Step By Step Copper Smelting Process In Palabora Mines

      Pyrometallurgy, or smelting, usually used in the smelting process of copper ore with sulfide and iron sulfide minerals. The concentrate is dried and fed into a furnace. The minerals are partially oxidized and melted, resulting in segregated layers.

Matte coating refers to a mixture of the iron sulfide-copper sinks to the bottom. The slag, which refers to the remaining impurities, floats on top of the matte. The slag is discarded on site or sold as railroad ballast and sand blasting grit. Sulfur dioxide gases are also collected and made into sulfuric acid for use in hydrometallurgical leaching (discussed below) or sold off-site.

Step By Step Copper Smelting Process In Palabora Mines South Africa

Copper Production Process In Palabora Mine South Africa

      The Palabora copper mine in South Africa is one of the largest copper mines in the world. Copper production process in palabora mine south africa operates in accordance with the guidelines of the company, structured on human rights, corporate governance, environmental management, corporate citizenship and business ethics - as it is consistent with regulatory requirements, relevant and leading industry practices. The guidelines in this Palabora mining defined, approved and supervised by the company's board of directors. Palabora mine seeks to implement both the letter and the spirit of these guidelines for all areas of business.

      Subsurface mining activities in Palabora copper mine continue as planned The use of modern communication technologies open on southern Africa Palabora mining operations have resulted in huge cost savings in installation, hardware and engineering. In addition, many of the benefits derived from the functional advantages of digital communication. For example, all the diagnostic data can now be transferred directly from the field into the control room of mining operations. This increases reliability and significantly reduce plant downtime. Extensive diagnostic functions enable preventative maintenance and service work coordinated. A particular advantage is that the operation and configuration of field devices from different manufacturers in a network Profibus-PA can be done over the network with a single engineering tool (Commuwin from Endress and Hauser).

      Copper production process in palabora mine south africa Since 2003  , use two flotation plants for to copper production process from the autogenous mills in series to boost recovery from higher grade underground ore. Slurry that has not arrived at the final froth concentrate forms the feed to the magnetic separation plant. Transition to underground mining at the mine Palabora has allowed 50,000 tpd of conventional crushing, grinding and flotation capacity. Copper and magnetite recovered on behalf of Foskor (neighboring mining company) by toll processing 20,000 tpd of marginal ore stock of mining operations in the open Palabora. The conventional process route is also applied to underground ore available in excess of autogenous milling capacity.

Palabora Mining South Africa

     

      Palabora Mining is located at 360km north east of Pretoria, close to Kruger National Park, Palabora Mining in South Africa's leading copper producer and also a major source of vermiculite and baddeleyite (zirconium oxide). Palabora Mining Company was founded in South Africa in August 1956. The mining company is owned and managed by Rio Tinto. 57.7% owned by Rio Tinto and Anglo American has a stake of 16.8%. On September 5, 2012, both mining companies have announced their intention to sell their respective interests in Palabora mining. And on December 11, 2012, Rio Tinto announced that it reached an agreement with a consortium of sales that are committed to sustainable management continuously in mining bound Palabora. The consortium is made up of the South African state and the Chinese state entities led by the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) of South Africa Limited and China's Hebei Iron & Steel Group. The sale agreement was concluded in July 2013, and the company name changed from Palabora to Palabora Copper Mining Company (Pty) Limited.

     

      Palabora mine containing magnetite, vermiculite, apatite, zirconium, titanium and uranium and copper. Mineral deposits in a complex consisting of alkali pyroxenite especially frozen by events pegmatites, foskorite and carbonatite. Three separate mineralized zones have been identified in surface outcrop 20km² complex of phosphate-rich northern and central (Loolekop) zones form the basis for the production of copper in this Palabora mining. Copper mineral ore that is channeled into the carbonatite pipe where the value is usually concentric with the highest value (1.0% copper) at its core. High grade copper mineralization extends in the middle of the end of the projection on the floor of the open pit mine.

Mining Methods And Gold Processing Musselwhite Mines

   

      Mining methods and gold processing musselwhite mines initially operated both open-pit and underground mines, open-pit production having been designed to ensure mill feed at a rate of 3,300t/d for about five years following mill commissioning. Most of the mine’s ore is now sourced from underground. And gold processing from musselwhite mines processing includes crushing, grinding, leaching by cyanidation, carbon in pulp recovery and electrowinning, to achieve an overall recovery of approximately 96%.

      The stratigraphy in the Musselwhite mine vicinity is dominated by mafic volcanics, chemical sediments and felsic volcanics. External into the supracrustal sequences are a series of undifferentiated gneisses and granitoids. All mineral lithologies within the immediate mine area have been metamorphosed at mid to upper amphibolite facies. Mineralization is predominantly hosted within meta-chemical sediments (banded iron formations) and in particular within garnet-magnetite-grunerite facies meta-banded iron formations (locally termed the Northern Iron Formation). The location of mineralization is controlled by the intersection of shear zones and folded meta-banded iron formations. These geological controls result in mineralized shoots, which plunge at approximately 15 degrees to grid north, have a down dip extent of up to 150 metres, down plunge continuation in excess of 1.5 kilometres, and across-lithology width of up to 10 metres. Mineralized zones are characterized by abundant pyrrhotite, quartz flooding and, rarely, visible gold.

Mining Methods In  Musselwhite Mines

Gold Mining Industry In South Africa

      

       The country of South Africa is the producer of gold in the world. The successful gold mining industry in South Africa has had a significant impact on the development of africa as an advanced an economically successful country. Mining in South Africa has been the main driving force behind the history and development of Africa's most advanced and richest economy, after Nigeria The nation's gold mining efforts began with the discovery of a diamond stone at the Orange River in 1867. Soon after, the Kimberly pipes were discovered and explored, and gold rushes began to Pilgrim's Rest and Barberton. The Witwatersrand gold rush took place in 1886. This historical event began the development of the gold field in the area and formed the well known city of Johannesburg which is a region africa gold mines. Known as the Witwatersrand basin, this popular area has generated more than 41,000 tons of gold from Africa Mining and continues to be mined today. It is a massive area that encompasses more than 400km.

      The gold mining industry in South Africa is successful due to the countries large gold in africa, which make up a substantial portion of the gold reserves and gold prospecting in the entire world, with some estimates over 50%. The US Geological survey believes that the country has over 6000 metric tons of precious metal, but 95% of it is located underground. The future of gold mining industry in South Africa depends on the level of gold, that the mines can produce. However, the extraction of gold has recently declined because of rising costs. These higher costs are a direct result of the declining grades, an increase in the underground depth of the mines and a declining gold price.