Furnace renovation at copper plant helps reduce losses of precious metals

The Concentrator of Nornickel’s Copper Plant is completing the overhaul of one of its two electric arc furnaces (EAF) with a 1.5 t capacity. With an estimated investment of RUB 16.8 mln, the project is run as part of a programme to enhance efficiency and cut costs at Polar Division’s facilities.

As part of the overhaul, the furnace was switched from alternating to direct current, which is more effective due to a number of reasons. A direct current EAF helps reduce the losses of precious metals by up to 600 kg per year. It also requires lower operating expenses (consumption of electrodes, fire-resistant materials, and power).

The overhaul does not affect the key elements of the furnace, which include tilt frame, shell, hearth, etc. The only components that will be partly replaced are the power supply system and the furnace’s controllers. In order to control the

process, a protected operator panel will be installed in a newly established control room of the PGM Concentrator’s smelting section.

The Company managed to reduce the overhaul costs as a result of intensive use of its own equipment, including parts and components of a similar furnace that were previously in place at the Nickel Plant (shut down in 2016 after no modernisation was deemed practicable).

The PGM Concentrator produces precious metal concentrates containing platinum, palladium, rhodium and iridium for further

at . Among the Concentrator’s by-products are technical selenium and tellurium ingots for thermoelectric materials.