Inco Limited

The International Nickel Company, Inc.

Charles E O'Neill

Victor A Ettel

Carlos M Diaz

Grigori S Victorovich

James A Bell

Ramamritham Sridhar

Eric A Devuyst

John Ambrose

Lloyd Matt Timberg

Kohur Nagaraja Subramanian

Gerald Vernon Glaum

Bruce R Conard

Haydn Davies

Aubrey Stewart Gendron

Douglas K Charles

Jose A Blanco

Shinichiro Abe

Wayne P Leavoy

Alfredo Villazor

Peter G Garritsen

A process for reduction smelting of copper-, nickel- or cobalt-containing materials in which such a material, at least partly in oxidic form is heated or combusted in finely divided form in a neutral or oxidizing flame to provide superheated particles. The superheated particles are then distributed onto a thin layer of coke. The materials in the particles are reduced in the thin layer of coke to metals or mattes or, in the case of iron, to wustite which forms a discardable slag with flux. Reduced product and slag form separate molten layers underneath the thin coke layer. All heat necessary for reduction and melting of product and slag is provided directly by the flame both in sensible heat in the superheated particles and by radiation.

Process for reduction smelting of materials containing base metals

A process for autogenously smelting sulfidic copper material in the presence of a calcareous flux in which slag cleaning to provide metallic copper is employed. Such metallic copper provided by slag cleaning is usefully employed as a coolant in the autogenous smelting operation.

Copper smelting combined with slag cleaning

A process for autogenously smelting copper sulfide ore concentrate directly to semi-blister copper in which a calcareous flux is charged directly to an autogenouse furnace along with concentrate and copper-containing coolant. Furnace products are semi-blister copper, calcareous slag and off-gas rich in sulfur dioxide.

Copper smelting with calcareous flux

Sponge titanium powder is compacted, advantageously by roll compaction to a density in the range of about 60% to 80% of the density of solid titanium metal, thereafter heat treated in vacuum at about 500.degree. C. to 750.degree. C., cooled in vacuum to 300.degree. C. and quenched to 100.degree. C. to provide a substrate for electrodes useful in electrolytic processes.

Manufacturing of titanium anode substrates

A process for recovering metal values from sulfide ores or concentrates by a fluid bed roast-reduction smelting-converting process which delivers to the reduction smelting furnace either a blend of dead roasted concentrate and green concentrate or a partially roasted concentrate, either feed mixed with a carbonaceous reductant and silica flux, and either feed containing only sufficient sulfur to produce a matte, in which the iron is present as metallic iron, and which has a sulfur deficiency of about 0% to about 25% with respect to base metals, and which is later converted to a low iron matte by blowing and slagging the iron with silica flux.

Reduction smelting process

A cell for electrowinning metal from a sulfate electrolyte includes insoluble anodes and cathodes, each anode being housed in an anolyte compartment defined by a flaccid sheath of porous membrane and means within each sheath for separating the sheath from the surfaces of the anode contained therein.

Electrowinning cell with bagged anode

Use of a burner design featuring a tunnel of high length to diameter ratio enables the flash-smelting of sulfides to be carried out in a much more confined space than heretofore possible.

Flash smelting in confined space

A sulfide containing copper and one or more of iron, nickel and cobalt, is dead-roasted at a temperature of 750.degree. C or above, then subjected to a pressure leach under reducing conditions to produce elemental copper and an aqueous solution of the other metals.

Roast-reductive leach process for copper recovery

A process is provided for extracting iron values as soluble ferrous salts from a limonitic ore which comprises leaching the ore in an acidic medium in the presence of a reducing agent, the reducing agent being a sulfide. Non-ferrous metal values are also extracted from the ore and they may be selectively separated from the solubilized iron salts.

Reductive leaching of limonitic ores with hydrogen sulfide

A non-contaminating electrode is provided suitable as an insoluble anode for the electrowinning of metals from an electrolyte solution, said electrode comprising a metal substrate formed of a metal selected from the group consisting of titanium, zirconium, tantalum and alloys thereof, said metal substrate having a flash metal coating of a platinum-group metal thereon, which coating in turn is covered by an intermediate adherent layer of lead dioxide, said lead dioxide layer in turn having an adherent overlayer of manganese dioxide.

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Mississauga, Canada

Charles E O'Neill