Copper is one of the most used all around the world and with the increasing demands, it is needed in large amounts. Fortunately, the earth is replenished with some of the robust and largest copper mines mostly present in and around the United States. A lot of the companies like Solaris Resources Inc are doing their best to discover more and more copper mines.
Where Are Copper Mines Present?
But that’s not its continents like Asia, Europe, South America, and Africa also own some of the large copper mines and are playing important roles in replenishing the industries with copper.
The largest copper mine is present in the Escondida of Chile. This is the biggest copper mine in the world with a net production of about 6 million tons of copper. Following behind is the Grasberg of Indonesia that is the second biggest largest copper mine in the world. Moreover, except for Escondida, Chile is also composed of some other large copper mines like Collahausi or El Teniente.
Uses of Copper
Whether it is copper itself or copper alloys, all of them have a wide range of uses in almost all industries. And that is because of their good conduction properties and being good corrosive resistant copper is quite a demanding metal in heavy industries.
Following are the uses of copper:
Appliances: Almost every appliance that we use these days has some kind of copper in it. Especially all the home appliances whether they are in the kitchen, for home improvements all have copper wires or connectors in them. Even our gadgets that we use like computers, laptops, mobiles all have copper in them as due to its corrosion-resistant properties, copper is considered the suitable fit for use in the production of the appliances.
Construction work: Copper has a lot of us on the construction work. Whether it’s plumbing work, electrical work, or construction, copper is frequently used or is involved in some way. Due to its good conduction properties, it is the metal of choice for electrical work; the anti-microbial properties of copper and its alloys are widely used in the construction of doorknobs.
Transportation equipment: This metal is widely used in the production of transportation equipment. A simple car uses more than 2 kg of copper in its production in the form of wires, connectors, brakes, bearing, etc. And if talking about the modern features then, of course, more copper Is present than the mentioned amount. Alloys of the copper are found on the boats, trains, buses, trucks, and airplanes making some of the most important parts of these vehicles.
Basics Information You Should Know About Copper Mining
A little basic knowledge about copper would be useful before we go into detail about the steps. Copper is mostly mined from the open pits with the help of the latest mining equipment. A lot of the copper mines are open in Warintza central where the Warintza project is being completed. This project is being managed by Solaris Resources. There are various steps through which the copper is mined and then produced.
But one important thing is that after extraction copper needs to be crushed. For that, various crushing tools effectively crush the copper. After that, it is roasted to turn the sulfides in the copper into oxides. And after that copper goes through various processes to convert it into its pure form.
Steps Performed When Mining Copper
Copper ore goes through eight steps of processing after it hits the market and the consumer sees it in its pure form. Following are the eight steps of copper mining and production:
- Mining from the open pits with the help of the mining
- Grinding the copper to crush it into
- After grinding copper it is concentrated with the water to make a slurry form. Copper is removed from it through the floating process.
- After that copper melted to convert the sulfides to oxides.
- After that copper goes through the smelting process.
- Conversion.
- Anode casting to attract the collect the copper particles.
- Electro- Refining.