1) A magic material (1)

No substance has been as important as metal in the story of man's control of his environment.
Advances in agriculture, warfare, transport, in the last 2000 years are impossible without metal. So
is the entire Industrial Revolution since the 1700s, from steam to electricity. 
Nature entices man into the adventure of metallurgy by an initial gift of an almost magic charm.
Gold, the most attractive and precious of metals in every society, is also the easiest for primitive
man to acquire. Gold is bright, incorruptible, malleable, and appears in pure form in the beds of
streams. Nuggets of this gleaming substance must often have been kept and treasured. Pure gold
also has the quality of softness. It can be easily shaped by hammering, but this malleability makes it
useless for practical purposes.

 
2) A magic material (2)
Gold, the most precious of metals in every society, is also the easiest for primitive man to acquire.
Gold is bright, incorruptible, malleable, and appears in pure form in the beds of streams. Nuggets of
this gleaming substance must often have been kept and treasured. It can be easily shaped by
hammering, but this malleability makes it useless for practical purposes. It begins as it has
continued - a luxury item. The earliest surviving gold jewelry is from Egypt in about 3000 BC. 
By that time people have long discovered an everyday use for another metal which exists in nature
in a pure form, and which can also be bashed into new shapes - with less ease than gold, for it is
much harder, but with more practical results. This metal is copper.

3) The age of copper: from 7000 BC (1)

From about 7000 BC a few Neolithic communities begin hammering copper into crude knives and
sickles, tools which work as well as their stone equivalents and last far longer. Some of the earliest
implements of this kind have been found in eastern Anatolia. This intermediate period between the
Stone Age and the first confident metal technology has been given a name deriving from the
somewhat strange combination of materials. It is called the Chalcolithic Period, from the Greek
chalcos 'copper' and lithos 'stone'.
An accident, probably frequent, has revealed another of nature's useful secrets. A nugget of pure
copper, or perhaps a finished copper tool, falls into the hot campfire. The copper melts slowly.
When it finally cools, it is found to have solidified in a new shape.

4) The age of copper: from 7000 BC (2)

This intermediate period between the Stone Age and the first confident metal technology (from
around 7000 BC) has received a name that derives from the somewhat strange combination of
materials. It is called the Chalcolithic Period, from the Greek chalcos 'copper' and lithos 'stone'. An
accident, probably frequent, has revealed another of nature's useful secrets. A nugget of pure
copper, or perhaps a finished copper tool, falls into the hot campfire. The copper melts slowly.
When it finally cools, it is found to have solidified in a new shape.
And the magic of fire has yet more to offer. Certain kinds of bright blue or green stones are
attractive enough to collect for their own sake. It turns out that when such stones are heated to a
high temperature, liquid metal flows from them.

5) The age of copper: from 7000 BC (3)

And the magic of fire has yet more to offer. The use of fire thus makes possible two significant new
steps in the development of metallurgy: the casting of metal, by pouring it into prepared molds; and
the smelting of mineral ores to extract metal. Objects made from smelted copper, from as early as
3800 BC, are known in Iran. Many mineral ores are found on the surface of the earth, in outcrops of
rock. Chipping away at them, to pursue the metal-bearing lode down below the surface, leads
inevitably to another technological advance - the development of mining.
By 4000 BC deep shafts are cut into the hillside at Rudna Glava, in the Balkans, to excavate copper
ore. This robbing of the earth's treasures is carried out with due solemnity.

6) The first miners: from 4000 BC

Many mineral ores are found on the surface of the earth, in outcrops of rock. Chipping away at
these ores, to pursue the metal-bearing lode down below the surface, leads inevitably to another
technological advance - the development of mining.
By around 4000 BC deep shafts are cut into the hillside at Rudna Glava, in the Balkans, to excavate
copper ore. This robbing of the earth's treasures is carried out with due solemnity. Fine pots,
produce from the daylight world, are placed in the mines as a form of reward to pacify the spirits of
the dark interior of the earth. By about 3800 BC copper mines are also worked and mined in the
Sinai Peninsula. Crucibles discovered at the site reveal that smelting was performed as part of the
mining process.

7) The age of bronze: from 2800 BC (1)

It is known that sometimes the ores of copper and tin are found together, and the casting of metal
from such natural alloys may have provided the accident for the next step forward in metallurgy. It
was discovered that these two metals, cast as one substance, are harder than either metal on its own.
The cast alloy of copper and tin is bronze, a substance so useful to human beings that an entire
period of early civilization has become known as the Bronze Age. A bronze blade will take a
sharper edge than copper and will hold it longer. Bronze ornaments can be cast and used for a wide
variety of purposes.
The technology of bronze was first developed in the Middle East. Bronze was in use in Sumer in
around 2800 BC.

8) The age of bronze: from 2800 BC (2)

The cast alloy of copper and tin is bronze, a substance so useful to human beings that an entire
period of early civilization has become known as the Bronze Age. A bronze blade will take a
sharper edge than copper.
Bronze was in use in Sumer in around 2800 BC, and in Anatolia shortly afterwards. It then spread
spasmodically. It appeared in the Indus valley in about 2500 BC, and progressed westwards through
Europe from about 2000. At much the same time it was found in crude form in China, where it later
achieved an unprecedented level of sophistication. From about 1500 BC the Shang dynasty
produced bronze objects of exceptional brilliance. In all these regions it is the rulers who use
bronze, as a luxury for themselves or as a weapon for their armies.

9) The age of iron: from 1500 BC

The next great development in metallurgy involved a metal which is the most abundant in the
earth's surface, but which is much more difficult to work than copper or tin. It is iron, with a
melting point too high for primitive furnaces to extract it in pure form from its ore. The best that can
be achieved is a cluster of globules of iron mixed with sludgy impurities. This substance can be
turned into a useful metal by repeated heating and hammering, until the impurities are literally
forced out. A few iron objects dating from before 2000 BC have been found, but it is not until about
1500 BC that the working of iron is done anywhere on a regular basis.
It has been demonstrated that the Hittites were the first people to work iron, in Anatolia from about
1500 BC.

10) The magic of iron: from 1500 BC

It has been documented that the Hittites were the first people to work iron, in Anatolia from about
1500 BC. In its simple form iron is less hard than bronze, and therefore of less use as a weapon, but
it seems to have had an immediate appeal - perhaps as the latest achievement of technology (with
the mysterious quality of being changeable, through heating and hammering), or from a certain
intrinsic magic (it is the metal in meteorites, which fall from the sky). Quite how much value is
attached to iron can be judged from a famous letter of about 1250 BC, written by a Hittite king to
accompany an iron dagger-blade, which he is sending to a fellow monarch.
By the 11th century BC it has been discovered that iron can be much improved.

11) The discovery of steel: 11th century BC

By the 11th century BC it had already been discovered that iron could be much improved. If it is
reheated in a furnace with charcoal, some of the carbon is transferred to the iron. This process
hardens the metal; and the effect is considerably greater if the hot metal is rapidly reduced in
temperature, usually achieved by quenching it in water. The new material is steel.
Steel can be worked just like softer iron, and it will keep a finer edge, capable of being honed to
sharpness. Gradually, from the 11 th century onwards, steel, for example, has replaced bronze
weapons in the Middle East. It has become essential, from now on, to have a good steel blade rather
than a soft and indifferent one.
12) Cast iron in the east: 513 BC
It has been documented that thus far in human history iron had been heated and hammered, but it
had never been never melted. Its melting point (1528°C) was too high for primitive furnaces, which
could reach about 1300°C and were considered adequate for copper (melting at 1083°C). This
limitation was overcome when the Chinese developed a furnace hot enough to melt iron, enabling
them to produce the world's first cast iron - an event traditionally dated in the Chinese histories to
513 BC. In this Chinese people are a thousand and more years ahead of the Western world.
Centuries later, the first iron foundry in England dates only from AD 1161. By that time the
Chinese have already pioneered and mastered the structural use of cast iron.

13) Metallurgy
Metallurgy is a domain of materials science and engineering that studies the physical and chemical
behavior of metallic elements, their inter-metallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are called
alloys. Metallurgy is used to separate metals from their ore. Metallurgy is also the technology of
metals: the way in which science is applied to the production of metals, and the engineering of
metal components for usage in products for consumers and manufacturers. The production of metals
involves the processing of ores to extract the metal they contain, and the mixture of metals,
sometimes with other elements, to produce alloys.
Extractive metallurgy is the practice of removing valuable metals from an ore and refining the
extracted raw metals into a purer form.

14) Extractive metallurgy

The production of metals involves the processing of ores to extract the metal they contain, and the
mixture of metals, sometimes with other elements, to produce alloys.
Extractive metallurgy is the practice of removing valuable metals from an ore and refining the
extracted raw metals into a purer form. In order to convert a metal oxide or sulphide to a purer
metal, the ore must be reduced physically, chemically, or electrolytically. Extractive metallurgists
are interested in three primary streams: feed, concentrate and tailings. After mining, large pieces of
the ore feed are broken through crushing and/or grinding in order to obtain particles small enough
where each particle is either mostly valuable or mostly waste. Concentrating the particles of value
in a form supporting separation enables the desired metal to be removed from waste products.

15) Metallurgy in production engineering

It was already explained that the production of metals involved the processing of ores to extract the
metal they contain. Concentrating the particles of value in a form supporting separation enables the
desired metal to be removed from waste products. In production engineering, metallurgy is
concerned with the production of metallic components for use in consumer or engineering products.
This involves the production of alloys, the shaping, the heat treatment, and the surface treatment of
the product. Determining the hardness of the metal using the Rockwell, Vickers, and Brinell
hardness scales is a commonly used practice that helps better understand the metal's elasticity and
plasticity for different applications and production processes. The task of the metallurgist is to
achieve balance between material properties such as cost, weight, strength, toughness, hardness, and
performance in temperature extremes.

16) The famous alchemist Paracelsus

The famous alchemist Paracelsus, who lived between 1493-1541, already recognized that the right
dose differentiates a poison and a remedy. Some metals in trace amounts in aqueous solution are
essential to the human body, e.g., copper, cobalt, selenium, and manganese. These are generally
widespread in foods in trace amounts, and some like cobalt is a component of vitamin B12. Some
metals are even used as medicine. However, amounts in excess to the optimum amount may lead to
disorder and poisoning. Other metals like the alkaline earth metals, aluminum, and iron are
described as not being toxic. Compounds of most other metals are toxic, some of them even in
extremely small amounts. Solubility of a compound in water or in body fluids has rendered it more
toxic than insoluble compounds.

17) Toxicity
Toxicity cannot be evaluated with the ease with which a physical constant such as the melting point
or the boiling point of a substance may be determined. Solid, massive metals are not toxic, but their
vapors are. Vapors may be generated during melting, distillation, and welding. Compounds in the
gaseous state are toxic; some are more than others. For example, metallic beryllium pieces are not
toxic, but vapors of BeCL2 have demonstrated to be highly poisonous as well as vapors of metallic
beryllium. Mercury in the metallic state is a particularly toxic material. Being liquid at room
temperature, it has a high surface tension and when spilled on the ground it forms a large number of
extremely small globules, thus high surface area and increased vaporization.

18) Sand casting

Sand casting requires a certain time of days for production at high output rates (1-20 pieces per
hour) and is unsurpassed for large-part production. Green (wet) sand has almost no part weight
limit, whereas dry sand has a practical part mass limit of 2300-2700 kg. Minimum part weight
ranges from 0.075-0.1 kg. Sand in most operations can be recycled many times and requires little
additional input. Preparation of the sand mold is fast and requires a pattern which can "stamp" out
the casting template. Typically, sand casting is used for processing low-temperature iron,
aluminum, magnesium, and nickel alloys. It is by far the oldest and best understood of all
techniques. Consequently, automation may easily be adapted to the production process, somewhat
less easily to the design and preparation of forms.

19) Casting
Casting is a process by which a fluid melt is introduced into a mold, allowed to cool in the shape of
the form, and then ejected to make a fabricated part or casing. Four main elements are required in
the process of casting: pattern, mold, cores, and the part. The pattern, the original template from
which the mold is prepared, creates a corresponding cavity in the casting material. Cores are used to
produce tunnels or holes in the finished mold, and the part is the final output of the process. Casting
may be used to form hot, liquid metals or meltable plastics, or various materials that cold set after
mixing of components such as certain plastic resins, water setting materials such as concrete or
plaster, and materials that become liquid or paste when moist such as clay.

20) Plaster casting

Plaster casting is similar to sand molding except that plaster is substituted for sand. Plaster
compound is actually composed of 70-80% gypsum and 20-30% strengthener and water. Generally,
the form takes less than a week to prepare, after which a production rate of 1-10 units/h is achieved
with a capability to pour items as massive as 45 kg and as small as 30 g with very high surface
resolution and fine tolerances. Once used and cracked away, normal plaster cannot easily be recast.
Plaster casting is normally used for nonferrous metals such as aluminum or copper-based alloys. It
cannot be used to cast ferrous material because sulfur in gypsum slowly reacts with iron. Prior to
mold preparation the pattern is sprayed with a thin film of parting compound to prevent the mold
from sticking to the pattern.

21) Metal-bearing concentrate

In most cases the metal-bearing concentrate is not in a chemical form from which the metal may be
easily or economically removed by a simple direct reduction. It is necessary first to change it into
some other compound that is more easily treated. Roasting is a preliminary chemical treatment that
is commonly used, more specifically the oxidation roasting of sulfides to oxides, as many of the
nonferrous metals are found as sulfide ores. Roasting of sulfides is a process (gas-solid reaction)
where air in large amounts, sometimes enriched with oxygen, is brought into contact with the
sulfide mineral concentrates. This is done at an elevated temperature where oxygen will combine
with sulfide sulfur to form gaseous S02 and with the metals to form metallic oxides. The solid
product from roasting is called calcine.

22) Oxidation
Oxidation must be done without melting the charge, which would destroy the required maximum
particle surface-oxidizing gas contact area. Stirring of the charge in some manner also ensures
exposure of all particle surfaces to the oxidizing gas. The only exception to this general procedure is
blast roasting (sintering), where the particle surfaces are partially melted and there is no stirring of
the charge. Different ores require different reactions at different temperatures, but almost always the
reducing agent is carbon. The list above is sorted in increasing temperature order, so iron is the
most difficult metal to smelt from the ones in the list (that's why historically iron smelting was the
last to be discovered). Alloys are usually designed to have properties that are more desirable than
those of their components.
23) Roasting
Roasting is a process of heating of sulfide ore to a high temperature in presence of air. More
specifically, roasting is a metallurgical process involving gas–solid reactions at elevated
temperatures with the goal of purifying the metal components. Often before roasting, the ore has
already been partially purified, e.g. by froth flotation. The concentrate is mixed with other materials
to facilitate the process. The technology is useful but is also a serious source of air pollution.
Roasting consists of thermal gas–liquid reactions, which can include oxidation, reduction, etc. In
roasting, the ore or ore concentrate is treated with very hot air. This process is generally applied to
sulfide minerals. During roasting, the sulfide is converted to an oxide, and sulfur is released as
sulfur dioxide, a gas.

24) Copper
Copper has been in use at least 10,000 years, but more than 95% of all copper ever mined and
smelted has been extracted since 1900. Most copper is mined or extracted as copper sulfides from
large open pit mines in porphyry copper deposits that contain 0.4 to 1.0% copper. Sites include
Chuquicamata in Chile and El Chino Mine in New Mexico, United States. According to the British
Geological Survey in 2005, Chile was the top producer of copper with at least one-third world share
followed by the United States and Peru. Copper can also be recovered through the in-situ leach
process. Several sites in the state of Arizona are considered prime candidates for this method. The
amount of copper in use is increasing and the quantity available is barely sufficient to allow all
countries to reach developed world levels of usage.

25) Copper smelting

Copper smelting was independently invented in different places. It was probably discovered in
China before 2800 BC, in Central America around 600 AD, and in West Africa about the 9th or
10th century AD. Investment casting was invented in 4500–4000 BC in Southeast Asia and carbon
dating has established mining in Cheshire, UK, at 2280 to 1890 BC. Ötzi the Iceman, a male dated
from 3300–3200 BC, was found with an axe with a copper head 99.7% pure; high levels of arsenic
in his hair suggest an involvement in copper smelting. Experience with copper has assisted the
development of other metals; in particular, copper smelting led to the discovery of iron smelting.
Production in the Old Copper Complex in Michigan and Wisconsin is dated between 6000 and 3000
BC.

26) The use of copper

Copper has been used since ancient times as a durable, corrosion resistant, and weatherproof
architectural material. Roofs, flashings, rain gutters, doors, etc. have been made from copper for
hundreds or thousands of years. Copper's architectural use has been expanded in modern times to
include interior and exterior wall cladding, building expansion joints, radio frequency shielding, and
antimicrobial and decorative indoor products such as attractive handrails, bathroom fixtures, and
counter tops. Some of copper's other important benefits as an architectural material include low
thermal movement, lightweight, lightning protection, and recyclability. The metal's distinctive
natural green patina has long been coveted by architects and designers. Architectural copper and its
alloys can also be 'finished' to embark a particular look, feel, and/or color. Finishes include
mechanical surface treatments, chemical coloring, and coatings.

27) CODELCO 1
CODELCO (the National Copper Corporation of Chile) is a Chilean state-owned copper mining
company. It was formed in 1976 from foreign-owned copper companies that were nationalized in
1971. The headquarters are in Santiago and the seven-man board of directors is appointed by the
President of the Republic. It has the Minister of Mining as its president and six other members
including the Minister of Finance and one representative each from the Copper Workers Federation
and the National Association of Copper Supervisors. It is currently the largest copper producing
company in the world and produced 1.66 million tons of copper in 2007, 11% of the world total.
CODELCO owns the world's largest known copper reserves and resources. At the end of 2007, the
company had a total of reserves and resources of 118 million tons of copper in its mining plan

28) CODELCO 2
CODELCO (the National Copper Corporation of Chile) is a Chilean state-owned copper mining
company officially established in 1976.
CODELCO owns the world's largest known copper reserves and resources. At the end of 2007, the
company had a total of reserves and resources of 118 million tons of copper in its mining plan,
sufficient for more than 70 years of operation at current production rates. It also has additional
identified resources of 208 million tons of copper, though one cannot say how much of this may
prove economic. CODELCO's main product is cathode copper. The company is also one of the
world's largest molybdenum producers, producing 27,857 fine metric tons in 2007. It also produces
small amounts of gold and silver from refinery anode slimes, the residue from electro refining of
copper.

29) Copper at Chuquicamata

Copper has been mined for centuries at Chuquicamata as was shown by the discovery in 1898 of
"Copper Man", a mummy dated at about 550 A.D. which was found trapped in an ancient mine
shaft by a fall of rock. However, mining on any scale did not start until the later years of the 19 th
century and these early operations mined the high-grade veins (10-15% copper) and disregarded the
low grade disseminated ore. One attempt was made to process the low-grade ore in 1899-1900 by
Norman Walker, a partner in La Compañia de Cobre de Antofagasta, but it failed leaving the
company deeply in debt. The modern era started when the American engineer Bradley finally
developed a method of working low grade oxidized copper ores.

30) Chile Exploration Company

Chile Exploration Company went ahead with the development and construction of a mine on the
eastern section of the Chuquicamata field. The company acquired the remainder gradually over the
next 15 years, and a 10,000 tons per day leaching plant which was planned to produce 50,000 tons
of electrolytic copper annually. Among the equipment purchased were steam shovels from the
Panama Canal. A port and oil-fired power plant were built at Tocopilla, 90 miles to the West and an
aqueduct was constructed to bring water in from the Andes. Production actually started on May 18,
1915. Actual production rose from 4345 tons in the first year to 50,400 tons in 1920, and 135,890
tons in 1929, before the Depression hit and demand fell dramatically.

31) Production from the capping of oxidized minerals

Production from the capping of oxidized minerals, which required mere leaching in sulphuric acid
to dissolve the copper and the recovery of the copper by electrolysis was the sole means of
production until the 1950s. However, their gradual depletion forced the construction of a mill and
flotation plant in 1961 to treat the underlying secondary sulphides. These have been steadily
expanded until recently the pit was producing over 600,000 tons of copper annually, though this has
now fallen with the lower grades as the richer secondary mineralization is also depleted in the three
porphyries that make up the ore body. The present mine is a conventional truck and shovel
operation, with a large proportion of the ore crushed in-pit and transported by underground
conveyors to the mill bins.

32) Plans to go underground (1)

Plans to go underground and mine the rest of the Chuquicamata ore body by block caving are now
well advanced. At the SIMIN conference in 2007 in Santiago, CODELCO engineers detailed a
possible future mining plan. The open pit is becoming gradually uneconomic and it was estimated
that mining would slow down and stop by 2020. In the meantime, the mill will be kept up to its
182,000 tons per day capacity with sulphides from Radomiro Tomic and Alejandro Hales. The
underground mine will start up in 2020 and when it reaches full capacity of 120,000 tons per day in
2030, the balance of the tonnage will come from the Alejandro Hales underground mine. It is
estimated that extractable underground reserves below the present pit total 1,150 million tones.

33) Plans to go underground (2)

Plans to go underground and mine the rest of the Chuquicamata ore body by block caving are now
well advanced. In the meantime, CODELCO will be kept up to its 182,000 tons per day capacity
with sulphides from Radomiro Tomic and Alejandro Hales. The underground mine will start up in
2018 and when it reaches full capacity of 120,000 tons per day in 2030, the balance of the tonnage
will come from the Alejandro Hales underground mine. It is estimated that extractable underground
reserves below the present pit reach 1,150 million tones. This remarkable mine was for many years
the world's largest annual producer until overtaken recently by Escondida and it is one of the largest
ever copper-mining excavations. It has produced over 29 million tons of copper in total.
34) The Radomiro Tomic deposit
The Radomiro Tomic deposit, 5 km north of the main pit, was discovered in 1952 when Anaconda
conducted an extensive drilling program to explore for oxidized ore to the north of the
Chuquicamata pit. It was named Chuqui Norte, but they did not develop it, largely because the
technology had not been developed. Two smaller areas of interest were found, and the overall
results showed that the Chuquicamata complex of mineralized porphyries is no less than 14 km
long. The deposit is covered with some 100 meters of alluvium and in 1993/94 CODELCO
estimated a resource base for the operation of 802 million tons of oxide ore grading 0.59% copper
and 1,600 million tons of refractory (sulphide) ore. The deposit covers an area of 8 square km.

35) The El Salvador mine (1)

The El Salvador mine is a combined open pit and underground copper mine in the company town of
El Salvador. The El Salvador mine was purchased by Anaconda Copper, a company who had little
intention of mining it, due to high tax rates by the Chilean government. When the tax rates were
reduced Anaconda decided to bring the mine into production. Production at the mine began in the
early 1960s and was intended to replace production of the company's Potrerillos mine, which would
be closing. Production from the El Salvador would increase Chile's total output of copper about
450,000 tons of copper per year, rather than a decrease in production, out of satisfaction and relief,
the company decided to rename the mine El Salvador in Spanish (The Savior in English).

36) El Salvador mine (2)

In 2005 CODELCO had planned to shut down the El Salvador mine in 2011 because of declining
ore grades and increased costs but extended the project life by an additional 15–20 years. They also
have a new project call San Antonio that would be located in the old mine at Potrerillos. The
General Manager is Jaime Rojas, the General Counsel is Oscar Lira, the sustainability and external
affairs manager is Rodrigo Vargas and the Human Resources manager is Ariel Guajardo. Mining
started in 1997 and is again a conventional truck and shovel operation followed by crushing, pre-
treatment and stacking before acid leaching. Leached ore is removed by bucket wheel excavator
followed by secondary leaching.
Mining is gradually moving lower and removing the ore between the barren country rock and the
Braden Chimney.