The primary purpose of matte smelting is to tum the sulfide minerals in solid copper concentrate into three products: molten matte, molten slag and offgas. This is done by reacting them with O:. The oxygen is almost always fed as oxygen-enriched air. The initial reaction takes the form: CuFeS; +O, > Cu-Fe-S + FeO + SO; (4.1) matte ‘The stoichiometry varies, depending on the levels of chalcopyrite and other Cu- Fe sulfide minerals in the concentrate and on the degree of oxidation of the Fe. ‘As will be seen, smelting strategy involves a series of trade-off’. The most sig- nificant is that between matte grade (mass% Cu) and recovery. Inpuiting a large amount of O; will oxidize more of the Fe in the concentrate, so less Fe sulfide ends up in the matte. This generates a higher matte grade, On the other hand, using too much oxygen encourages oxidation of Cu, as shown previously: CuzS + 30, + Cu,0 + SO, (44). ‘A sccond set of reactions important in smelter operation involves the FeO content of the slag. If the activity of FeO in the slag is too high, it will react CusS in the matte: FO + Cu,S - FeS + Cu.0 inslag inmatte matte in slag (4.12). This reaction is not thermodynamically favored (K,y~10 at 1200°C). However, a high activity of FeO in the slag and a low activity of FeS in the matte generate higher activities of CuO in the slag. (This occurs if too much of the iron in the concentrate is oxidized.) This again gives too much Cu in the slag. In ad FeO reacts with O; to form solid magnetite if its activity is too high:As a result, lowering the activity of FeO in the slag is important, It is done by adding silica as a flux: FeO + Si02 > Fe0-SiO2 molten slag (4.14), However, again there is a trade-off. Flux costs money and the energy required to heat and melt it also costs more as more silica is used. In addition, as Fig. 4.4 shows, the viscosities of smelting slags increase as the silica level rises. This makes slag handling more difficult, and also reduces the rate at which matte particles settle through the slag layer. If the matte particles can’t settle quickly enough, they will remain entrained in the slag when it is tapped. This increases Cu losses. As a result, the correct levels of FeO and SiO, in the slag require another balancing act.