Minor Elements in Smelting (AMIRA P671) (2D6)

Project Status: Complete
Project Participants: CSIRO, Rio Tinto, AMIRA
Project Leader: Sharif Jahanshahi (CSIRO)

This project examined minor element deportment in smelting systems.

The deportment of minor elements across the various unit operations of a process flow sheet does not normally receive the attention that the major elements receive. However these minor elements can have a major influence on the quality of the products as well as impact on the economic and environmental considerations.

The optimal removal recovery and sale or where necessary disposal of minor elements from the appropriate process stages can benefit the operation of most plants. Nevertheless there is a lack of appropriate attention to the subject of minor element deportment in many processes and at many plants, in part because of the sampling and analytical challenges presented by some of these elements.

CSIRO and Mintek share a vision that a better understanding of the generic issues in similar unit operations that affect the deportment of minor elements would be of value to many plants around the world and propose a study that will lead to improved management and accountability of trace elements during pyrometallurgical treatment of base metal ores and plant products.

The key objective of this project was to provide the data, tools and understanding to allow the sponsors to improve their accounting for, and management of, minor elements during pyrometallurgical processing of a variety of furnace feeds.

The research objectives were to:

• Define a set of effective analytical techniques for the analysis of minor elements;
• Measure the deportment of selected elements (elemental and phase composition) around selected sponsor unit operations; and
• Compile or conduct experiments to obtain relevant slag chemistry data to allow the modelling of the deportment of these elements.

The potential benefits to sponsors included:

• The ability to control the deportment of these elements between streams;
• The ability to place minor elements in either a treatable phase for recovery or for disposal; and
• Possibly increase the value of major products by reduction of minor element impurities.