
Copper extraction - Wikipedia
Until the latter half of the 20th century, smelting sulfide ores was almost the sole means of producing copper metal from mined ores (primary copper production). Davenport, et al, noted in 2002 that even then 80% of global primary copper production was from copper–iron–sulfur minerals and that the vast majority of these were treated by smelting. Copper was initially recovered from sulfide ores by directly smelting the ore in a furnace. The smelters …
Get Price