Development of the El Teniente Converter technology

摘要

In the late 1960s, El Teniente undertook a mine-mill-smelter expansion program with a production target of 254,000 tonnes of copper per year. The expected increase in smelting capacity, based on concentrate oxygen smelting in Peirce-Smith converters, was never achieved, and the smelter became a production bottleneck. Even after the commissioning of a new 100% oxy-oil burner fired reverberatory furnace in 1975, the required smelting capacity was not attained, and the smelter personnel decided to revisit oxygen smelting of concentrate in converters, this time as a continuous operation. The result was the development of the El Teniente Converter technology. Over the years, this technology has undergone continuous improvement. It has been adopted not only in most Chilean smelters, but also in smelters in Mexico, Peru, Thailand (under construction) and Zambia. This paper discusses the historical context and the driving forces that influenced the development and rapid adoption of this technology in Chile. Among these factors were the drive toward increased smelting capacity, an urgent need to reduce consumption of expensive imported oil, the relatively low capital cost of the El Teniente route, and the expediency in transferring the technology.