The new edition of the book Extractive Metallurgy of Copper has been released. The sixth edition, by authors Mark Schlesinger, Kathryn Sole, William Davenport and Gerardo Alvear, expands on previous editions, including sections on orogenesis and copper mineralogy and new processes for efficiently recovering copper from ever-declining copper-grade mineral deposits. It also evaluates processes for maintaining concentrate copper grades from lower grade ores.
The book describes copper mineralogy, mining and beneficiation techniques; compares a variety of mining, smelting and converting technologies; provides a complete description of hydrometallurgical and electrometallurgical processes, including process options and recent improvements; and includes comprehensive descriptions of secondary copper processing, including scrap collection and upgrading, melting and refining technologies.
The sections cover topics including the recovery of critical by-products (such as caesium), worker health and safety, automation as a safety tool, and the geopolitical forces that have moved copper metal production to Asia (especially China) and new smelting and refining processes. It also evaluates indigenous Asian smelting processes, along with energy and water requirements, environmental performance, copper electrorefining processes, and sulphur dioxide capture processes such as the wet sulphuric acid (WSA) process.
In addition, the book puts special emphasis on the benefits of recycling copper scrap in terms of energy and water requirements. Comparisons of ore-to-product and scrap-to-product carbon emissions are also made to illustrate the concepts included.
Gerardo Alvear, one of the authors, said in a LinkedIn post announcing the new edition: “Copper will be one of the most relevant metals of the future but we should not forget that metallurgical education is also a cornerstone. A sustainable future without investing in metallurgical education is not feasible!”
More details of the new edition are available from the publisher Elsevier here