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By P. Latostenmaa, T. Veneranta, J. Järvi, E. J. Peuraniemi

Boliden Harjavalta has operated a copper flash smelter since 1949 thus the smelter celebrates 70th anniversary of flash smelting in 2019. This paper shortly describes the historical perspective of the smelter and gives an update of the current operational issues and process modifications made during the recent years. The plant has carried out several major investments lately providing a firm view on the future. A new landfill area for the final slag was commissioned in 2018. A modernization of the concentrate storage area, a new acid plant and a debottlenecking project of the smelting line have been recently commissioned. At the same time, the tankhouse capacity will be expanded. This paper focuses on smelter modernizations. INTRODUCTION Boliden is a metal company operating mainly in northern Europe with core competencies in the fields of exploration, mining, smelting and metal recycling. Boliden Harjavalta, located in Finland, is part of the Smelters Business area of the Boliden Group and operates a copper and nickel smelter with related sulphuric acid plant in Harjavalta, and a copper refinery in Pori. As a short historical review, Harjavalta’s history may be dated back to the year 1910 when the Outokumpu ore body in eastern Finland was discovered. By the end of 1913, a copper mine was in operation and a copper plant based on Hybinette process was ready for commissioning. Due to difficulties in metal recoveries and throughput the Hybinette process was permanently shut down in 1929, and 100% of the mining production was sold as concentrate abroad. As the mine production increased steadily, a decision of a new smelter was made in early 30’s. In 1936 Outokumpu’s copper smelter based on electric smelting was commissioned in Imatra. The smelter was dismantled and transferred to Harjavalta during the final stages of the Second World War. The copper refinery started in Pori already in 1941 and the first copper anodes were cast in Harjavalta in 1945. First sulphuric acid plant started operation in 1947. Due to the post-war shortage of electrical energy, the plant metallurgists initiated a major development work to start exploiting the latent heat of concentrates. Thus, the flash smelting method was developed in Harjavalta and commissioned in 1949. Ten years later, flash smelting was also applied for nickel concentrates. Table 1 summarizes major historical and technical milestones of Harjavalta. The history of flash smelting is described in details in another paper of this conference (Jåfs et al., 2019).

Jan 1, 2019

By V. E. Chrapunov, T. V. Chnyrenkova, R. A. Isakova, V. A. Luganov

Arsenic-gold bearing ores are used as a flux in smelting or leached out to extract gold. To decrease arsenic content in processed materials and to break up the lattice to free the gold, raw materials are roasted. This article analyses the results of laboratory and pilot testing of dissociating and oxidizing roasting of gold-arsenic bearing concentrates. During the dissociation roasting under vacuum arsenic is sublimated into elemental and sulfide forms. The process allows to minimize the negative influence on the environment but requires costly engineering solutions. Roasting in a neutral medium or with limited quantity of oxygen in the gaseous phase makes it possible to sublimate arsenic in the form of oxides and sulfides and may be carried out in the autogeneous mode in fluid bed furnaces. If oxidizing roasting of the concentrates is done in the presence of soda, practically all arsenic and sulfur form water-soluble compounds and remain in cinder.

Jan 1, 2002

By W. A. Koehler, W. L. Eaton, Reynold Q. Shotts, M. E. Hinkle, M. R. Geer, Ralph M. Hunter, H. F. Yancey, Andrew B. Crichton, E. Zimmerman, S. H. Ash

R. Maize and H. P. Greenwald presiding) E. T. POWELL*-I would like to ask either Mr. Ash or Mr. Eaton if they know of any place where the Mine Inspectors' for¬mula has been used that water has flowed from one colliery to the other. W. L. EATON (authors' reply)-We have made considerable study but we have not gotten around to very many of the barrier pillars. I would not say that any or all of them have been designed to the strict figures of this formula. Most of those ex¬amined will not hold back the water that they are supposed to hold back. E. T. POWELL-If the pillar remains ac¬cording to the Mine Inspectors' formula? W. L. EATON-We have not found very many where the provisions were followed. E. T. POWELL-Where the Mine Inspec¬tors' formula has been fully complied with, have there been failures or not? W. L. EATON-I cannot say. Most of these barrier pillars probably were designed in accordance with this formula, but most of them, if they were so designed, are not in that shape now because a large number of them will not hold back the water; they have been reinforced, and they are punc¬tured in various places. Holes have been driven through them to relieve the hydro¬static pressure to avoid a failure. They do not dare to have a failure. In many instances, the barrier is punc¬tured to avoid a failure. In order to mine their coal safely, many companies must pump water from mines that were aban¬doned many years ago. R. MAIZE-That is true, Mr. Eaton, but do you know of any case where a barrier pillar actually failed and flooded an ad¬joining mine when the pillar had been left in accordance with the Mine Inspectors formula?

Jan 1, 1948

By AIME AIME

THOUGH the Annual Meeting of the Institute-officially numbered 158 on the records was delayed a bit at the start by low steam pressure on the locomotives bringing members to New York, the crowd that finally arrived more than lived up to expectations, and the technical program had few difficulties because of absent authors or lack of competent discussers. The transportation difficulties were occasioned by the fact that Monday, Feb. 15, was the third coldest day in the 72 year history of the New York Weather Bureau, the official temperature being 8 below zero. The New York Central's premier train, the 20th Century, due at 9:30 a.m., arrived about 6:30 p.m., and the Commodore, another crack train from Chicago, was about equally late.

Jan 1, 1943

By C. Karpuz, Y. S. Istanbulluoglu

This paper describes the results of convergence measurements conducted about five years for the re-use gate roadways at OAL lignite mine in Turkey. Double lignite seams separated with a marn layer, are mined with long-wall retreating mining system at the mine. Rib pillar has been abandoned and gate roadways were planned to be packed for the re-use of full extraction. Various packing systems have been attempted, namely three rows of woodenchock, one row of wooden chock plus concrete wall and concrete wall only. The re-use of maingate roadways packed with wooden chock yielded 62% of closure. Lastly developed concrete packing of 3 meters wide and specially developed support set composed of three friction props and a cap, which is a modification of yieldable set, have successfully maintained the main and tail gate roadways stability with a total vertical convergence of 32%. Good correlation has been established between pack stiffness and floor heave as well as maingate and tailgate convergences. The elimination of rib pillars by re-use of gate roadways increased the coal recovery by 20% and decreased the development/production ratio from 0.065 m3/ton to0.022 m3/ton.

Jan 1, 1997

By Larry G. Twidwell, Corby G. Anderson, Camille M. Fleuriault

"The selective precipitation of iron as ammonium jarosite is a well-established industrial technology in base metals hydrometallurgy. It is a key technology in minimizing iron tenors which would be disruptive to downstream processing. It also provides a more readily filterable iron solid to better facilitate materials handling. This paper elucidates the fundamentals behind industrial iron precipitation. Then, the details of the successful optimization of an industrial ammonium jarosite circuit are presented.HYDROMETALLURGICAL IRON REMOVAL FUNDAMENTALS Iron is the fourth most abundant element in the Earth’s crust (5% by weight) and is often found in complex ores such as sulphide-bearing formations. Iron represents an issue though during leaching, a technology which is widely used for the treatment of this type of ore: •,Iron has the particularity of forming hydroxides when leached under certain conditions. Iron hydroxides form a viscous gel, which is difficult to filter and traps valuable elements such as silver. •,Iron is solubilized along with other metals and interferes with the subsequent extraction steps. As a result, purification of the pregnant leach solutions is required to achieve economical extraction of base metals. In the 1960s, metallurgists developed iron precipitation processes for solution purification (Habashi, 1999). Nowadays, precipitation of iron bearing species, such as goethite, hematite or jarosite, has become one of the most common methods used in the industry to purify leach liquors. To be suitable, the precipitate has to be readily filterable and thus must not be too fine of particle size. Precipitation can take place in autoclaves at medium to high temperatures, under an oxygen or air overpressure (Tourre, 1984, Fleuriault 2016, Fleuriault Anderson Shuey, 2016))."

Jan 1, 2016

By Donald Leroux, Jean-François Wilhelmy, Ahmed Bouajila

"A young private R & D organization, COREM celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2009. Managed by a consortium of nine mining and metallurgical companies, COREM has the mandate of increasing the competitiveness of its member companies through the development and transfer of mineral processing innovations. Typical technologies developed by COREM include alternative mineral processing techniques, novel operating strategies, innovative sensors and process simulation software. Many of them were developed in partnership with universities and selected research organizations.Because the COREM membership base is broad (from ferrous to base, to precious metal industries), its R & D program must deliver technologies with applications within a wide spectrum of mineral processes. Comminution, physical (gravity and magnetic) separation, flotation, cyanidation, pelletizing and thermal processes are the main topics of the R & D program. A number of new technologies have been developed and transferred to the plants of member companies. These examples of transferable technologies demonstrate the capability of COREM to impact the bottom-line of its member companies.INTRODUCTIONCOREM is a private mineral-processing R & D organization that operates from its own laboratories and pilot-plant with its own staff of professionals and technicians (about 95 persons). It is managed and financially supported by a consortium of nine mining and metallurgical companies and three provincial and federal ministries. The very ‘down-to-earth’ mission statement of COREM is to increase the competitiveness of the mineral processing plants of its members. The eighteen plants upon which the COREM technology development program is currently based can be found in Québec, Newfoundland and Labrador, New Brunswick, the Netherlands and Botswana."

Jan 1, 2010

By Jaeheon Lee, Junmo Ahn, Jiajia Wu

To reduce the environmental footprint of hydrometallurgical processing of black mass from spent lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), a green leaching system based on glycine and sodium metabisulfite (Gly-SMS) was proposed. The leaching study demonstrated that the highest cobalt and lithium recoveries of 100 percent and 99.8 percent were achieved under optimal conditions. The leaching mechanism revealed that the dissolution of LiCoO2 in the Gly-SMS solution followed the shrinking core model. The apparent activation energies for cobalt and lithium were determined as 48.05 and 41.51 kJ/mol, respectively, indicating a surface chemical reaction controlling mechanism. The leachate was then processed by an acidification- precipitation technique with oxalic acid as the precipitant to remove cobalt. Glycine complexes with metal ions by zwitterionic ligand and recycles in the leaching-precipitation circuit, reducing the reagent cost. Compared to other studies, this leaching system has near-neutral operating conditions and is cost-effective, making it an economically viable alternative for treating cathode materials from spent LIBs.

Dec 1, 2024

By F. V. Lenel

R. P. Seelig.*—Dr. Lenel is to be congratulated on his presentation of a particularly interesting paper describing the use of the powder metallurgy process for the production of magnetic pole pieces. The only thing that might be added is that we have been successful in producing pole . pieces with a narrow hysteresis curve by the use of considerably lower sintering temperatures than the ones used by Dr. Lenel. It is quite possible that this use of lowe- temperatures has considerably widened the field of commercial application for pole pieces made from metal powders. Development work is currently being done on an a.c. application of a sintered iron part. However, I am in full agreement with Dr. Lenel that if eddy currents are an important factor in the application, we cannot substitute sintered material for laminated sheet-metal structures. Mr. Peters' remarks concerning the limitations of machine parts were well taken. The emphasis of the limitations makes it easier to define clearly what we can do and-what the advantages are of machine parts made of metal powders. When I mention metal-powder machine parts, I mean those of relatively high density, although complete elimination of porosity is not possible at this time. The limitations of the field for this type of parts are largely economical. I believe that Mr. Langhammer has made that point very clear. The following questions are very often asked: How large a part can you make? How close can you hold the dimensions ? How fast can a part be produced? In a majority of the cases, it depends on the cost at which the part can be produced. A large variety of shapes and sizes of a number of materials can be formed. However, the main requirement in this field of endeavor is whether this can be done more economically by powder metallurgy than by other manufacturing methods. As a general indication, it may be stated that densities up to 95 per cent of that of rolled material can now be produced commercially in simpler parts. Tolerances of plus or minus 0.001 in. are common, but where special conditions justify, closer tolerances can be held; we are producing a part of which one dimension is held to 0.0003 inch. Finally, as far as maximum size is concerned, technically this would depend on the capacity of the press and furnace equipment available. Actually, we find that the economical limit of powder-metallurgy machine parts is approximately one pound. From there on, each individual case must he studied on its own merits.

Jan 1, 1945

By C. Ford, R. E. Salas Rojas, J. P. Contreras Rodriquez, S. A. Pierce

Heightened environmental consciousness has resulted in the development of various international accords dealing with natural resource management. This international awareness is now being translated into regional and local initiatives that proactively implement collaborative environmental management programs. One such program was recently initiated in northern Chile in recognition of the interconnection of Andean salars. Cooperative efforts between industry, governmental agencies and academic professionals have resulted in the implementation of simultaneous environmental monitoring of flora and fauna in the salars of northern Chile. This coordinated effort is leading to an improved understanding of the migratory patterns of South American fauna, as well as improved access to an expanded database for the multiple user groups associated with the Andean salars. The El Abra Mine is actively participating in these coordinated monitoring efforts.

Jan 1, 1999

By R. Hogg, S. Chander

An overview of various physical and interfacial characterization methods for use in mineral processing is presented in this paper. The availability of a large number of characterization techniques and commercial instruments requires that the reliability and limitation of each be carefully examined. The choice of a method may depend upon the manner in which the information is to be used, for example, in development of new processes, plant and process design, plant control, problem solving, etc.

Jan 1, 1987

By Francisco Sena Leite, Raquel Sobral, Vinicius Gouveia de Miranda, Céu Jesus

"The urgent need for improvements in the control and mitigation of environmental and social conditions associated with the extraction and processing of raw materials is increasingly a demand imposed by legal entities and institutions. Therefore, this present article proposes an improvement of the estimation in the magnitude of the vibrations resulting from rock blasting methodologies in the surrounding areas,incorporating the heterogeneity caused by uncontrollable parameters, such as geological andgeotechnical characteristics. This methodology combines the use of empirical vibration attenuation lawscommonly known and with terrain discretization techniques using Voronoi’s decomposition. For thevalidation assessment of this methodology, the data set collected and compiled is composed by 87 vibration measures collected in 16 sample points in one area of study of which 2/3 of the samples were used to create the model and 1/3 for the validation. Using normality tests for statistical residue analysis,it is possible to infer that this present model has null residual mean, as well as a smaller sum of residualerrors. Comparing the methodology present in this paper with the procedures executed nowadays, areduction of the errors associated with the estimation is obvious, highlighting a better characterization of the behavior of the vibrations associated with rock blasting."

Jan 1, 2017

By Víctor Cabrera

El objetivo de la ingeniería y construcción es preparar productos comerciales, tales como metales y concentrados, en base de la explotación minera para su posterior despacho y embarque al mercado comprador. Es decir, el proyecto minero es el puente entre la explotación minera y el mercado. En ese sentido, el presente texto señala las claves para la ejecución de un proyecto minero que va desde un inicio hasta su desarrollo. Así también debe cumplirse las metas del propuesto, calidad técnica y programación del proyecto.

Aug 25, 2002

It should be stating the æbleeding obviousÆ to say that the most efficient method of recovery must be used during the testing and evaluation phases of an orebody. Furthermore, the company will be literally throwing away money by not using the most efficient recovery plant during mining. This is especially true in the case of a low concentration/high value commodity such as diamonds. Unfortunately, this economic recovery criterion is not always the driving force. Some inexperienced companies think that they can preserve capital by using cheaper, and generally less efficient, recovery plants to mine their product. This philosophy is invariably a fallacy. Furthermore, it is also important to use the correct sized plant for the proposed task. It is no use trying to use a small testing plant to treat large quantities of ore, as this may result in loss of recovery efficiency. The converse is equally true.

Jan 1, 2004

By William M. Gleason

Hard times continued to plague the industry when the calendar rolled over to 2000. During 1999, the United States economy had grown vigorously, capping the longest economic expansion in United States history. However, the mining industry was not so fortunate. Commodity prices remained in a slump in the “new-economy” that was fueled by excitement and speculation about the power of the Internet during the infancy of the Information Age. Much of the investment money that once went to mining and exploration was now headed to the world of virtual gold mines. SME President Donald E. Ranta implemented new technology into his plans for SME. His two major goals were new membership growth and to foster the establishment of the comprehensive Internet presence for the Society’s technical information. His strategic priorities included enhancing the quality and quantity of publications, programs, meetings and short courses. “The Internet is the vehicle that will advance the priorities,” he said.

Jan 1, 2007

By Ride G

The provision of a water supply is a major consideration in planning mining developments particularly in remote areas. The evaluation and development of adequate water supplies in and areas of Australia is often as important as the discovery of the orebody. The copper orebody at Warrego near Tennant Creek could not be mined economically if cheap treatment water was not available near the mine. This paper describes the difficulties in obtaining water in the Tennant Creek area and the water supply investigations carried out near the Warrego Mine which resulted in the successful discovery and evaluation of a reliable large scale water supply. It is contended that the establishment of a water supply must be approached on a systematic and scientific basis similar to the approach with the exploration and establishment of actual ore reserves. Mining companies with similar water supply problems may benefit by approaching their problem on this basis. The approach adopted by Peko Mines is outlined in this report.

Jan 1, 1980

By W. M. Weigel

Salt production in Louisiana and Texas at the present time is entirely from salt domes of the interior and coastal groups. Before and during the Civil War salt was recovered from numerous salines and salt springs by evaporation in open kettles. The location of these in nearly every instance was near what is now known to be a salt dome, and the source of the salt in the salines and spring waters was that in the salt core. The tops of many of the shallower domes have been subjected to erosion1. The discovery that the salt occurred as large masses of rock salt in the form of domes was made in May, 1802, at Avery Island, La., by John Marsh Avery, grandson of the original owner, John C. Marsh, who built the old salt works in 18122. The first shaft for mining was sunk on the Avery dome in 1867 by Chouteau and Price. It was 90 ft. deep, about 58 ft. being in solid salt. It was abandoned in 1870. There are three general groups or fields of salt domes; interior Louisiana in northern Louisiana, interior Texas in northeastern Texas, and the coastal domes nearer the Gulf Coast and extending from the Mississippi River to the Rio Grande. This last group contains by far the greatest number of domes. As many of the coastal domes especially are prolific producers of petroleum and a few of sulfur, their geology has been intensively studied and fully covered in the literature. The depth to the top of the salt varies from near the surface, where shallow ground waters have dissolved the salt to just below recent deposits, to several thousand feet, where the depth has been cstimated only by geophysical methods. The diameter of the salt core varies from less than 1/2 mile to over 2 miles. Only domes where the salt is comparatively near the surface have been developed for commercial salt. Three deeper domes, which will be described later, have recently been developed or are in process of development, as a source of brine for chemical use. Fig. 1 shows the location of the domes so far developed for commercial salt and brine. Nos. 1, 2, 4, 7, 8, 9 and 10 are in the Gulf Coastal field,

Jan 1, 1938

By W. M. Weigel

Salt production in Louisiana and Texas at the present time is entirely from salt domes of the interior and coastal groups. Before and during the Civil War salt was recovered from numerous salines and salt springs by evaporation in open kettles. The location of these in nearly every instance was near what is now known to be a salt dome, and the source of the salt in the salines and spring waters was that in the salt core. The tops of many of the shallower domes have been subjected to erosion1. The discovery that the salt occurred as large masses of rock salt in the form of domes was made in May, 1802, at Avery Island, La., by John Marsh Avery, grandson of the original owner, John C. Marsh, who built the old salt works in 18122. The first shaft for mining was sunk on the Avery dome in 1867 by Chouteau and Price. It was 90 ft. deep, about 58 ft. being in solid salt. It was abandoned in 1870. There are three general groups or fields of salt domes; interior Louisiana in northern Louisiana, interior Texas in northeastern Texas, and the coastal domes nearer the Gulf Coast and extending from the Mississippi River to the Rio Grande. This last group contains by far the greatest number of domes. As many of the coastal domes especially are prolific producers of petroleum and a few of sulfur, their geology has been intensively studied and fully covered in the literature. The depth to the top of the salt varies from near the surface, where shallow ground waters have dissolved the salt to just below recent deposits, to several thousand feet, where the depth has been cstimated only by geophysical methods. The diameter of the salt core varies from less than 1/2 mile to over 2 miles. Only domes where the salt is comparatively near the surface have been developed for commercial salt. Three deeper domes, which will be described later, have recently been developed or are in process of development, as a source of brine for chemical use. Fig. 1 shows the location of the domes so far developed for commercial salt and brine. Nos. 1, 2, 4, 7, 8, 9 and 10 are in the Gulf Coastal field,

Jan 1, 1938

By H. Sis, D. Dahlin, S. Chander, C. Summers

Bench-scale selective-flocculation tests were conducted on samples of Florida and Western phosphate process tailings. Physical, mineralogical, and surface characteristics were determined for both types of samples. The flocculation tests investigated dispersant and flocculant types and doses, pH, and slurry percent solids, while other parameters were held constant. Where selectivity was achieved, phosphate minerals remained dispersed, whereas silicate minerals flocculated and settled. In single-stage tests, flocculants having low to medium anionic character effectively upgraded products at moderately elevated pH. Multiple-stage tests, and tests in which flocculants of lower molecular weight were used as site-blockers, gave improved results.

Jan 1, 2002

By G Ride

The provision of a water supply is a major consideration in planning mining developments particularly in remote areas. The evaluation and development of adequate water supplies in arid areas of Australia is often as important as the discovery of the orebody. The copper orebody at Warrego near Tennant Creek could not be mined economically if cheap treatment water was not available near the mine. This paper describes the difficulties in obtaining water in the Tennant Creek area and the water supply investigations carried out near the Warrego Mine which resulted in the successful discovery and evaluation of a reliable large scale water supply. It is contended that the establishment of a water supply must be approached on a systematic and scientific basis similar to the approach with the exploration and establishment of actual ore reserves. Mining companies with similar water supply problems may benefit by approaching their problem on this basis. The approach adopted by Peko Mines is outlined in this report.

Jan 1, 1971