slight slope. The leaching reagent- dilute sulphuric acid is
sprayed through sprinklers on top of the heap pile and allowed to trickle down through the heap dissolving the
copper from the ore. The outcome is a “pregnant” leach solution of sulfuric acid and copper sulfate collected in a
small pool. The copper compound is known to be present in concentrations of 60-70%.

2. Solvent Extraction :

The solvent extraction process allows two immiscible liquids to be stirred and separated making the copper to
move from one liquid to the other. The pregnant leach solution is strongly mixed with a solvent causing the
copper to migrate from the leach solution into the solvent. The two liquids then separate based on solubility, with
copper remaining in the solvent solution and impurities left in the leach solution.

3. Electrowinning :

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 The final step is electrowinning. In this process, an electrical current is passed through an inert anode (positive
electrode) and through the copper solution obtained previously, which acts as an electrolyte. The cations come
out of the solution after which they are plated onto a cathode (negative electrode) as 99.99% pure copper.

PROCESSING OF SULPHIDE ORE:

The sulfide ores are usually processed using the method of pyrometallurgy –a process of extraction and
purification of metals which involves the application of heat in four major steps: 1) froth flotation –to separate the
copper minerals from the gangue, 2) thickening stage results in a combination of 30% copper and other metals,
3) smelting stage further produces some impurities and a combination of copper with other metals, and 4)
electrolysis gives way for finished copper cathodes which can be made into wires, plates, tubes, and other
copper products.

1. Froth Flotation :

Once the process of mining, transporting, and crushing the ore to a golf-sized ball is accomplished, it is further
processed and reduced to pebbles and then to sand like particles. It is then added with liquid to make it a slurry
which is a combination of valuable copper ore minerals and “worthless” rock, called gangue. The froth floatation
process is executed to separate the copper minerals from the gangue. Collectors which are chemical reagents
are added to the slurry which bind to the copper particles, making them waterproof. With the usage of pipes air is
blown into the solution to create bubbles rising up along with the copper sulfide particles as froth of copper-rich
bubbles. This froth is then skimmed off whereas the gangue at the bottom is disposed off.

2. Thickening :

The froth which is skimmed is poured into large tanks called thickeners. In the thickening process, the bubbles
break and solids from the froth solution settle at the bottom of the tank. Filtration is carried to remove excess
water from the solids and the final product of this stage is a mixture of 30% copper and other metals and this
copper concentrate is then sent to the smelter.

3. Smelting :

The copper concentrate obtained in the previous step is sent through the smelting furnace and heated up to
2,300 °F and converted into molten liquid which is is poured into a slag-settling furnace. A combination of matte
including a mixture of copper, sulfur and iron, along with other metals impurities is produced. The copper matte
generated by the smelting furnace contains 58-60% copper. The molten matte is taken to another furnace called
a converter to have the remaining iron and sulfur burned off. This product is referred to as blister copper, which
contains 98% copper, and taken to the anode smelter. The yellow color of the blister copper turns bluish green

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 when the oxygen in the copper is burned off in the anode smelter. The resultant is molten anode copper which is
poured into molds called anode-casting wheels. The cooled anode slabs are 99% pure copper, are found to be
copper-colored, have two handles molded on top, and are two inches thick, three feet wide, three-and-a-half feet
high, and weigh 750 pounds.

4. Electrolysis :

The final step of electrolysis refines pure copper from the sulfide ores .The copper anode slabs are hung in a
large tank of copper sulfate and sulfuric acid solution which acts as the electrolyte. The cathodes are thin sheets
of pure copper hung in between the anodes. The electric current is passed, and the cations leave the anode and
move through the electrolyte solution to be plated on the cathode whereas the other metals and impurities also
leave the anode and settle at the bottom of the electrolytic solution. The finished copper cathodes contain
99.99% pure copper and can be made into wires, plates, tubes, and other copper products.

ANNUAL COPPER USAGE:

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 COPPER PRODUCTION IN THE WORLD :

Countries like Chile, Peru and China are the three topmost countries known for the highest production of copper
across the world. USA is the fourth largest producer of copper in the world since the largest copper mine is found
in Utah. Other major copper mines are found in Australia, Arizona, Michigan, New Mexico and Montana.

Copper Production (in

Rank Country
thousand tonnes)

1 Chile 5,500

2 Peru 2,300

3 China 1,740

4 United States 1,410

5 Australia 970

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