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Contribution to the Examination of the Mechanisms of Copper Loss with the Slag in the Process of Sulfide Concentrates Smelting

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Abstract

This paper presents the results of an experimental investigation into the distribution of copper in the slag of an industrial reverberatory furnace sulfide concentrates smelting process in the copper smelter RTB Bor (Serbia). The influence of copper content in the matte, the temperature and the height of the slag on the content of copper in the slag was determined as Cuoxide, Cusulfide and Cutotal and was based on possible mechanisms for the loss of copper in a silicate slag from the smelting of sulfide copper concentrates. The greatest quantity of copper in the silicate slag was found in the form of matte particles, which were captured in the slag as a result of the “flotation” of SO2 gas which was formed by magnetite reduction with FeS at the slag–matte interphase boundary.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Belgrade, Technical Faculty in Bor, Bor, Serbia

    Zivan Zivkovic, Predrag Djordjevic & Natasa Mitevska

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  1. Zivan Zivkovic
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  2. Predrag Djordjevic
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Correspondence to Predrag Djordjevic.

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Zivkovic, Z., Djordjevic, P. & Mitevska, N. Contribution to the Examination of the Mechanisms of Copper Loss with the Slag in the Process of Sulfide Concentrates Smelting. Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration 37, 267–275 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42461-019-00125-4

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