The mineralogy of copper electrorefining

The impurities in copper anodes occur both in solid solution in the copper metal matrix and in discrete inclusions at the copper grain boundaries. During electrorefining, all the impurities undergo extensive chemical and/or morphological changes. These changes impact significantly on anode passivation, cathode quality, electrolyte purification and, of course, the subsequent recovery of by-products from the anode slimes. Recently, mineralogical studies have been undertaken to characterize the various impurities and elucidate their transformations during copper electrorefining.