Cómo se obtiene el cobre
The Ubiquity of Copper
The Presence of Copper in Daily Life
- Copper is found in various everyday items, including electrical wires, appliances, door handles, and televisions.
- It is also present in workplaces and educational institutions through computers, phones, and elevators.
- Urban environments are filled with copper that powers streetlights, traffic signals, illuminated signs, and building roofs.
Exploration and Mining of Copper
- Discovering a copper deposit involves extensive geological exploration to assess mineral quantity and quality.
- Geologists utilize satellite maps, drones, and direct rock observation to identify potential mining sites.
- The type of copper mineral determines the mining method: open-pit for oxidized minerals or underground for sulfide minerals.
Extraction Processes
Phases of Extraction
- Phase 1: Blasting - Explosives or hydrofracturing break the rock mass while ensuring uniform fractures.
- Phase 2: Loading - Large machinery loads fragmented ore into trucks efficiently to optimize time and energy use.
- Phase 3: Transport - Trucks transport the mineralized rocks to the next stage known as crushing.
Crushing and Size Reduction
- After extraction, rocks are crushed using large machines called crushers to reduce their size for further processing.
- A secondary crusher may be used to ensure uniformity in size before proceeding with additional processes.
Processing Copper Ores
Treatment of Oxidized vs. Sulfide Minerals
- For oxidized minerals post-crushing, a leaching process is initiated where crushed ore is treated with sulfuric acid solution over several days to produce copper sulfate.
- Sulfide ores require further grinding into a concentrate before undergoing smelting at high temperatures.
Final Stages of Production
- The resulting copper sulfate from leaching goes to electro-extraction pools where high-purity cathodes are produced via electrolysis.
- Smelted anodes are refined in electrolytic cells yielding high-purity cathodes (99.99% copper), weighing between 70 to 80 kg each.
Distribution of Finished Products
Shipping High-Purity Cathodes
- Once produced, cathodes are bundled tightly together for transportation by train to ports for shipping worldwide.