Copper ores is the ore contains copper. In nature Copper ores may refer to: Bornite, Chalcocite, Chalcopyrite, Cuprite, Malachite, Tennantite, Tetrahedrite.
Most copper is used for electrical equipment (60%); construction, such as roofing and plumbing (20%); industrial machineri, such as heat exchangers (15%) and alloys (5%). The main long established copper alloys are bronze, brass (a copper-zinc alloy), copper-tin-zinc, which was strong enough to make guns and cannons, and was known as gun metal, copper and nichel, known as cupronickel, which was the preferred metal for low-denomination coins. Copper is ideal for electrical wiring because it is easily worked, can be drawn into fine wire and has a high electrical conductivity.
Copper is mined either at open pit copper ore mines or underground copper ore mines. First the copper ore is blasted, loaded and transported to the primary crushers. Then the ore is crushed and screened, with the fine sulfide ore (~-0.5 mm) going to froth flotation cells for recovery of copper.
In the primary crusher, the ore is broken into smaller pieces of less than 25 centimetres in diameter. Crushed ore is then loaded on to a conveyor belt which takes it to the storage bin. In the storage bin, ball mills and other grinding machine grind the ore until it is a fine powder. During the crushing process, Shenbang has improved the capacity and end crushing products with our secondary crusher and tertiary crusher. The total energy consumption is reduced considerably.
Comparing the operation efficiency of CS Cone Crusher and hydraulic cone copper crusher, we find CS cone copper crusher achieved better results in tertiary crushing. And if installing the same number of secondary and tertiary crushers, a part of operation is transmitted from tertiary to secondary crushers where the liner wear is three times less, which significantly influences on the cost reduction in the crushing process.
As a major mining crushing equipment manufacturer in China, we can supply our clients with jaw copper crusher, cone copper crusher, impact copper crusher and industrial grinding mill etc. Our jaw copper crusher is a good primary crusher, our impact copper crusher is widely used as secondary crusher, our cone crusher including CS Cone Crusher, hydraulic cone crusher can be used as secondary crusher and tertiary crusher. Beyond this, we also supply ball mill, vertical mill, Raymond mill, trapezium mill etc. to our clients.
Copper mining process
There are two distinct types of copper ore, the sulfide ore and the oxide ore. The sulfide ores are beneficiated in flotation cells, while the oxide ores are generally leached. First the copper ore from a open pit mine is blasted, loaded and transported to the primary crushers. Then the ore is crushed and screened, with the fine sulfide ore (~-0.5 mm) going to froth flotation cells for recovery of copper. The coarser ore goes to the heap leach, where the copper is subjected to a dilute sulfuric acid solution to dissolve the copper. Then the leach solution containing the dissolved copper is subjected to a process called solvent extraction (SX). The SX process concentrates and purifies the copper leach solution so the copper can be recovered at a high electrical current efficiency by the electrowinning cells. It does this by adding a chemical reagent to the SX tanks which selectively binds with and extracts the copper, is easily separated from the copper (stripped), recovering as much of the reagent as possible for re-use. The concentrated copper solution is dissolved in sulfuric acid and sent to the electrolytic cells for recovery as copper plates (cathodes). From the copper cathodes, it is manufactured into wire, appliances, etc. that are used in everyday life. Below are some photos of the process equipment at an Arizona Copper Mine.
Copper crushing
When the copper ore come out from the ground, It is loaded into a 300 ton truck for transport to the crusher. The complete copper crushing plant includes jaw crusher as primary crusher, impact crusher and cone crusher. After crushed, the copper ore must be screened out according to size by screening machine and distribute the classified ore to a series of conveyors, for transportation to the mill for further processing. SBM can supplies a complete crushing plant for your copper mining, and can also design the special crushing plant according to your requirements.