Dead Roasting and Blast-Furnace Smelting of Chalcopyrite Concentrate

Summary

This paper describes a minimum-pollution process for smelting dead-roasted chalcopyrite concentrate directly to blister copper in a blast furnace. The process depends on converting the preponderant portion of the iron in the concentrate to its highest-valence oxide during dead roasting and on minimizing residence time of the charge in the furnace during smelting by operating a furnace with an unusually low-charge column. Technical and economic advantages of the process include excellent sulfur control, low capital cost, high metal recoveries, energy conservation, and flexibility of operation.