Oresmelt - a cutting-edge electrolytic copper refining process originating from China

Oresmelt has built a modern copper smelting plant with international standards in the B17 industrial zone of Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, using China's advanced electrolytic copper refining process as its technological core. The company's complete electrolytic process solution originates from China's mature copper refining technology system, deeply integrating decades of technical accumulation and engineering practice experience in the field of copper smelting in China in terms of process control, production automation, and environmental protection and energy conservation.

1、 Process principle and core technology path

Copper electrolytic refining is the most widely used high-purity copper production technology worldwide today. Over 80% of copper worldwide is produced through electrolytic refining process, which can produce the highest purity copper products and achieve efficient recovery of valuable impurities. Oresmelt fully adopts this process system: casting crude copper (anode copper) into an anode plate, using high-purity pure copper or permanent stainless steel plate as the cathode, using a mixture of sulfuric acid and copper sulfate as the electrolyte, under the action of a direct current electric field, copper ions dissolve from the anode and migrate directionally to the cathode for precipitation, forming a high-purity electrolytic copper plate. This process increases the purity of copper from about 99% of the raw material crude copper to over 99.99%, while efficiently enriching valuable metals such as gold, silver, selenium, and tellurium in the anode mud for subsequent comprehensive recovery, achieving the maximization of resource value.

2、 Leading process parameters and quality control system

Oresmelt adopts China's long-term optimized electrolysis process conditions, with key operating parameters benchmarked against the industry's advanced level: the copper content in the electrolyte is controlled at 40-50 grams per liter, the electrolysis temperature is constant at 58-62 ℃, the cell voltage is controlled at 0.2-0.3 volts, the current efficiency reaches over 95%, and the direct current consumption per ton of copper is controlled within the industry's advanced range.

In terms of additive control, the company refers to the mature additive management system of China Copper Electrolysis, accurately proportioning three core additives: bone glue (gelatin), thiourea, and hydrochloric acid. Bone glue makes the surface of cathode copper smooth and even, thiourea makes copper crystals dense, and hydrochloric acid chloride ions enhance the surface brightness of copper plates. The synergistic effect of three types of additives ensures that the surface quality, metallographic structure, and impurity content of copper plates reach the optimal state. To ensure the precise and stable preparation and addition of additives, the company has introduced a digital automatic control system to accurately control the dissolution time, temperature, volume, and stirring speed of additives, eliminate human errors, and provide fundamental guarantees for the quality of cathode copper products by fully automatic continuous and uniform addition to the electrolytic cell.

3、 High current density technology improves production efficiency

To maximize production capacity while ensuring the quality of copper plates, Oresmelt adopts China's independently developed high current process technology to increase current density to industry-leading levels. China's high current technology in the field of copper electrolysis has achieved efficient and stable operation at a current density of 380A/m ², with a current efficiency of over 98%, residual electrode rate reduced to 13% to 14%, standard coal consumption per ton of copper reduced to 70 kilograms, and anode mud recovery rate as high as 98.3%. The company synchronously adopts bidirectional parallel flow supply and circulation technology to ensure uniform electrolyte flow rate and controllable flow direction, ensuring that the electrolyte composition and temperature in each area of the tank surface are highly consistent; By adopting multi loop conductive technology, the current density is evenly distributed throughout the electrolytic cell, greatly improving the copper electrolysis rate and production efficiency. Combined with the application of ethylene based resin integral casting electrolytic cell, the compressive strength and thermal stability of the electrolytic cell have been significantly improved, laying a solid foundation for the large-scale production of copper refining electrolysis.

4、 Intelligent automation ensures quality stability

The company has introduced the intelligent management concept of China's copper smelting industry, integrating automation control and real-time monitoring systems throughout the entire production process. The Chinese copper smelting industry has taken the lead in intelligence and unmanned technology. By implementing DCS distributed control systems and industrial IoT platforms, the real-time data collection rate of the entire plant can exceed 95%, and the CNC rate of key processes can reach 100%. The company's electrolysis workshop is equipped with an automatic crane system, an online detection device for electrode plate surface quality, intelligent weighing and packaging equipment, etc., which realizes the full process automation operation from anode feeding, electrolysis production to cathode copper out of the tank, stripping, weighing, bundling, and warehousing. This highly automated production system greatly reduces manual operation errors and ensures a high degree of consistency in the indicators of each batch of products.

5、 Environmental protection, energy conservation, and green smelting technology

In terms of environmental protection and energy conservation, Oresmelt has fully introduced the green process concept of China's copper smelting industry. The 380A/m ² high current density electrolysis technology developed in China has shortened the production cycle of cathode copper by about 2 days and anode copper by about 3-4 days. The standard coal consumption per ton of copper has significantly decreased from the industry's conventional 120 kilograms to 70 kilograms, significantly reducing carbon emission intensity. The electrolytic copper removal process effectively separates and recovers copper and impurities from the purified liquid, while greatly reducing the content of harmful substances in the waste liquid, making the discharge indicators of electrolytic waste liquid better than international environmental standards. The comprehensive recycling and utilization of by-products such as smelting waste residue, anode mud, and waste acid will upgrade traditional metallurgical enterprises into a green and low-carbon modern circular economy system.

6、 Product quality - benchmarking against the highest international standards

Relying on China's leading electrolytic refining process system, Oresmelt produces electrolytic copper plates with a stable main grade of over 99.99%, meeting the London Metal Exchange (LME) A-level cathode copper delivery standards. The Chinese copper smelting industry has achieved the technical capability to reduce raw material impurities from thousands of PPM to within 35PPM, with impurity removal rates of over 99%. Some companies have also reduced the total amount of cathode copper impurities to only 18 grams per ton of copper, with a main grade of up to 99.998%, far exceeding national standards. Oresmelt benchmarks against this highest standard and ensures that its products are at the forefront of the industry in key performance aspects such as conductivity, ductility, oxidation resistance, and corrosion resistance through precise production control throughout the entire process. It has become a high-quality raw material supplier in the fields of wire and cable manufacturing, electronic components, new energy equipment, high-end manufacturing, and more.

7、 Chinese technology system - both stability and foresight

The Chinese electrolytic copper refining process system that Oresmelt relies on is a mature technical solution that has been verified through large-scale industrialization of hundreds of thousands of tons. China is the world's largest producer and consumer of copper, with the most complete and largest copper smelting industry cluster in the world. China's smelting technology has been exported to more than 70 countries around the world, and many of the currently under construction ultra large copper smelters worldwide adopt Chinese design and technical services. Modern copper smelting projects in Indonesia, Congo (Kinshasa), India and other countries have all adopted advanced copper smelting processes with China's independent intellectual property rights, realized the engineering output of "Chinese design+Chinese standard+Chinese manufacturing", and fully proved the progressiveness and reliability of China's copper smelting technology in the international scope. Oresmelt chose the Chinese technology system by selecting mature processes that have been globally validated and continuously iterated and upgraded with technological support.

Conclusion

Oresmelt (Pvt) Ltd, with China's advanced electrolytic copper refining technology as its core competitiveness, has built a technologically advanced, intelligent, efficient, and environmentally friendly modern copper smelting plant in B17 Industrial Zone, Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan. From precise electrolysis process parameters to excellent production capacity brought by high current density technology; From intelligent full process automatic control to high environmental responsibility of green smelting technology - Oresmelt is setting a new benchmark for Pakistan's copper industry with Chinese technological strength, and providing high-quality, stable supply, and excellent value high-purity electrolytic copper products for the global copper market.