Polar Division of MMC “Norilsk Nickel”, Norilsk, Russia:

S. Yu. Eroshevich, Deputy Director
V. B. Fomichev, Chief Specialist of Scientific and Industrial Administration, e-mail: FomVB@nk.nornik.ru
I. V. Boyko, Head of an Engineering Administration Department
L. V. Krupnov, Head of an Engineering Department
S. G. Anapolskaya, Leading Engineer-Technologist of a Center of Engineering Support of Industry

From the beginning of 2008, the decreasing tendency of sulfides part of ferrous metals in ores and concentrates after their benefication has been observed on the Polar Division of MMC “Norilsk Nickel”, along with increasing of nonmetallic part with refactory compounds. Due to the reconstruction preparation of some pyrometallurgical products, the charge compound includes the fusion of sulfide crude ore on the mattle. This operation is uncharacteristic for the classic technology. Changing of the processed charge structure, as well as the temporary refuse from the exploitation of some slag bore holes led to the formation of crust in the slag butt of the flash smelter`s elutriator. This article concideres the reasons and proposes the package of measures, which are directed on the prevension of skull formation in the flash smelters during the processing of lowrich copper-nickel raw materials. Increasing of a rock part, decreasing of a sulfur contain, expansion of a magnetite in the concentrates led to the long operation of the flash smelter in the unsteady heat conditions. According to this, the incrustations were formed and fusion process was complicated up to the furnace suspesion due to the impossibility of waste heat evacuation. Due to the decreasing of energetic potential of charge, the vacuum melting process was divided into two independent processes in one device: flash smelting in the reaction zone of a furnace; reverberatory process in the precipitation tank of a furnace. Holding an autogenous process of a flash smelting on mattles with a content of 50–55 mass persentage of nickel and copper, is a necessary condition for holding a sulfur content in the concentrates mixture by not less than 29.0–30.5 mass persentage and a rock constituents content by not less than 12.0 mass persentage.

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