Copper ore: mining, refining, deposits and interesting facts

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

Copper is quite widely used in almost any of the existing industries, it stands out from a variety of ores because it is the most in demand. copper ore is a natural resource derived from an ore called bornite that is often used in industry. Great demand for this ore appeared not only because of the large amount of copper in the composition, but also due to the good reserves of bornite in the ground.

Copper ore deposits

This ore is a combination of several minerals, where, in addition to it, there are other chemical elements, including nickel. Copper ores include ores where there is so much copper that it is better to extract it by industrial methods. This requirement is met by ores, where the copper index is 0.5–1%. There are many resources on Earth containing copper, 90% of them are copper-nickel ores.

The largest deposits of copper ores in Russia are located on the territory of Eastern Siberia, onUral and Kola Peninsula. Each country produces copper in its own way. There are large deposits of copper and tin ores, in addition to Russia, in other countries, for example, in Poland, Kazakhstan, Canada.

Ore deposits are usually divided into groups that differ in various properties:

1. Stratiform, such a group consists mainly of shales and sandstones.
2. Pyrite type, for example, vein or native copper.
3. Hydrothermal ores, which include porphyry copper ores.
4. Igneous ores.
5. Skarn ore type.
6. Carbonate ores.

On the territory of Russia, copper ore of sandy or shale types is mainly mined, they contain copper in several forms.

Natural copper compounds

Nuggets of pure copper in our Earth are found in small quantities. It is mainly mined in combination with other elements, here are the most famous of them:

1. Bornite is a mineral named after the Czech scientist Born. It is a sulfide ore. It also has alternative names, such as copper purple. It is mined in two types: low-temperature tetragonal-scalenohedral and high-temperature cubic-hexaoctahedral. The difference in the types of this material depends on where it originated. Exogenous bornite is a secondary early sulfide, is unstable and subject to destruction when exposed to winds. Endogenous bornite has a replaceable chemicalcomposition, it may contain various elements, for example, chalcocite and galena. In theory, the composition of bornite can include 11% iron and more than 63% copper, but, unfortunately, this composition is not preserved in practice.
2. Chalcopyrite - this type of mineral originally bore the name - copper pyrites, it originates by hydrothermal means. Chalcopyrite belongs to the category of polymetallic ores. In addition to copper, such a mineral contains iron and sulfur. It is formed as a result of metamorphic processes, and is present in the metasomatic types of copper ores.
3. Chalcozine - this ore contains a large amount of copper, almost 80%, the remaining place is occupied by sulfur. Often this type is otherwise called copper luster, since its surface looks like a shiny metal, shimmering in several shades. In ores, chalcocite forms as a fine-grained or dense inclusion.
4. Cuprite - this mineral belongs to the oxide group, and it originates in those places where native copper or malachite is contained.
5. Covellin - such a mineral is formed only in a metasomatic way. It contains almost 67% copper. There is a large deposit of copper ores in Serbia, Italy and the USA.
6. Malachite, or, as it is also called, an ornamental stone, is very popular, it is a copper carbonic green. If this mineral is found somewhere, it means that others can be found nearby, containing copper in their composition.

Copper production technologies

ForIn order to obtain copper from the above, three technologies are currently used: electrolysis, hydrometallurgy, pyrometallurgy.

Chalcopyrite is taken as a raw material for the pyrometallurgical method of obtaining copper. When using this technology, you need to perform a certain number of sequential actions. Initially, copper ore is beneficiated by roasting or flotation. Flotation is the wetting of the starting material in a bath filled with a liquid composition. Forming air bubbles in those parts where mineral elements are contained, they move upward along with these bubbles. As a result, the top of the bath is filled with blister copper, where it contains up to 35%. This powder is then converted into pure copper.

Oxidation firing is a little different. When using this method, copper ore is enriched; it contains a large amount of sulfur. The ore is heated to a high temperature, after which the sulfides are oxidized, and the amount of sulfur in the composition of the ore decreases, almost twice. Further, the ore is melted in special furnaces, and an alloy containing iron and copper is obtained.

The resulting material needs to be improved, this is done by blowing in a horizontal converter, without supplying additional fuel. After this procedure, the oxidation of iron and sulfide occurs. The result is blister copper, with a content of up to 91% copper. For even greater purification of the metal, it is maderefining, by removing foreign impurities, using a solution of copper sulphate. As a result, the amount of copper in the metal increases, it reaches 99.9%.

An alternative way to enrich copper

There is another good way to enrich copper, it is done using sulfuric acid in order to isolate the necessary metal.

The result is a solution from which copper ores are subsequently extracted, gold can be obtained in the same way. This method is used in cases where the presence of copper in the composition of the ore is not so large.

Can I smelt copper at home?

You may be hesitant about doing this because you don't have all the chemicals needed to etch copper, but you can take a copper bar that's ready and melt it down. Copper is usually found in thick wires, electromagnetic coils in the form of the same wire, as well as in computer parts.

Melting copper can be carried out at a high temperature, so in this case you will need a hearth - a special closed-type combustion chamber, into which gas enters under high pressure and ignites there, but at the same time it is directed by a nozzle so that the heat does not go out unnecessarily into the walls.

In closing

We hope that after reading this article you understand how important it is to mine and refine copper. We strongly do not recommend to you personallyuse the pickling methods described, as well as melting, as in these cases you can cause irreparable harm to your he alth.