A plan to reduce unit costs at its Globe, Ariz., facility by increasing leach-solvent extraction copper production by 25% has been announced by Inspiration Consolidated Copper, a subsidiary of Inspiration Resources of New York.
The $15-million program is scheduled for completion by the end of the third quarter, 1988. The company calculates it will boost the annual leach-solvent extraction production capacity to 125 million lb from 100 million lb and reduce production costs for all copper produced at the facility by 5 cents per lb.
The program calls for the construction of a new solvent extraction plant, new solution transfer systems and conversion of a number of cells at the tankhouse from electrorefining to electrowinning.
A patented process, the company says the extraction method bypasses concentrating and smelting. Instead, copper is dissolved from soluble copper ore through the use of sulphuric acid solutions. The copper then is removed from the solution by solvent extraction to produce an electrolyte. The electrolyte is pumped to the tankhouse for recovery of the copper by electrowinning, a process that deposits the copper onto electrically charged cathodes.
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