Investigation of Copper Losses to Synthetic Slag at Different Oxygen Partial Pressures in the Presence of Colemanite

Copper losses to slag are crucial for copper matte smelting and converting stages. One factor affecting the copper losses to slag during these processes is partial pressure of oxygen. In this study, theoretical and experimental investigations of oxygen partial pressure effect on copper losses to fayalite type slag in the presence of colemanite were investigated. Theoretical considerations include liquidus temperatures and phase diagrams of the fayalite type slag calculated by the FactSage software program. In the experiments, a synthetic matte–slag (SM–SS) was produced by melting certain amounts of reagent grade Fe₂O₃-SiO₂ and metallic Fe as starting materials. Experiments were carried out with SM–SS pair by the addition of calcined colemanite (from 0% to 6%) under various partial pressures of oxygen (10⁻⁷, 10⁻⁹, 10⁻¹¹ atm) at 1250°C for 2 h. From the experimental results, it was found that the amount of copper in slag decreased slowly when colemanite was increased under all oxidizing atmospheres. The lowest copper content in synthetic slag was obtained as 0.38% after 6% colemanite addition.