Matte Smelting Processes

Matte is a molten solution of sulphides of heavy

metals which is produced by smelting sulphide
minerals (in concentrates).
contains small amounts of gangue oxides (Al2O3,
CaO, MgO, SiO2).
Production of matte is a concentration smelting
(as opposed to reduction smelting) which is aimed
at producing a highly concentrated melt when
compared to the initial concentrate (from mineral
processing).
Fe-Cu matte and Cu-Ni matte are of great
importance in the industry because most of the Cu
and Ni are produced through matte smelting
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 When compared to reduction smelting, matte

smelting offers the following advantages:
Some mattes can be processed to give the desired
metal directly. E.g. Fe can be oxidized from Fe-Cu
mattes by proper slagging in roast-reaction process to
give metallic Cu. Fuel requirements become less than
in roast-reduction.
Relatively low melting temperature of matte
compared to metals. E.g. a matte with equal amounts
of copper and iron sulphide melts below 1000oC,
whereas an alloy of Fe and Cu would melt at around
1400oC. This leads to lower thermal energy
requirements and gangue minerals can be separated
easily as slag

Generally matte smelting reactions proceed as

Sulphide concentrate + flux + air + fuel (if needed)
= matte + slag + gas
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4.1 Fe-Cu mattes

Formation of Fe-Cu mattes is based on the Fe-CuS ternary system

There is a miscibility gap between matte and the

metallic phase.

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 The matte is basically a mixture of Cu1.85S and

Fe0.9S in a pseudobinary Cu2S-FeS system.

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 Fe + S +Cu <95% weight as some oxygen is

always dissolved in the matte.
Primary aim of matte smelting is to turn the
sulfide minerals in solid copper concentrate
into 3 products: molten matte, molten slag
and off gas.
This is done by reacting them with O2 .
The oxygen is almost always fed as oxygenenriched air.

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 There is always a trade-off between matte grade

(mass% Cu) and recovery. Inputting a large
amount of O2 will oxidize more of the Fe in the
concentrate, so less Fe sulfide ends up in the
matte.
This generates a higher matte grade.
On the other hand, using too much oxygen
encourages oxidation of Cu,

The Cu2O dissolves in the slag, and thus represents

loss of Cu
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 As a result, adding the correct amount of O2 needed to

produce an acceptable matte grade without generating
a slag too high in Cu is a requirement.
Another loss of Cu to slag comes, if the activity of FeO
in the slag is too high. The FeO will react with Cu2S in
the matte:

Thus the reaction is not thermodynamically favored at

1200oC. However, a high activity of FeO in the slag and
a low activity of FeS in the matte generate higher
activities of Cu2O in the slag.
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 This is the case if a large proportion of Fe in

the concentrate is oxidised
In addition, FeO reacts with O2 to form solid
magnetite if its activity is too high.
The presence of magnetite poses serious
operational problems that discussed later.
Therefore lowering the activity of FeO in the
slag is important and is done by adding silica
as a flux:
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 Again there is a trade-off: flux costs money and

the energy required to heat and melt it also costs
more as more silica is used.
In addition, the viscosities of smelting slags
increase as the silica level rises.

Viscosity of FeO-Fe2O3-SiO2 slags (g/m.s)

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 This makes slag handling more difficult, and

also reduces the rate at which matte particles
settle through the slag layer and increases Cu
losses.
As a result, the correct levels of FeO and SiO2
in the slag require a compromise.
Ideally the slag must have the following
properties:
Immiscible with the matte phase
Low solubility of Cu2S in the slag
Good fluidity, to minimize entrainment of droplets
of copper-bearing material into the slag
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 In order to achieve these properties, the

composition of the slag must be carefully
controlled.
It is particularly important that the viscosity
be kept as low as possible. Slags are very
viscous (50 -200 g/m.s), which is many times
higher than that of the matte phase, and high
viscosity
results in the slag entrapping more droplets of
the matte.

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 Problems of Magnetite in matte smelting

Magnetite crsytals in slag make the slags very
viscous the making them difficult to separate
from from matte. Cu entrainment and losses to
slag becomes high
Solid magnetite (sg. 5-5.5) is more dense than
matte (s.g. 4.5)and slag (s.g. 3.5) and therefore
settles in the furnace hearth, thus decreasing
working volume and production capacity of
furnace.
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 It combines with other oxides, e.g. Cr2O3 from

chrome-magnesite refractories to produce
solids with densities intermediate between
matte and slag.
These solids form a false bottom between the
matte and slag layers and hinders good
distribution of charge into either matte or slag.
To avoid magnetite formation the following
measures are implemented;

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 Maintain high temperature to increase solubility of

Fe3O4 in liquid slag and matte. High temperatures
also favour reduction of magnetite
K1100 = 2x10-6, K1200 = 1 x 10-4, K1300 = 4 x 10-3
Quality of charge: Avoid charging too much of
recycled converter slag and over-roasted calcines as
these are the major sources. Large proportion of
charge must be green concentrates.
Promoting low matte grade i.e. high FeS content.

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