Raw materials found in the earth's crust are usually called natural, to distinguish them from artificial resources. Natural resources also include mineral raw materials, which are divided into three basic groups:
- energy raw materials Energy resources are coal, lignite, natural gas, peat, bituminous shale and uranium. Metallic raw materials include: - iron and steel metal ores (iron, chromium, nickel, titanium, molybdenum, manganese) - non-ferrous metal ores (zinc, lead, copper, tin, arsenic) - light metal ores (aliminium) - bauxites and argillites - rare and disseminated elements (lithium, rubidium, caesium, beryllium, boron, gallium, indium germanium, talc, zirconium, selenium, strontium and others) - radioactive elements (uranium, thorium, radium) - precious metals (gold, silver) 
[001] Copper smelter production line
This article will discuss the sub-group of non-ferrous ores and, more specifically, the recovery of elements associated with copper ores. Raw ore containing 1.92% Cu has in its composition, as accompanying metals, such metallic elements as silver (Ag), gold (Au), nickel (Ni), rhenium (Re), lead (Pb), selenium (Se), cobalt (Co), molybdenum (Mo), vanadium (V), zinc (Zn). The only trace concentration of metallic elements in the raw ore does not allow its recovery in the form of minerals and therefore it must be gradually accumulated in individual enrichment processes until it reaches a concentrate in the form of lumped dry mass or briquettes with a Cu content of 20%.
Raw copper ore extracted by mining must go through the main operations: crushing, grinding, flotation and drying. As a result of this last process, a concentrate containing 20% Cu is obtained, which constitutes the charge for the copper smelter. The enrichment and concentration of associated metal elements in the smelting process is shown in the technological diagram of the smelter [002]. Concentrations of copper accompanying elements are obtained when converter or electrolytic copper is obtained.
Concentration of associated metals takes place in such raw materials as: - fine dust from shaft furnaces and converters (left side of diagram)- anode sludge from electrolytic copper refining (right side of diagram) - contaminated electrolyte from copper electrolytic refining - sludges and waste sulphuric acid 
[002] Cu production technology diagram. 1. concentrate, 2. briquetting plant, 3. shaft furnace 4. converter, 5. anode furnace, 6. electrotreating, 7. electrostatic dedusting, 8. sludge tank, 9. Cu matte, 10. converter slag, 11. air, 12. anode slag, 13. anodes, 14. copper sulphate, 15. nickel oxide, 16. electrolytic copper, 17. silver, 18. gold, 19. slag, 20. electrostatic precipitator dust, 21. carbon dioxide-containing gases, 22. rhenium recovery dust, 23. copper matte, 24. smelter lead (95% Pb)
Anode slimes, obtained from the electrolytic refining of copper, are a basic raw material for the production of precious metals. They contain silver, copper, nickel, lead, selenium, antimony, arsenic and small amounts of gold, platinum and palladium. They are now sent for further processing in zinc smelters where silver, copper, lead, selenium, gold and platinum are recovered.
In the electrolytic refining of copper, nickel is transferred to the electrolyte, from which it is separated by crystallisation in the form of hydrated sulphates NiSO4 * 7H2O and NiSO4 * 6H2O. The impurities present in the crude nickel sulphate disqualify it as a commercial product and therefore it is further processed into nickel oxide. This process involves the removal of impurities by neutralisation and oxidation. In the result, pure basic nickel carbonate NiC3 * Ni(OH) is obtained, which is then dried and roasted. Nickel oxide with 95% NiO content is widely used in the production of ferrite masses, enamels and in the steel industry.
The sludge from the sulphuric acid plant is processed together with fine converter dust, and the waste sulphuric acid from the scrubber will be purified of arsenic and rhenium and concentrated from 72 to 74%. The concentrate obtained during purification will be directed to rhenium recovery.
In addition to the discussed technological methods for obtaining copper- associated metals, there are also economically unviable technologies. These include technologies for obtaining selenium, vanadium and zinc. In the future, these technologies will be thoroughly investigated and, in the event of positive results, developed. 
[003] The process of electrolytic copper production in Norilsk.
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