Fundición Chagres

Fundición Chagres is a copper smelter plant in Valparaíso Region, Chile.[1][2] As of 2025 it is one of Chile's five functional copper smelters, Chile being the world's largest producer of copper.[3] The smelter is owned by Anglo American Sur, a joint venture owned in half by Anglo American plc.[4][5] It lies at 400 meters above sea level and reported to produce 110.1 kTons of copper anodes in 2023.[5] It has a smelting capacity of 560 to 600 kTon per year but produced in the early to mid-2010s 140 to 145 kTon copper per year.[1][4] The residual slag produced at Fundición smelter had as of 2009 copper contents of 3±0.1% Cu.[1] With a sulphur emission capture rate of over 96% Fundición Chagres has the highest sulphur capture rate of any copper smelter in Chile.[4][6]

Together with Fundición Altonorte they are two only private-owned copper smelters in Chile, while the remaining five are owned by state-owned Codelco or ENAMI.[4] The smelter operates with three Peirce Smith converter (PSC) and two rotary Slag Cleaning Furnaces (SCF).[4]

Fundición Chagres started operations in 1927 but closed in 1945 and then re-opened in 1956.[7][8]

The smelter had as of January 2024 a permanent workforce of 323 employees and 230 contractors.[5]

While Fundición Chagres held the The Copper Mark environmental certificate as of 2022,[9] in 2021 it was estimated that the smelter would require a series of improvements to comply with new Chilean environmental legislation.[10]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c Cardona, N.; MacKey, P.J.; Coursol, P.; Parada, R.; Parra, R. (2012). "Thermodynamic Modeling of Peirce-Smith Converter Slag at the Chagres Smelter, Chile". Supplemental Proceedings. pp. 117–124. doi:10.1002/9781118357002.ch16. ISBN 978-1-118-29609-7.
  2. ^ Costabal M., Francisco (2015-06-10). Fundiciones de Cobre en Chile (PDF) (Report) (in Spanish). SONAMI. Retrieved 2025-03-23.
  3. ^ Copper production in 2024 by USGS
  4. ^ a b c d e Devia, Manuel; Parra, Roberto; Queirolo, Claudio; Sánchez, Mario; Wilkomirsky, Igor (2019). "Copper smelting and converting: past and present Chilean developments". Mineral Processing and Extractive Metallurgy. 128 (1–2): 108–116. Bibcode:2019MPEM..128..108D. doi:10.1080/25726641.2018.1542050.
  5. ^ a b c "Chagres". Consejo Minero (in Spanish). Retrieved 2025-03-21.
  6. ^ "Chagres copper smelter". woodmac.com. Wood Mackenzie. 2 September 2025. Retrieved 20 October 2025.
  7. ^ Toro, Norman; Ayala, Luís; Pérez, Kevin; Castillo, Jonathan; Navarra, Alessandro (2020). "Environmental analysis of the current situation of Chilean copper smelters". AIP Conference Proceedings. 2281 (1): 020009. Bibcode:2020AIPC.2281b0009T. doi:10.1063/5.0026183.
  8. ^ COPRIM (2008). Informe Final Asesoria Técnica Evaluación de costos de escenarios para una Norma de Emisión de Fundiciones de Cobre (PDF) (Report) (in Spanish). Ministerio del Medio Ambiente.
  9. ^ "The role of the Copper Mark in responsible mining". Bnamericas. 2022-09-09. Retrieved 2025-08-21.
  10. ^ Pérez, Kevin; Toro, Norman; Gálvez, Edelmira; Robles, Pedro; Wilson, Ryan; Navarra, Alessandro (2021). "Environmental, economic and technological factors affecting Chilean copper smelters – A critical review". Journal of Materials Research and Technology. 15: 213–225. doi:10.1016/j.jmrt.2021.08.007.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.