Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft
German-Chilean consortium investigates new ways of reducing arsenic in copper concentrates
As the world's largest copper exporter, Chile is encountering a growing number of sulfur-based ore layers containing toxic arsenic in its copper mines. Conventional strategies for separating and landfilling arsenic are proving limited in this area. The German-Chilean project team, led on the German side by the Fraunhofer Research Institution for Materials Recycling and Resource Strategies IWKS, is working towards optimizing and advancing copper production processes so that Chile is able to tackle the problem of arsenic in the most effec-tive, cost-efficient and environmentally friendly way going forward.