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Blowing of Copper in Converters, as Practised at Anaconda

Author: Hixon

The original of this text formed part of an American book, published in 1897, Notes on lead and copper smelting and copper converting. The third edition, appearing in 1900, had an appendix added, in which the construction of a new converter plant for the Anaconda Mining Co. was described. The third edition forms the basis for the present book.

The introduction, in the late 1890s, of a two-stage copper production process greatly facilitated the manufacture of this metal. Pyritic copper concentrates were first smelted in reverberatories, to form mattes; which were then blown to copper in Bessemer-type converters. The separation of iron from the copper, in the slag formed during the first stage of blowing, is an essential advantage in the process.

Hixon's task was simple: design, build and run a new two-stage converter plant for Anaconda. Of course, he started by extensively studying contemporary plants in operation. Particular attention was given to the converter lining and its efficient replacement (by far the greatest problem in the technology at the time). The use of cars or overhead cranes in converter exchange for relining is compared.

Follows an extended chapter, with many large scale, detailed - unique - drawings, describing how the new plant at Anaconda was conceived and built.

In the final section of the book, the difficulties of copper blowing and converter relining, from an operational point of view, are discussed. The author here fully uses his experience at the newly built Anaconda plant. In this section, concise information is also given on metal losses and costs of copper production by the Anaconda Mining Co.