Copper in solidified copper smelter slags

An appreciable amount of copper is slagged in high‐grade matte smelting and converting. The major part of copper lost in slag is recovered through slag‐cleaning operations. Copper losses in slag are of two main types: copper is either dissolved in molten slag as cuprous oxide (or as sulphide) or forms a mechanical dispersion in slag. For slag cleaning by froth flotation, mineralogy and morphology of solidified slag as well as chemical composition of copper‐bearing phases are of great interest. These phenomena are reviewed and discussed in this paper.