j o u r n a l o f m a t e r i a l s r e s e a r c h a n d t e c h n o l o g y 2 0 2 1 ; 1 5 : 2 1 3 e2 2 5

Available online at www.sciencedirect.com

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jmrt

Review Article

Environmental, economic and technological factors

affecting Chilean copper smelters e A critical review

Kevin P
erez a,b, Norman Toro a,*, Edelmira Ga

lvez c, Pedro Robles d,
Ryan Wilson e, Alessandro Navarra e
a
Faculty of Engineering and Architecture, Universidad Arturo Prat, Almirante Juan Jos
e Latorre 2901, Antofagasta,
1244260, Chile
b
Departamento de Ingenierı́a Quı́mica y Procesos de Minerales, Universidad de Antofagasta, Antofagasta, 1270300, Chile
c
Departamento de Ingenierı́a Metalúrgica y Minas, Universidad Cat
olica del Norte, Av. Angamos 610, Antofagasta,
1270709, Chile
d
Escuela De Ingenierı́a Quı́mica, Pontificia Universidad Cat
olica De Valparaı́so, Valparaı́so, 2340000, Chile
e
Department of Mining and Materials Engineering, McGill University, 3610 University Street, Montreal, QC, H3A
0C5, Canada

article info abstract

Article history: Chile is the world's leading copper producer (28.3%) and maintains approximately 23.0% of
Received 28 January 2021 current global reserves. Chile is faced with a significant risk posed by its collection of the
Accepted 5 August 2021 most unsustainable and antiquated smelter operations among major copper producers
Available online 13 August 2021 worldwide. Moreover, forecasts also indicate a trend toward higher proportions of copper
sulphide ores that carry high impurities, especially arsenic. To achieve the planned pro-
Keywords: duction increases, improve competitiveness in the global market, and reduce reliance on
Smelters technology international smelting capacities, Chile must make significant and justifiable investment
Arsenic into new and/or existing smelting operations through equipment modernization. The
Sulfur dioxide required investment for upgrades may be on the order of billions of dollars.
Smelting costs This review analyzes current roadblocks faced by the Chilean copper smelters and
potential solutions according to environmental, economic and strategic factors. Recent
advances in smelting technologies have focused on flash and bath smelting; despite a
general trend toward flash furnace systems, recent bath furnace methods (e.g. China's SKS-
BBS) are equally promising, particularly for varying and complex feeds. Strategic policies
should focus on regionalized, non-integrated custom smelters, which can handle ores from
a variety of sources while reducing overall operating costs. The government must play a
fundamental role to incentivise the investments necessary to develop new smelter oper-
ations and upgrade existing infrastructure. With a large portion of copper concentrate
exports coming from privately owned mines, synergistic efforts with industry partners will
be crucial to increase overall smelting capacity and position Chile as a global leader in the
smelting of copper concentrates.
© 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC
BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: ntoro@ucn.cl (N. Toro).
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmrt.2021.08.007
2238-7854/© 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
214 j o u r n a l o f m a t e r i a l s r e s e a r c h a n d t e c h n o l o g y 2 0 2 1 ; 1 5 : 2 1 3 e2 2 5
1. Introduction
There is continual projected growth in the global copper in-
dustry, wherein the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) indicated
that around 20.0 million tonnes of copper were produced
worldwide in 2020 [1], which agreed with the projections made
by Cochilco [2]. Of this, 80% comes from the pyrometallurgical
processing of copper sulphide ores which are processed in
smelters [3e5]. Chile is the world's leading copper producer
with a 28.3% share [6], and maintains 23.0% of current global
reserves [7]. Presently, part of the country-level strategy is to
increase the 5.8 million tonnes of annual copper output up to
6.2 million tonnes in 2027 [2]. As copper is an essential
resource in several broad economic sectors, including infra-
structure, construction, transportation, and electronic and
electrical equipment, its consumption is projected to increase
steadily over the years due to increasing world population,
and continued modernization and electrification [8e12].
1.1. Geological context
Copper deposits in Chile are part of the large Andean Copper
Province, which has been identified as one of the most
important sources of copper worldwide for over a century [13].
The Andean Province is characterized by a series of long and
notably linear orogen-parallel metallogenic belts. Deposits in
the central Andes (from southern Peru to central Chile and
adjacent Argentina) are dominated by epithermal-porphyry
copper mineralized systems [13]. These magmatic-
hydrothermal deposits, which include both sulphide and
oxide minerals precipitated from aqueous solutions at
elevated temperatures, are characterized by large tonnages
and relatively low ore grades (generally <1%) [14]. From a
geological perspective, they are also typified by the dissemi-
nated nature of their ore minerals (with vein and stockwork
formations) within and adjacent to large, altered intrusive
bodies [14].
The most productive porphyry copper belts appear to have
formed in contractional tectonomagmatic belts, often linked
to shallow flat-slab subduction zones and typified by crustal
thickening and high rates of uplift and exhumation [13,15].
Uplift and exhumation are responsible for the combination of
sulphide and oxide minerals and related supergene (second-
ary) enrichment observed at many of the supergiant
(
24e25 Mt) porphyry copper deposits such as Escondida,
Chuquicamata, and El Teniente [15]. This exposes the original
deeper, hypogene (primary) sulphide assemblages to weath-
ering processes of the subaerial environment. The action of
descending waters, with simultaneous oxidation and chemi-
cal weathering, leaches metals and other elements from the
uppermost exposed succession and re-precipitates them near
the reduction-oxidation (redox) boundary marked by the
paleo-watertable; an oxide-sulphate zone forms in oxidizing
conditions above this limit, while a sulphide zone forms in
reducing conditions below this level. Two main factors affect
the relative sizes and grades of oxide and sulphide zones: 1)
high water-to-rock ratios that benefit supergene mineral for-
mation, and; 2) a watertable descent rate that allows primary
hypogene sulphides to be gradually exposed to weathering
conditions [16].
1.2. Processing of Chilean copper ores
Chilean copper oxide ores that are processed by hydrometal-
lurgy are becoming increasingly scarce (estimates suggest a
potential decrease from 30.8% in 2015 to 12% by 2027);
conversely, the proportion of copper sulphide ore is continu-
ally growing as deposits are mined to increasingly greater
depth [2]. Sernageomin pointed out that 39.2% of refined
copper is currently produced through hydrometallurgical
processing, while most of the output (60.8%) is achieved via
flotation-smelter approaches [17]. A report developed by
COCHILCO [2] projects that the proportion of copper sulphide
concentrates will increase by 50% (3.9 to at least 5.4 million
tonnes annually) from 2014 to 2026, corresponding to roughly
90% of Chilean copper mining production. However, the
flotation-smelter approach incurs significant environmental
liabilities, such as tailings dams [17,18]. It is expected that for
every tonne of Cu that is collected by froth flotation, 151
tonnes of tailings are produced [2,19]. Currently, there are 92
mining operations defined as environmental liabilities [20].
Chilean smelters produce 1.4 million tonnes of copper
anodes annually, which corresponds to 36% of the domestic
flotation concentrate, while the remainder is processed in
foreign plants (64%) [20]. There are currently seven copper
smelters in Chile: Chuquicamata, Caletones, Potrerillos,
Herna
n Videla Lira (HVL), Ventanas, Chagres, and Altonorte;
of these, only three have an electrorefinery: Chuquicamata,
Potrerillos and Ventanas. Moreover, the five state-owned
smelters (Chuquicamata, Ventanas, Potrerillos, HVL and
Caletones) are among the ten most expensive in the world
[21], yet the two privately owned smelters (Altonorte and
Chagres) are among the most economically competitive in
Latin America. The capacity, production, and distribution of
equipment of the Chilean smelters are reported in Table 1.
China stands out among the countries with the highest
copper smelting capacities, processing approximately 40% of
global copper concentrates. Without an adequate supply of
copper from domestic sources to feed their plants, there is a
strong reliance on copper concentrate imports from countries
like Chile and Peru which do not have sufficient state-wide
smelting capacities.
This review highlights the main difficulties and limits
which are currently preventing the development of new
smelters (or expansion of existing plants) in Chile. These is-
sues are analysed and presented with respect to environ-
mental, economic, and technological factors.
2. Environmental considerations
Among the challenges to the Chilean copper industry are low
grades, high energy consumption [22], and environmental
impact due to gaseous and particulate emissions [9]. The
Chilean Ministry of the Environment considers aspects such
as air quality (sulphur, arsenic, heavy metals, particulate
 j o u r n a l o f m a t e r i a l s r e s e a r c h a n d t e c h n o l o g y 2 0 2 1 ; 1 5 : 2 1 3 e2 2 5 215

Table 1 e Chilean smelters and their main characteristics.

Smelters Integrated to a mine Smelting capacity Production Refinery Sulphur Metallurgical
(Yes/No) (kt/y) (kt/y) (Yes/No) capture (%) equipment
Chuquicamata Yes 1400 450 Yes 85e90 1 FSF, 2 TC, 3 PSC, 2 RSCF
Altonorte No 1160 350 No >96 1 NR, 3 PSC, 1 SF
Potrerillos Yes 680 177 Yes 80e90 1 TC, 3 PSC, 2 RSCF
Herna
n Videla No 450 84 No 80e90 1 TC, 2 PSC, 1 ESCF
Lira
Ventanas Yes 430 105 Yes >95 1 TC, 3 PSC, 1 ESCF
Chagres Yes 660 140 No >96 1 FSC, 3 PSC, 2 RSCF
Caletones Yes 1370 400 No 95 2 TC, 4 PSC, 4 RSCF

FSF: Flash smelting furnace; TC: Teniente converter; PSC: Peirce-smith converter; NR: Noranda reactor; RSCF: Rotary slag cleaning furnace; ESCF:
Electric slag cleaning furnace; SF: Slag flotation.

matter PM2.5 and PM10), noise emissions, and water quality
(surface, continental and oceanic). The Ministry's mission is to
guarantee the health of the environment in which smelters
may operate, for example, the quality of life for local com-
munities, flora, fauna, agriculture and livestock [23].
The air quality surrounding smelters is a broad concern
internationally, as well as within Chile. The World Health
Organization (WHO) estimates that about seven million peo-
ple die each year from exposure to fine particles contained in
polluted air, 90% of which correspond to poorer countries,
mainly located in Asia and Africa. Surprisingly, environ-
mental pollution may have contributed to 7.6% of all deaths
worldwide in 2016 [24]. Fine particles penetrate deep into the
lungs and cardiovascular system, causing diseases such as
strokes, heart disease, lung cancer, chronic obstructive
pneumopathy and respiratory infections [25]. The WHO re-
ports that air pollution is a critical risk factor for non-
communicable diseases; in fact, it contributes to a significant
portion of disease-related deaths, including 24% of all adult
deaths from heart disease, 25% by strokes, 43% from chronic
obstructive pneumopathy, and 29% from lung cancer [26].
Currently, 91% of people breathe polluted air, and more than
half of the urban population was exposed to environmental
pollution at least 2.5 times above levels recommended by the
WHO [27,28]. Among the key indicators that are analysed in
the air quality for copper smelters are SO2 emissions in the
acid plant chimneys, particulate matter emission in chimneys
(dryer and electric furnace), visible fumes at the outlet of the
furnaces, and uptake of arsenic and sulphur in all furnaces
that generate gases.
2.1. Sulphur dioxide
Sulphur dioxide is one of the leading air pollutants; in fact, it is
one of six contaminants designated as critical by the US
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) [29]. Its presence is
closely correlated to economic and industrial growth, so an
increasingly large part of the population is exposed to this
compound. SO2 is a respiratory irritant associated with car-
diovascular problems, and several studies have shown its
connection with the risks of cardiorespiratory mortality and
obesity; however, a definitive correlation regarding harmful
doses of SO2 has yet to be established [30e32].
The primary sources of SO2 emissions are industrial ac-
tivities that are fed with sulphide-containing materials
(combustion of coal, gasoline, oil, etc.), as well as natural
sources such as volcanoes and forest fires. The National
Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS, in US) for sulphur
dioxide is 1300 mg/m3 for a duration of 3 h, 365 mg/m3 for 24 h
and 80 mg/m3 as annual arithmetic mean [30,33]. To prevent
adverse lung effects, recommended occupational exposure
limits vary between 0.5 and 2 ppm, depending on the country
or region. Pulmonary problems and sensory irritation can
occur at concentrations higher than 1 ppm [34]. Yet in spite of
increasingly stringent regulations, copper smelters remain
major contributors to SO2 emissions, resulting from the
combustion of copper and iron sulphides [35]. This issue is
becoming increasingly important in Chile as many of the de-
posits are mined to depth, depleting cleaner ores from the
upper oxide zones and accessing more sulphide-rich zones
from below the paleo-watertable [13,16].
On December 12, 2013, Supreme Decree No. 28 of the
Chilean Ministry of Environment was published in the Official
Gazette, which establishes emission standards for copper
smelters and arsenic emission sources. This new standard
dictates the maximum sulphur and arsenic emission levels
that Chilean smelters must meet and updates the required
percentage of capture and fixation of these gases (
95%). This
is defined as the capacity of an emitting source, expressed as a
percentage, of collecting, retaining, and reducing one or more
toxic substances or precursor elements of contaminants (like
sulphur and arsenic). The deadline to comply with these re-
quirements expired in December 2018 [36] (See Table 2).
This decree is causing significant investments in both
equipment and processes, especially for the aging smelters of
the early and mid-twentieth century. Moreover, maritime
shipping of concentrates is being subjected to strong environ-
mental requirements that increase material handling costs.
Table 2 e Maximum emission limit of SO2 and As for
existing sources [29].
Emission source SO2 (kt/year) As (t/year)
Altonorte 24.0 126
Caletones 47.68 130
Chagres 14.40 35
Chuquicamata 49.70 476
Herna
n Videla Lira 12.88 17
Potrerillos 24.40 157
Ventanas 14.65 48
216 j o u r n a l o f m a t e r i a l s r e s e a r c h a n d t e c h n o l o g y 2 0 2 1 ; 1 5 : 2 1 3 e2 2 5
New smelters must operate with a minimum gas capture of
98%, a percentage that will soon also be required for older
smelters. It is estimated that the investment required for this
industrial sector to comply with the regulations fluctuates
between US $2 billion to US $5 billion. In other countries (e.g.
Germany, Japan, China), smelters are also subject to strict
environmental regulations, but they have largely succeeded in
attaining the minimum allowable emissions due to the mod-
ern technology they use [35].
In 2015 the Minerı́a Chilena journal summarized information
concerning the most essential equipment upgrades to enhance
the capture of sulphur, as well as particulate matter and
arsenic, in compliance with Supreme Decree No. 28 ([35]). The
requirements are organized for each of the smelters as follows:
Chuquicamata
 A technological change is required in the concentrate
dryers (PM and S capture)
 Replace primary and secondary hoods in conversion (As
and S capture)
 Enable a fifth converter (S capture)
 Repair the fugitive gas system of the flash furnace (As
capture)
 Install a gas treatment system in the refining and casting
section of the smelter (As capture)
 Upgrade acid plants to apply double-contact absorption to
off-gas streams (As and S capture)
Potrerillos
 Improve the gas capture and transport that connect the
converters to the acid plant (As and S capture)
 Upgrade acid plants to apply double-contact absorption to
off-gas streams (As and S capture)
 Replace the primary and secondary hoods in conversion
(As and S capture)
 Install a slag flotation system (PM, As and S capture)
 Install a gas treatment system in the refining and casting
section of the smelter (As capture)
Ventanas
 Install secondary gas collection in conversion (As and S
capture)
 Upgrade the treatment of exhaust gases in the chimneys of
the acid plant (PM, As and S capture)
 Upgrade gas capture from Teniente and slag cleaning fur-
naces (As and S capture)
 Upgrade the converter off-gas treatment (As and S capture)
 Eliminate the visible fumes from the fire refining furnace
(PM capture)
Caletones
 Reduce emissions from the gas cleaning plant (PM and S
capture)
 Install a slag treatment plant for converters (PM, As and S
capture)
 Optimize the fluidized bed drying plants (PM and S capture)
 Reduce the visible fumes from the fire refining furnace (PM
capture)
Altonorte
 Replace the rotary dryer with a steam dryer (PM capture)
 Implement double-contact absorption in acid plant No. 3 (S
capture)
 Enhance the primary gas management system (PM, As and
S capture)
 Installation of a continuous emission monitoring system
that includes validation and external audits (PM, As and S
capture)
 Reduction of visible fumes from the refining furnace (PM
capture)
Chagres
 Install a gas treatment system in the refining and casting
section of the smelter (PM and As capture)
 Extend slag treatment capacity for converters (PM, As and S
capture)
 Upgrade the feed preparation and drying (PM and S
capture)
As of 2017 [37], three smelters already met the new stan-
dards imposed by Supreme Decree No. 28: i) Altonorte, which
required an investment of US $100 million to capture 97% of
SO2 and more than 95% of As; ii) Chagres, which invested US
$70.5 million capturing 98% of SO2 and 95.54% of As; and iii)
Ventanas, where investments of US $159 million were made,
reaching a capture greater than 95% of SO2 and 95.28% of As
[37]. Chuquicamata estimated an investment of US $
948 million, Potrerillos US $ 523.5 million; Caletones US $
573.23 million. Details concerning Enami's Herna
n Videla Lira
(HVL) smelter had not been presented in 2015 since the
smelter was completing a prefeasibility study for a major
overhaul; the estimated requirements were estimated to be
US $ 646 million [38], to install modern bottom-blown furnaces
[39]. However, these costs were later found to be untenable,
and HVL is now opting for incremental improvements that
can mimic the advantages of modern furnaces [40], and is
experimenting with state-of-the-art sensors [41].
In general, these pyrometallurgical operations cause resid-
ual elements to concentrate within slags and off-gas dusts,
including quantities of copper, nickel, lead, zinc, arsenic,
sulphur, antimony and mercury [42]. In particular, arsenic and
sulphur must be captured using equipment such as electrostatic
precipitators and wet scrubbers; the main investments in Chil-
ean smelters have been focused on adapting and implementing
these technologies to upgrade the acid plant and emissions
capture of the various smelting and converting furnaces.
2.2. Arsenic
The issues of SO2 and As capture are often coupled, as
described in the previous section. The current section focuses
exclusively on arsenic, however, noting that current and future
 j o u r n a l o f m a t e r i a l s r e s e a r c h a n d t e c h n o l o g y 2 0 2 1 ; 1 5 : 2 1 3 e2 2 5
Chilean ores are increasingly burdened with As, as cleaner
sulphide ores, as well as oxides, are exhausted. Indeed, the safe
control and disposal of As is a challenge for the pyrometallur-
gical industry under current global environmental norms
[43e47]. In fact, 10% of the world supply of copper concentrates
already have arsenic levels above the penalty level (0.2%) [21];
Mayhew et al. [48] stated that in 2020 the average arsenic in
copper concentrates would reach values of 0.22%. Fig. 1 dis-
plays the distribution of the arsenic concentration in copper
concentrates, where 45% of the concentrates have arsenic
levels below 0.1%, and 50% have contents between 0.1%-1%,
and 5% have figures greater than 1% [21].
A typical copper concentrate feed for a Chilean smelter is
composed of chalcopyrite (CuFeS2), chalcocite (Cu2S), digenite
(Cu9S5), covellite (CuS) and bornite (Cu5FeS4). However, there
is also the presence of some Cu sulfosalts that contain sig-
nificant amounts of As and Sb such as enargite (Cu3AsS4),
luzonite (Cu3AsS4), tennantite (Cu12As4S13) and tetrahedrite
(Cu12Sb4S13) [49]. It is difficult for concentrators to selectively
float copper minerals to avoid the recovery of arsenic ores due
to similar flotabilities [50].
The presence of arsenic in Chilean copper concentrates
mainly affects the pyrometallurgical industry in the following
aspects:
 Requirement for blending with low-arsenic ores or other
forms of pre-treatment [51].
 Issues in quality and physical properties of copper anodes
[52].
 Environmental impacts due to fugitive emissions of
arsenic compounds [50,53].
The most common arsenic-bearing copper sulfosalt is
enargite, which is also the primary contaminant in Chilean
chalcopyrite concentrates [54,55]. The application of roasting
and smelting methods to these concentrates, causing arsenic
contamination, is thus a severe concern for exhaust gases [56].
Starting in 2015, the Ministro Hales mine (in Northern
Chile) has applied a partial roasting process to its high arsenic
concentrates, prior to shipping them to the Chuquicamata
smelter [46]. As the remaining Chilean smelter feeds are
increasingly laden with enargite and other arsenic minerals, it
is likely that they will increasingly undergo this form of
roasting. Moreover, there may be an environmental driver (as
well as an economic driver) that these arsenic-bearing
5%
Arsenic content in
concentrate less than 0.1%
45% Arsenic content in
concentrate greater than
0.1% and less than 0.5%
50% Arsenic content in
concentrate greater than
0.1%
Fig. 1 e World copper concentrates production categorized
by arsenic content [21].
217
concentrates be smelted within Chile, as many of the overseas
custom smelters may refuse to process them. Considerable
advancements have also been made in hydrometallurgical
processes that capture As in the formation of scorodite [42,57],
which have gained importance in Chile. A hydrometallurgical
approach originally developed by Cominco Engineering Ser-
vices Limited (CESL), now owned by Teck, involves the pres-
sure oxidation leaching of mineral feeds; the Aurubis smelter
in Hamburg successfully applies the CESL process for high-
arsenic copper concentrates [48]. The challenge of high-
arsenic concentrate will nonetheless continue to drive tech-
nological innovations, as the portion of copper concentrates
that are high-arsenic is projected to rise internationally from
8% (reported in 2018) to an estimated 13% in 2028; both hy-
drometallurgical and roasting treatments have been shown to
capture over 98% of the arsenic, although the operational
costs remain problematic [58].
3. Economic considerations
Smelter economics are driven by a variety of factors including,
but not limited to, market demand and supply chains,
geopolitical and socio-economic landscapes, plant logistics,
asset management strategies, technology, and system process
efficiencies. Chilean smelters have high operational costs in
comparison to the rest of the world, especially China. More-
over, all the Chilean smelters were developed with aging
technologies of the 20th century, and hence suffer from both
economic and environmental inefficiencies. The various fac-
tors that have contributed to the current state of the industry
in Chile are grouped and discussed hereunder in terms of
smelter configurations (i.e. integrated vs. custom), relative
competitivity in the global context, and strategic economic
and logistical considerations for future development.
3.1. Integrated versus custom smelters
Unlike integrated smelters, which are tied to individual mines,
custom smelters receive concentrate from several mining
projects rather than being dependent on a single source for
feedstock. As a result, custom smelters generally have greater
flexibility in terms of processing options and related configu-
ration parameters. Of the seven Chilean smelters, only two
(Altonorte and HVL) are considered custom facilities; it is
notable that the remaining five integrated smelters are all
among the ten least cost-efficient plants in the world.
Fig. 2 shows that indeed the net costs of the integrated
smelters are very high compared to the custom (i.e. non-
integrated) smelters. This supports the proposed strategy of
investing mostly in custom smelters, to position Chile as a
world leader in the smelting of copper concentrate. Custom
smelters are more economically competitive, typically in the
first quartile of the cost curve. This is because the financial
and operational approaches are aimed at smelting and not at
other unit stages. Integrated smelters that are constrained to
only one feed source are commonly faced with other process
decisions, including mineral exploitation, crushing, and
mineral concentration [37].
218 j o u r n a l o f m a t e r i a l s r e s e a r c h a n d t e c h n o l o g y 2 0 2 1 ; 1 5 : 2 1 3 e2 2 5

700
600
600

500

Costs (US$/t)
400
324
300
170 181
200 134 115
86 82 90 93
100 57 42 22 26
0
Workforce Gross Fuels Other costs Credits for Credits for Net cost
power sulfuric energy
acid

Smelter integrated with mine Custom smelter

Fig. 2 e Costs associated with integrated and non-integrated Chilean smelters [59].

Custom smelters also have the added potential to intro-
duce different types of feeds altogether, such as recycled
materials. With the onset and proliferation of Industry 4.0,
electrical and electronic equipment wastes (herein referred to
as e-wastes) represent one of the fastest-accumulating waste
streams in modern society. Though production has kept pace
with global demand to this point, copper is seen as an
important crossover material in the clean energy transition
and projections show that annual demand will rise by nearly
10 Mt over the next 30 years [60,61] [Tabelin et al., 2021; WBG,
2020]. With several of the world-class porphyry copper de-
posits in the advanced stages of mine life production, and
evolving geopolitical and socio-economic views that slow the
process of bringing new operations online, recycled e-wastes
could play a vital role in meeting future global demand for
copper and other precious metals. To highlight this potential,
worldwide e-waste production has increased steadily at a rate
of 3e5% per annum since 2010, and is forecasted to reach
~75 Mt by 2030 and nearly 250 Mt by 2050 [60,62,63] [Tabelin
et al., 2021; Forti et al., 2020; Phengsaart et al., 2020]. There are
several examples of copper smelters in Europe and Asia suc-
cessfully using copper scrap from e-waste materials as a
secondary feed, including Boliden's Ronnskar smelter (Swe-
den), Dowa's Kosaka smelter (Japan) and Aurubis' Hamburg
facility (Germany) [60] [Tabelin et al., 2021].
3.2. Competitivity of Chilean smelters
Smelting within Chile is very costly and not particularly
competitive in the global context. The operational cost
structure for a typical smelter is typically dominated by en-
ergy (35%) and both direct and indirect labour (40%). However,
additional costs within the Chilean industry can reach up to
52% of the total [64], which indicates an unresolved potential
that may be attained through modernization [59]. For
example, Fig. 3 shows substantial differences in the average

900
Smelter opera ng costs (US$/t)

774
800
700
600
500
500 454
400
300 238
196 174 198
200 176 159 152
99 99 77
100 66 49
35 46 62 31
22 0
0
Workforce Gross Fuels Other costs Credits for Credits for Net cost
power sulfuric energy
acid

China Chile Best Chilean smelter

Fig. 3 e Comparison of smelting costs for Chile and China [59].

 j o u r n a l o f m a t e r i a l s r e s e a r c h a n d t e c h n o l o g y 2 0 2 1 ; 1 5 : 2 1 3 e2 2 5 219

cost of Chilean and Chinese smelters. The contrast is notable
in terms of labour, as wages in Chinese industry are modest in
comparison to its main competitors (196 US$/t). Moreover, the
Chilean energy costs are also higher, since five of the Chilean
smelters use the antiquated Teniente Converter (6 units in
total, as Chuquicamata has two units). This aging technology
consumes more total energy (both in feed preparation and
smelting) compared to more current technologies, such as
modern flash or continuous bath smelting [65]; a closer look at
competing technologies is presented in Section 4.
Codelco's director of smelter and refinery optimization,
German Richter, has observed that most Chinese smelters
‘range between 10 and 18 cents per tonne treated, where the
industry average is at 21 cents, meanwhile, the costs of our
most expensive smelters have become twice the general
average’. ‘Smelters are a complicated business in the copper
industry chain. The rate of return is likely to be the lowest
compared with the upstream operations (i.e. the mining
operation). Or even with the next stages, like semi-
manufactured products.’ [66]. A senior advisor to ENAMI,
Claudio Dodds, added another variable to the equation, which
also reinforces the need for the modernization of Chilean
smelters: “In Chile, we have the problem that there are many
mines that as they deepen their level of exploitation, arsenic
levels increase, especially in the area of Chuquicamata. They
are non-exportable concentrates, and nobody is going to buy
them, so you have to take charge” [66].
The five government-owned smelters (Chuquicamata,
Potrerillos, Ventanas, Caletones and HVL) have the highest
costs, which can be observed in Fig. 4. These plants are the
oldest in the country and are indeed inefficient. Private com-
panies appear to have better managed Chilean smelting op-
erations, given the relative competitiveness of both the
Altonorte and Chagres; however, they are still far from
attaining the cost-effectiveness of the most modern Asian
smelters (Fig. 4) [66].
Table 3 compares the average net costs by region, with
China dominating, while Latin American smelters are the

Chuquicamata
Tsumeb
Ventanas
Legnica
Potrerillos
Paipote
Ronnskar
Caletones
Horne
Glogow II
Bor
Glogow I
Palabora
La Caridad
Garfield
Hayden
Pasar
Miami
Copper Cliff
Mount Isa
Onahama
Chagres
Altonorte
Harjavalta
Dahej
Olympic Dam
Nchanga
Aunubis - Hamburg East
Naoshima
Huelva
Toyo
Dias D'Ávila
Tongling (jinchang)
Tamano
Gresik
Tu corin
Saganoseki
Mufulira
Guixi
Daye
Onsan
Zijin
Jinchuan
Yantai
Pirdop
Tongling (Jinguan)
Chifeng Jinjian
Jinlong
Shandong Xiang
Chambishi
Yunnan
Dongying
Baiyin
Chifeng Jinfeng
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Di rect ca sh cost (c/lb)

Chilean copper smelters Interna onalcopper smelters

Fig. 4 e Cost statistics according to smelting plants [67,68].

220 j o u r n a l o f m a t e r i a l s r e s e a r c h a n d t e c h n o l o g y 2 0 2 1 ; 1 5 : 2 1 3 e2 2 5

poorest performers. The focus of modern smelter develop-  Combined high salaries, overstaffing and/or lack of
ment strategies is to reduce costs using the most suitable automation
technologies that provide high treatment capacity and emis-  Low metallurgical recovery
sion control. In 2002 Chile produced 21.7% of refined primary  Insignificant utilization of marketable by-products (noble
copper, while China produced 11.4%. China has subsequently metals, rare earth, etc.)
invested in creating solutions for operational and environ-  Inadequate investment in new technologies
mental enhancements. By updating technologies, tightening
environmental laws, and investing in both new and existing It is worth mentioning that smelting costs in Chile average
smelters, they have managed to achieve the largest global 135 US$/t of concentrate, whereas in China these costs are
smelting capacity from the year 2000 onwards [67,68]. around 50 US$/t. In addition, since the rapid expansions of
Table 4 gives an estimate made by Codelco in the year 2011, 2000 onward, China has maintained low costs, and has
in which an investment of between US$ 680e890 million was incentivised sulphur capture and increased energy efficiency.
projected for the control of polluting gases of their smelters to
reach the mandated 95% capture (Supreme Decree 28). Table 5 3.3. Strategic economic and logistical considerations
shows that the actual investments made until 2018 signifi-
cantly surpassed the 2011 estimate, reaching approximately An increase in the supply and consumption of concentrates is
US $ 2.2 billion. The downside of these investments is that expected in the coming years, but it will be accompanied by
they have been reactive and have not necessarily led to sus- increasingly difficult mining conditions. Examples of such
tained production improvements; moreover, they should conditions include lower grades [69], higher hardness of rocks
perhaps have been made decades earlier (1990e2000) so that [22], longer haul distances, in addition to potential environ-
Chilean smelters would have remained globally competitive. mental transport restrictions due to contamination risks in
Comparing the current condition of Chilean smelters to maritime environments.
those of other countries, it can be deduced that the high costs By 2026, Chile is projected to produce approximately 6 Mt of
are mainly due to: refined Cu annually, with approximately 50% more sulphide-
derived copper than was the case in 2017 [70]. Furthermore,
the quantity of complex concentrates will increase due to
Table 3 e Total direct costs of smelting by country or mining projects that confront significant levels of arsenic,
region [67,68]. both in Chile and Peru. Experts have pointed out that the
sustained increment of arsenic and other impurities (like
Region Net cost per smelter (US$/t)
bismuth, antimony, etc.) will result in higher treatment costs,
China 267
penalties, and market acceptance difficulties. The economic
Africa 342
penalties applied to concentrates with high arsenic contents
Others Asia 373
Japan 406 vary depending on the importing country; in the investigation
Australia 489 of Lane et al. [71] it is reported that in Japan, arsenic penalties
Europe 573 begin at 0.2 wt.%, meanwhile they begin at concentrations
North America 588 greater than 0.5 wt.% in China [59].
Latin America 597 Due to the significant technological growth of China in the
smelting sector, Japan and the rest of the western countries
have not been able to compete in terms of costs but have kept
Table 4 e Estimated investment for Codelco smelters their foundries for strategic reasons [66]. Meanwhile, Chile is
made in 2011 [67,68]. continuing to carry out a business strategy that is aimed at
Smelter Investment for DS Black smoke Total custom smelters [66], as described in Section 3.1.
28 compliance removal (million China continues to import large quantities of concentrate
(million US$) (million US$) US$) to economically justify its high smelting capacity and supply
Chuquicamata 120e150 30e40 150e190 its expansive industry and large population. This processing
Potrerillos 140e180 80e110 220e290 imbalance poses a risk to Chile, which has only 9% of the
Ventanas 50e70 30e40 80e110 world smelting capacity and remains dependent on China's
Caletones 140e180 90e120 230e300 facilities (>30% of global capacity) [66]. Moreover, China's
Total 680e890
smallest smelters (1000 kt/year of concentrate) are of a similar
size to Chile's largest (1200 kt/year of concentrate), as
described in Table 6. Indeed, China, Japan and Germany all
outperform Chile in terms of sulphur capture, unit cost and
copper recovery. Table 6 also highlights that smelters in these
Table 5 e Actual investment made by Codelco in the
other countries are fitted with electricity generation (as the
2013e2018 period [67,68].
exothermic smelting reactions produce steam), and the ability
Smelting plant Investment between to capture other valuable metals (Au, Ag, Cr, Rare Earths, etc.);
2013 and 2018 (million US$)
this aspect will be revisited in Section 4.2.
Chuquicamata 1034 It is imperative to revamp the Chilean copper smelting
Potrerillos 426
industry, which requires new strategic policies that allow
Ventanas 629
greater competitiveness and sustainability.
Caletones 113
Total 2202
 j o u r n a l o f m a t e r i a l s r e s e a r c h a n d t e c h n o l o g y 2 0 2 1 ; 1 5 : 2 1 3 e2 2 5 221

Table 6 e Comparison of parameters between smelters of different countries [66].

Parameters Unit China Japan Germany Chile
Concentrate smelting capacity kt/year 1000e1500 1200 1200 320e1200
Sulphur capture % 98 99 98.5 95
Unit cost US$/t 267 406 419 500e890
Copper recovery % 98e98.5 98e99.5 98 95e97.3
Electric energy recovery Yes/No Yes Yes Yes No
Recovery of other metals Yes/No Yes Yes Yes No

Some of the proposed options include:
 Optimize existing assets within the country, including logis-
tical coordination that favours custom smelting operations
 Invest in new assets with better technologies and higher
capacities
 Incentivize foreign conglomerate companies to build
modern smelters in Chile by ensuring their continued ac-
cess to Chilean copper supplies
The coordinating and upgrading assets for domestic
smelting of Chile's concentrates, can serve to redefine do-
mestic reserves, particularly if the environmental challenges
of SO2 and arsenic can be managed.
4. Technological considerations
The implementation of modern technology and system pro-
cesses will be vital in response to several of the challenges
currently faced by the Chilean smelting industry. In order to
make appropriate decisions in the selection of new equipment
or approaches, it is important to first understand how the
Chilean foundries compare with the rest of the industry, as
well as the leading technologies currently in use (proven track
record) or being tested. This is particularly true for cases
where retrofitting existing plant facilities is deemed the most
amenable option. Technological innovation through research
and development will likely also play a critical role, especially
with respect to evolving ore feeds and increasing levels of
impurities projected for many of the mature large-scale
Chilean mining projects.
4.1. International technology benchmarking
The equipment used by the 20 largest copper smelters in the
world has been analysed, in order to ascertain what the
Chilean trend should be; interestingly, it can be observed that
despite having relatively large capacities of Chilean smelters,
their high operating costs persist in tandem with their envi-
ronmental problems.
From Table 7, Chilean smelters are predisposed to old
technologies of bath fusion (Teniente converter and Noranda
Reactor), whereas other countries use modern flash and bath
smelters. Chilean smelters have deficiencies from both envi-
ronmental and economic perspectives; yet the major in-
vestments of recent years (Table 5) may help restore the
competitivity of Chilean smelters. Table 8 summarizes the
costs and world production of each type of equipment, mainly
featuring flash furnaces and bath furnaces. In general both
have similar costs, with a minor difference of only 2 US $/t.
Interestingly, 44% of world production is through flash
furnace systems, although there is a relative downward trend
in this technology; according to Watt and Kapusta [72], in 2003
their proportion had been as high as 49%. Subsequently, the
use of equipment such as Vanyukov, Top-Submerged Lance
furnaces and SKS bottom-blown smelting (BBS) furnaces have
increased [73].

Table 7 e Top 20 copper smelters in order of production capacities [21].

Smelter Country Capacity (kt/y) Technology
Guixi China 900 Outokumpu Flash (O. F.)
Birla Copper India 500 O. F., Ausmelt, Mitsubishi Convert (M. C.)
Chuquicamata Chile 450 O. F., Teniente Converter (T. C.)
Hamburg Germany 450 O. F., Contimelt
Toyo Japan 450 O. F.
Saganoseki Japan 450 O. F.
El Teniente Chile 400 Reverberatory/T. C.
Jinchuan China 400 Reverberatory/Kaldo Converter
Jinchuan China 400 Flash smelter
Jinguan China 400 Flash smelter
Xiangguang China 400 O. F.
Sterlite India 400 Isasmelt process

Norilsk Russia 400 Reverberatory electric. Vanyukov

Pirdop Bulgaria 360 O. F.
Ilo Perú 360 Isasmelt process
Onahama Japan 354 Mitsubishi/Reverb.
Jinlong China 350 Flash smelter
Yunnan China 350 Isasmelt process
Kansanshi Zambia 350 Isasmelt process
Naoshima Japan 342 Mitsubishi Continuous
222 j o u r n a l o f m a t e r i a l s r e s e a r c h a n d t e c h n o l o g y 2 0 2 1 ; 1 5 : 2 1 3 e2 2 5

Table 8 e Type of technology in copper smelters [21].

Sulfuric acid plant Concentrate dryer

Fluidized bed
Fluidized bed
Technology Average Costs World production Number of
(US$/t of Cu) participation (%) operations

Rotatory
Rotatory
Steam

Steam
Steam
Flash 72 43 22
Bath 74 34 23
Mixed 113 20 7
Others 151 3 3

Upgraded configuration

Double contact

Double contact
Double contact
Double contact
Double contact
Double contact
Simple contact
Flash smelting technology has indeed had positive results
compared to bath furnaces, however the emerging Chinese
bath technologies such as SKS-BBS [74,75] have also presented
good results. SKS-BBS is currently among the candidate op-
tions to upgrade the Chilean foundry Herna
n Videla Lira. It is

Slag cleaning electric furnace

Slag cleaning electric furnace

Slag cleaning electric furnace

generally thought that bath smelting is more adaptable to
varying and complex feeds than flash smelting; however, the

Slag Treatment
antiquated bath smelting approaches are not necessarily
effective at off gas capture. Nonetheless the newer bath
smelting technologies seem to achieve 99% SO2 capture [72] in
addition to their adaptability to complex feeds. Beyond the

Flotation
Flotation
Flotation

Flotation
SKS-BBS, there are additional bath smelting technologies that
have been implemented in China such as the side-blowing
furnace (SBF) that is used in Nerin (China) [39,76,77], and the

Concentrate dryer
Dongying two-step copper smelting process, the latter of

Fluidized bed
Fluidized bed
which is composed of one submerged lance smelting furnace
(SLS) integrated with two submerged lance converting-

Rotatory

Rotatory
Rotatory
Rotatory
Steam
refining furnaces (SLCR) [78e80].

4.2. Upgrading of Chilean smelters

Simple and double contact

Sulfuric acid plant
Section 2.1 included a series of improvements that Chilean
smelters must make to adapt to the new Chilean environ-
mental regulations. In addition to replacing their core smelt-
Double contact

Double contact
furnace e Slag cleaning electric furnace Simple contact
Simple contact
Simple contact

Simple contact
Table 9 e Operational changes to reduce gas emissions in Chilean smelters.

ing and converting furnaces, Table 9 shows some major

technological changes projected in these smelters.
Current configuration

An examination of Table 9 highlights that slag treatment

should change from treatment in electric furnaces to flotation;
flotation has kinetic disadvantages and lower copper recovery
yet results in a much lower environmental impact due to the
fact that the electric furnace causes the generation of sulphur
dioxide. On the other hand, the treatment of gases with high
sulphur content should be performed within double contact
sulfuric acid treatment plants instead of the single contact
Slag Treatment

versions that have dominated previous generations.

Chilean smelters have several important challenges that
electric furnace
electric furnace

electric furnace

must be overcome to restore their international standing. In

recent years, Codelco achieved great progress with the open-
ing of the Divisi

furnace
furnace

on Ministro Hales and its high arsenic content

roaster [46]. Other innovations such as the packed bed
developed by the Universidad de Chile also stand out [81,82], as
Slag cleaning
Slag cleaning
Slag cleaning
Slag cleaning
Slag cleaning

Slag cleaning

well as the scorodite arsenic capture [42,57]. The Chilean

Flotation

copper industry and R&D sector must adapt to the increasing

portion of arsenic within its sulphide concentrates, as it con-
tinues to develop technological solutions and operating

n Videla Lira

practices [41].
As discussed at the end of Section 2.1, the equipment costs
Chuquicamata

for gas capture and slag treatment were between US $ 70.5

Potrerillos
Caletones

Altonorte
Ventanas
Smelter

million for Anglo-American's Chagres smelters that required

Chagres
Herna

comparatively small upgrades to ensure or exceed compli-

ance, and US $ 948 million for Codelco's Chuquicamata
 j o u r n a l o f m a t e r i a l s r e s e a r c h a n d t e c h n o l o g y 2 0 2 1 ; 1 5 : 2 1 3 e2 2 5
smelter which continue to require massive upgrading; these
upgrades include the items listed in Table 9. The HVL smelter
had evaluated a possible complete overhaul with an estimated
cost of US $646 million [38] which on a per tonnage basis
would have been the most radical change. However, this
major overhaul will not be applied, as incremental techno-
logical enhancements are now seen as a favourable option. In
particular, the replacement of the air injection system
 res) of the antiquated Teniente and Peirce-Smith con-
(tuye
verters with modern shrouded sonic injectors [40], can lead to
smaller volumes of offgas with higher concentration of SO2
which is favourable for increased capture and acid generation;
a similar approach is already embedded within modern
furnace designs [39]. Additionally, HVL will be experimenting
with state-of-the-art sensors described in [41] which may ul-
timately lead to a better coordination of furnace operations,
thus increasing the productivity; earlier plant dynamics
studies indicated that such incremental improvements could
be significant [83]. The hope is that HVL can attain the gov-
ernment prescribed levels of SO2 capture without undertaking
a complete overhaul.
5. Conclusions
Chilean copper smelters are collectively the most unsustain-
able of any major copper producing country, due to decades of
relatively low investment and technological development, as
well as increasing proportions of arsenic-bearing feeds. Chile
is nonetheless the largest exporter of copper (both as mineral
concentrate, and refined copper), and may be well positioned
for increased participation in market development with the
necessary implementation of long anticipated technological
upgrades. There is enough raw material to support a
revamping of Chilean smelters, but it must comply with strict
environmental standards (a minimum 98% of SO2 uptake and
diminished emission of particulate matter).
Three of the seven Chilean smelters are among the worst
performers for SO2 gas collection; even with new environ-
mental regulation compliance, this situation places these
smelters at risk of closure, unless significant investments are
made. New smelters will have greater restrictions in line with
international smelters with simultaneously better environ-
mental and economic performance. The investment required
to achieve 98% sulphur uptake will be very high, hence the
need to select the most productive and adaptable technolo-
gies, particularly with the forecasted decline in ore quality
(e.g. increasing arsenic content).
New options to reduce industry costs should be investi-
gated since most Chilean smelters are in the fourth quartile
worldwide. This is due to expenses such as energy and labour,
reaching a net cost between 400 and 900 US$ per tonne of
copper.
The government must have a fundamental role to incentivise
the creation of new smelting plants in the country and negotiate
with private companies to increase the overall smelting capacity
in Chile. This is especially true, considering that privately owned
mines represent a large portion of copper concentrate exports
that are sent largely to China. Policies should also focus on the
223
creation of regionalized, non-integrated custom smelters, which
have the best cost-effectiveness.
Chile has antiquated smelters, but there are many exam-
ples worldwide (Europe and Japan) of old smelters that were
modernized and reached high and globally recognized quality
standards [72]. Justifiably large investments are needed to
support projects focused on reducing costs and improving the
capture of harmful gases.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare they have no conflict of interest.
Acknowledgments

rez acknowledges the infrastructure and support of the
Kevin Pe
doctoral program in mineral process engineering at the Uni-
versidad de Antofagasta and thanks to Centro CRHIAM Project
ANID/FONDAP/15130015. Pedro Robles thanks the Pontificia
Universidad Cato
lica de Valparaı́so for the support provided.
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Dr. Norman Toro Metallurgical Engineer
from the Universidad Cato
lica del Norte
(2014), Master in Industrial Engineering from
Universidad Cato
lica del Norte (2018) and
Doctor of Engineering from the Polytechnic
University of Cartagena (2020). Head of the
laboratory “New lines of research”
comprising a workgroup of four graduate
students, where novel issues of extractive
metallurgy are investigated: Leaching,
Flotation, Simulation, and Statistics. Addi-
tionally, in 2020 was ranked as the most prolific academic
researcher in chemical engineering in Chile, having authored and
co-authored 26 indexed, peer-reviewed journal articles in that
year.