The Kennecott Utah Copper Refinery modernization

In early 1992, Kennecott announced plans to modernize and expand the smelter and refinery located near Salt Lake City, Utah. The project increased the smelter capacity from 150,000 tonnes per year to 280,000 tonnes per year and also increased the refinery capacity from 200,000 tonnes per year to meet smelter output. Total cost of the modernization was $882 million. Part I of this paper outlines the scope of the refinery modernization program and describes the implementation of the new technology used there. The technology is based on polymer concrete cells, thoroughly prepared anodes, stainless steel plating blanks, and highly automated materials handling. In Part II, the hydrometallurgical process chemistry employed at the new Kennecott slimes treatment facility is described. The processing philosophy incorporates three major objectives: very-high firstpass recovery of the valuable metals from the slimes with minimal in-process inventory; minimization of the return of impurity metals (e.g., Pb, Sb, As, and Bi) to the smelter circuit; and complete elimination of pyrometallurgical processing with its potential for environmental abuse and precious metals recycle. In both parts, the unit start-ups and initial operating results are presented.