Smelting

Smelting

The smelters treat all secondary raw materials with a relatively low copper, tin or lead content through reduction. This reaction produces, on the one hand, metal called  “black copper” and on the other hand, iron oxide, which ends up in the slag phase.  The “black copper” is still an impure copper containing +/- 80 % Cu and taking along Sn, Pb, Ni and its accompanying elements, which are further refined in the convertor furnaces. In the smelter process the zinc is separated as it is collected in the fumes of the smelter filter.

One smelter is located in the north of Belgium and directly connected to the further steps in the refining process. A second stand-alone smelter is located in the North of Spain, ELMET S.L.U. and produces black copper in granulated form, which is entirely refined in the Belgian Plant.