To know how copper is produced, first look at where the raw material for copper comes from
Geologists are very good at finding clues to mineral deposits, and like nature's detectives, they look for geological anomalies that might hint at underground treasures. To turn these treasures into copper, geological, economic, environmental and legal conditions must all work together seamlessly if mining is to go ahead.
So what do you know about the three types of "magic" in copper mining?
Once a deposit has been discovered, it is time to start mining for copper ore. There are three main types of mining:
Surface Mining: This is the most popular mining method in the world and is like digging a hole in the ground to find copper ore.
Underground mining: This is more like digging a hole in the ground, and is suitable for deposits that are buried deeper.
Leaching: This technique works like chemical magic to "wash" the copper out of the ore.
From ore to "shiny copper" is also very simple: after the ore is mined, it is first crushed and ground, then concentrated by flotation. This step is like sifting gold out of a pile of sand, and the resulting copper concentrate usually contains about 30% copper, but can be as high as 40% or more.
Then comes the smelting stage, which sometimes involves a roasting step to turn the copper ore into "ice copper" containing 50-70% copper. Next, the molten ice copper is processed in a converter into crude copper containing 98.5-99.5% copper. The crude copper is then either fire-refined or re-melted and cast into anodes for electrolytic refining. The product of electrolytic refining is refined copper cathode, which contains more than 99.99% copper, almost perfect copper.
The hydrometallurgical route is mainly used for low-grade oxide ores and some sulfide ores, where copper is extracted by leaching (solvent extraction) and electrolysis (SX-EW process). The yield of this method is the same as the electrolytic refining route, which produces refined copper from the mine.
Copper extracted from mines is referred to as "primary copper production". But don't forget that there is another important source of copper: scrap. Copper scrap comes from metal waste ("new scrap") or waste products ("old scrap") from the manufacturing process. The production of refined copper from scrap is called "secondary copper production".
Secondary copper producers use a process similar to primary copper production. The International Copper Study Group (ICSG) estimates that by 2022, secondary copper refining will account for 16.2% of total copper refining production at the refinery level.
From deposit to copper wire, copper mining and smelting is a journey of magic and ingenuity. Whether it's surface mining, underground mining or leaching, each step of the way requires superior technology and meticulous craftsmanship. Secondary copper production, on the other hand, embodies the wisdom of resource recycling and contributes to the sustainable development of the planet. In the future, the copper industry will continue to evolve and usher in a greener and more efficient era as technology advances and environmental protection demands.
Regarding the overview of world copper mining in 2023, from the above, we can easily find that since 1900, when the world copper production was less than 500,000 tons, the world copper production has been growing by 3.15% per year, and will reach 22 million tons by 2022 to 22 million tons in 2022.SX-EW production was virtually non-existent until the 1960s, and 4.3 million tons by 2022. (continued)
