How it works
ISASMELT™ is a simple, highly efficient bath-smelting process for the production of non-ferrous metals. It is recognised as the most innovative, efficient and cost effective smelting process available in the world and since going into commercial production in the 1990s it has been installed in major brownfield and greenfield plants around the world.
The ISASMELT™ process was jointly developed by Mount Isa Mines, a subsidiary of Glencore, and the Australian Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO).
ISASMELT™ utilises a cylindrical refractory lined furnace and operates with a single submerged combustion lance to create a highly turbulent bath.
Technology Partnership
ISASMELT™ offers licensees a package that is much more than the supply of key designs and equipment. The package combines Glencore’s many years of operational experience with the latest developments in technology, delivering rapid and successful transfer of the ISASMELT™ process to clients and sustaining efficient operation into the future.
Process Description
The ISASMELT™ reactor is an upright cylinder and the key feature of the process is the ISASMELT™ lance, which enters through the top of the furnace with the tip submerged in the molten slag bath.
Applications
The ISASMELT™ process is both, simple and versatile. It can be used for a range of applications including primary and secondary copper smelting and copper converting, primary and secondary lead smelting, primary nickel smelting and converting, and tin, zinc and precious metals smelting.
ISASMELT™ Design
The ISASMELT™ TSL process can be adapted from the smallest to the largest plant throughputs. Glencore Technology can customise the design to meet the client’s varying needs in feed materials and production capacity.
Research and Development
We have a significant impact on the world's mineral processing industry and we work closely with our customers and industry research organisations to constantly improve mineral processing operations.
Continuous Copper Converting
The latest innovation technology is continuous copper converting. The ISACONVERT™ process offers an alternative to batch copper converting operations, such as Peirce-Smith (P-S) converting.
