110-637: The ISASMELT process is an energy-efficient smelting process that was jointly developed from the 1970s to the 1990s by Mount Isa Mines (a subsidiary of MIM Holdings and now part of Glencore ) and the Government of Australia 's CSIRO . It has relatively low capital and operating costs for a smelting process. ISASMELT technology has been applied to lead, copper, and nickel smelting. As of 2021, 22 plants were in operation in eleven countries, along with three demonstration plants located at Mt Isa. The installed capacity of copper/nickel operating plants in 2020
220-565: A Bessemer converter or by other means including smelting reduction processes such as the Corex Process . Smelting has serious effects on the environment , producing wastewater and slag and releasing such toxic metals as copper , silver, iron, cobalt , and selenium into the atmosphere. Smelters also release gaseous sulfur dioxide , contributing to acid rain , which acidifies soil and water. The smelter in Flin Flon, Canada
330-485: A TAFE campus (adult education). Risdon Park High School (formerly Port Pirie Technical High School) was a co-ed state school . In 1973, Port Pire Technical High School changed its name to Ridson Park High School, and in 1995 the school merged with Port Pirie High School forming John Pirie Secondary School. Port Pirie is home to the National Trust Historic and Folk Museum and Memorial Park, and
440-529: A break-of-gauge station when the broad gauge Adelaide-Redhill line was extended to Port Pirie. At the same time the Commonwealth Railways standard gauge Trans-Australian Railway was extended south from Port Augusta to terminate at the new Port Pirie Junction station where it met the broad gauge line, in the suburb of Solomontown. As far back as 1943, a plan existed to build a new station to remove trains from Ellen Street. As part of
550-453: A sulfide ), or carbon and oxygen together (as a carbonate ). To extract the metal, workers must make these compounds undergo a chemical reaction . Smelting, therefore, consists of using suitable reducing substances that combine with those oxidizing elements to free the metal. In the case of sulfides and carbonates, a process called " roasting " removes the unwanted carbon or sulfur, leaving an oxide, which can be directly reduced. Roasting
660-532: A 120 kg/h test rig in Mount Isa. It began operation in September 1980. This was used to develop a two-stage process to produce lead bullion from Mount Isa lead concentrate. The first stage was an oxidation step that removed virtually all the sulfur from the feed, oxidising the contained lead to lead oxide (PbO) that was largely collected in the slag (some was carried out of the furnace as lead oxide fume that
770-773: A blood lead level below ten micrograms per decilitre of blood (the first ten in tenby10) by the end of 2010" (the second ten in tenby10). Higher concentrations of lead have been found in the organs of bottlenose dolphins stranded near the lead smelter, compared to dolphins stranded elsewhere in South Australia. The health impacts of these metals on dolphins has been examined and some associations between high metal concentrations and kidney toxicity were noted. Port Pirie has many educational institutions, including John Pirie Secondary School (years 7–12), St Mark's College (Foundation - year 12), Mid North Christian College (reception - year 12), many preschools and primary schools, and
880-498: A desired base metal product. It is a form of extractive metallurgy that is used to obtain many metals such as iron , copper , silver , tin , lead and zinc . Smelting uses heat and a chemical reducing agent to decompose the ore, driving off other elements as gases or slag and leaving the metal behind. The reducing agent is commonly a fossil-fuel source of carbon , such as carbon monoxide from incomplete combustion of coke —or, in earlier times, of charcoal . The oxygen in
990-424: A hammer to produce wrought iron . Some of the earliest evidence to date for the bloomery smelting of iron is found at Tell Hammeh , Jordan, radiocarbon-dated to c. 930 BC . From the medieval period, an indirect process began to replace the direct reduction in bloomeries. This used a blast furnace to make pig iron , which then had to undergo a further process to make forgeable bar iron. Processes for
1100-709: A low concentration of sulfur dioxide that was difficult to capture; a new generation of copper smelting technologies has supplanted them. More recent furnaces exploit bath smelting, top-jetting lance smelting, flash smelting , and blast furnaces. Some examples of bath smelters include the Noranda furnace, the Isasmelt furnace, the Teniente reactor, the Vunyukov smelter, and the SKS technology. Top-jetting lance smelters include
1210-568: A margin of 3.4%. It also has been considered a safe Liberal seat. Although the region is generally Liberal-leaning because of its agricultural base, Port Pirie is an industrial centre that is favourable to the Australian Labor Party . In late 2008, Rob Kerin announced his retirement, which led to a by-election being held in January 2009. Port Pirie mayor Geoff Brock announced his candidacy as an independent, and subsequently took
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#17327837947701320-647: A population of more than 500 Russians, mostly Ossetians , who had come to work at the smelter. At that time the town supported a Russian-language school and library. In 1915, the smelter was taken over by Broken Hill Associated Smelters (BHAS) – a joint venture of companies operating in Broken Hill. Led by the Collins House Group, by 1934 BHAS became the biggest lead smelter in the world. The smelter gradually passed to Pasminco , then Zinifex , and since 2007 has been operated by Nyrstar . In 1921,
1430-481: A range of more complex organic compounds known collectively as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH). Treatment technologies include recycling of wastewater; settling basins , clarifiers and filtration systems for solids removal; oil skimmers and filtration; chemical precipitation and filtration for dissolved metals; carbon adsorption and biological oxidation for organic pollutants; and evaporation. Pollutants generated by other types of smelters varies with
1540-544: A reduction step, the total throughput of the plant was increased by treating the slag in the short rotary furnace when sufficient quantities of the slag had been generated. The plant was designed to treat 7.7 t/h of battery paste, but routinely treated 12 t/h. The plant was shut down in 2004 when Xstrata Zinc, which took over the MIM Holdings lead operations, decided to leave the lead recycling business. A second lead ISASMELT plant for recovering lead from recycled batteries
1650-527: A report from the South Australian Health Department found an average blood level of 7.3 mg/dL in young children, compared to a finding of 5.3 mg/dL in 2014, and an upward trend of airborne lead levels. Prior to British settlement, the location that became Port Pirie was occupied by the indigenous tribe of Nukunu . The location was called 'Tarparrie', which is suspected to mean "Muddy Creek". The first European to see
1760-487: A second, identical furnace next to the first, and commissioned it in August 1985. This combination of furnaces was used to demonstrate the two-stage process in continuous operation in mid-1987. However, for most of the time the two furnaces were not able to operate simultaneously due to a constraint in the capacity of the baghouse used to filter the lead dust from the waste gas. A series of process improvements, particularly in
1870-434: A secondary service after the reduction step is complete; they provide a molten cover on the purified metal, preventing contact with oxygen while still hot enough to readily oxidize. This prevents impurities from forming in the metal. The ores of base metals are often sulfides. In recent centuries, reverberatory furnaces have been used to keep the charge being smelted separately from the fuel. Traditionally, they were used for
1980-428: A single furnace without excess fuming. This was demonstrated on the large scale in 1994, when 4000 t of concentrate containing 67% lead were treated at rates up to 32 t/h with lance air enriched to 27%. During these trials, 50% of the lead in the concentrate was converted to lead bullion in the smelting furnace, while most of the rest ended up as lead oxide in the smelting furnace slag. Like the lead ISASMELT pilot plant,
2090-469: A system was attempted in Clichy, France. However, early attempts failed because of the short lives of the lances on submersion in the bath. The Mitsubishi copper smelting process is one alternative approach, wherein lances are used in a furnace, but they are not submerged into the bath. Instead, they blow oxygen-enriched air onto the surface of the slag (top jetting). Similarly, a water-cooled, top-jetting lance
2200-687: Is based on the oral histories of Greek, Cypriot and Italian people who migrated to regional South Australia after World War II. It was staged by the State Theatre Company South Australia in 2018. It played at the Dunstan Playhouse in Adelaide as well as in Port Pirie. It was also filmed by local production company KOJO and intended to be shown by Country Arts SA in regional cinemas in 2020, but it
2310-486: Is dominated by one of the world's largest lead smelters , operated by Nyrstar . It also produces refined silver , copper , acid , gold and various other by-products. In 2014, the smelter underwent a $ 650 million upgrade, of which $ 291 million was underwritten by the state government to replace some of the old existing plant and to reduce airborne lead emissions drastically. Regardless of these upgrades, blood lead levels in young children continue to rise. In 2021
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#17327837947702420-542: Is easily produced during the heating process, and as a gas comes into intimate contact with the ore. In the Old World , humans learned to smelt metals in prehistoric times, more than 8000 years ago. The discovery and use of the "useful" metals – copper and bronze at first, then iron a few millennia later – had an enormous impact on human society. The impact was so pervasive that scholars traditionally divide ancient history into Stone Age , Bronze Age , and Iron Age . In
2530-427: Is easily replaced with a new one when necessary. The worn tips are subsequently cut off and a new tip welded onto the lance body before it is returned to the furnace. ISASMELT furnaces typically operate in the range of 1000–1200 °C, depending on the application. The refractory bricks that form the internal lining of the furnace protect the steel shell from the heat inside the furnace. The products are removed from
2640-486: Is low, averaging 345.9 mm (13.62 in), with a maximum in winter. There are 78.3 precipitation days, 125.0 clear days and 100.0 cloudy days annually. Extreme temperatures have ranged from 46.3 °C (115.3 °F) on 4 January 1979 to −1.7 °C (28.9 °F) on 27 June 1958. Port Pirie is 5 km (3 mi) off the Augusta Highway . It is serviced by Port Pirie Airport , six kilometres south of
2750-408: Is occasionally found in commercially significant quantities. These minerals are primarily carbonates , sulfides , or oxides of the metal, mixed with other components such as silica and alumina . Roasting the carbonate and sulfide minerals in the air converts them to oxides. The oxides, in turn, are smelted into the metal. Carbon monoxide was (and is) the reducing agent of choice for smelting. It
2860-597: Is only marginally harder, and had even less impact by itself. The earliest evidence for iron-making is a small number of iron fragments with the appropriate amounts of carbon admixture found in the Proto-Hittite layers at Kaman-Kalehöyük and dated to 2200–2000 BC. Souckova-Siegolová (2001) shows that iron implements were made in Central Anatolia in very limited quantities around 1800 BC and were in general use by elites, though not by commoners, during
2970-513: Is still in print today (Tuesdays and Thursdays), has recently changed to a morning paper, after being delivered at around 3:00 pm. Other Port Pirie newspapers include the free The Flinders News (Wednesdays), and The Advertiser , which covers some Port Pirie news, but to a very small extent. Another newspaper, the Port Pirie Advertiser (7 April 1898 – 28 June 1924) was also published by Robert Osborne. A further publication
3080-562: Is unknown. The first such bronzes may have been a lucky accident from tin-contaminated copper ores. However, by 2000 BC, people were mining tin on purpose to produce bronze—which is remarkable as tin is a semi-rare metal, and even a rich cassiterite ore only has 5% tin. The discovery of copper and bronze manufacture had a significant impact on the history of the Old World . Metals were hard enough to make weapons that were heavier, stronger, and more resistant to impact damage than wood, bone, or stone equivalents. For several millennia, bronze
3190-423: Is usually carried out in an oxidizing environment. A few practical examples: Reduction is the final, high-temperature step in smelting, in which the oxide becomes the elemental metal. A reducing environment (often provided by carbon monoxide, made by incomplete combustion in an air-starved furnace) pulls the final oxygen atoms from the raw metal. The carbon source acts as a chemical reactant to remove oxygen from
3300-517: The Americas , pre- Inca civilizations of the central Andes in Peru had mastered the smelting of copper and silver at least six centuries before the first Europeans arrived in the 16th century, while never mastering the smelting of metals such as iron for use with weapon craft. Copper was the first metal to be smelted. How the discovery came about is debated. Campfires are about 200 °C short of
3410-971: The Broken Hill Associated Smelters in Port Pirie (1973), tin slag from Associated Tin Smelters in Sydney (1974), copper converter slag at the Electrolytic Refining and Smelting ("ER&S") Port Kembla plant (1975) and copper anode furnace slag at Copper Refineries Limited (another subsidiary of MIM Holdings) in Townsville (1976) and of copper converter slag in Mount Isa (1977). The work then proceeded to smelting tin concentrates (1975) and then sulfidic tin concentrates (1977). MIM and ER&S jointly funded
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3520-609: The Mid North region of South Australia. The city has an expansive history which dates back to 1845. Port Pirie was the first proclaimed regional city in South Australia, and is currently the second most important and second busiest port in SA. At the 2021 Census , Port Pirie had a population of 13,896. Port Pirie is the eighth most populous city in South Australia after Adelaide , Mount Gambier , Gawler , Mount Barker , Whyalla , Murray Bridge and Port Lincoln . The city's economy
3630-619: The New Hittite Empire (~1400–1200 BC). Archaeologists have found indications of iron working in Ancient Egypt , somewhere between the Third Intermediate Period and 23rd Dynasty (ca. 1100–750 BC). Significantly though, they have found no evidence of iron ore smelting in any (pre-modern) period. In addition, very early instances of carbon steel were in production around 2000 years ago (around
3740-626: The Western Mining Corporation's Kalgoorlie Nickel Smelter , located to the south of Kalgoorlie , Western Australia . In the early 1970s, the traditional blast furnace and sinter plant technology that was the mainstay of the lead smelting industry was coming under sustained pressure from more stringent environmental requirements, increased energy costs, decreasing metal prices and rising capital and operating costs. Many smelting companies were seeking new processes to replace sinter plants and blast furnaces. Possibilities included
3850-549: The gauge conversion of the Port Pirie to Broken Hill line , Mary Elie Street station was built to replace both Ellen Street and Port Pirie Junction stations. When opened, the new station was the meeting point for the Commonwealth Railways and South Australian Railways networks with through trains changing locomotives and crews, so the disadvantages were not as notable. However, after both became part of Australian National in July 1975 and trains began to operate in and out with
3960-487: The 120 kg/h test rig to develop other processes, including the dross treatment process previously mentioned, and the treatment of lead-acid battery paste for lead recycling. The MIM Holdings Board of Directors approved the construction of an ISASMELT plant at Britannia Refined Metals, the company's lead refinery at Northfleet in the United Kingdom, for commercial recovery of lead from battery paste to supplement
4070-428: The 1880s. The owner since 2007, Nyrstar, is the city's main employer., and high blood lead levels in the local population are an ongoing concern. In 2006 Zinifex formed a joint venture with Umicore to create Nyrstar, which owns the smelter, with the intention that it would eventually be an entity separate from the parent companies. The PPRC completed a major redevelopment of its foreshore area in 2014 including
4180-585: The 1975 Port Kembla converter slag treatment trials and MIM's involvement continued with the slag treatment work in Townsville and Mount Isa. In parallel with the copper slag treatment work, the CSIRO was continuing to work in tin smelting. Projects included a five tonne ("t") plant for recovering tin from slag being installed at Associated Tin Smelters in 1978, and the first sulfidic smelting test work being done in collaboration with Aberfoyle Limited, in which tin
4290-494: The 3 Aerial Observers School (3AOS) in December 1943. Port Pirie was declared South Australia's first provincial city in 1953, and today it is South Australia's second-largest port. The city is characterised by an attractive main street and some interesting and unusual historic buildings. Heritage-listed sites include: In the 2021 census , the population of the Port Pirie urban area was 13,896 people. Approximately 51.0% of
4400-546: The Mitsubishi smelting reactor. Flash smelters account for over 50% of the world's copper smelters. There are many more varieties of smelting processes, including the Kivset, Ausmelt, Tamano, EAF, and BF. Of the seven metals known in antiquity , only gold regularly occurs in nature as a native metal . The others – copper , lead , silver , tin , iron , and mercury – occur primarily as minerals, although native copper
4510-653: The Port Pirie Regional Art Gallery also serves the regional community. Every September and October the city hosts a country music festival. The Keith Michell Theatre, within the Northern Festival Centre, is named after the renowned actor Keith Michell , who grew up in Warnertown , 5 km (3 mi) from Port Pirie. A play by actress and playwright Elena Carapetis , The Gods of Strangers , set in Port Pirie,
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4620-563: The QSL lead smelting process, the Kivcet process, the Kaldo top-blown rotary converter , and adapting Outokumpu's successful copper and nickel flash furnace to lead smelting. MIM was seeking ways to safeguard the future of its Mount Isa lead smelting operations. It did this in two ways: MIM investigated new technologies by arranging plant testing of large parcels of Mount Isa lead concentrates for all
4730-690: The Scunthorpe Steelworks in November 1975 in which 11 men lost their lives. The inclusion of the swirlers in the Sirosmelt lance and forming a splash coating of slag on the lance were the major innovations that led to the successful development of submerged lance smelting. From 1973, the CSIRO scientists began a series of trials using the Sirosmelt lance to recover metals from industrial slags in Australia, including lead softener slag at
4840-565: The agreement, Nyrstar engaged training and ramp-up support services for the Ausmelt furnace and blast furnace by personnel from Glencore's Kazzinc operations in Kazakhstan . This involved training Nyrstar personnel at Ust-Kamenogorsk operations and site support by Kazzinc personnel during the commissioning and ramp-up stages of the Ausmelt plant. While the lead ISASMELT 5 t/h pilot plant was being designed in 1982–1983, MIM continued to use
4950-418: The ancient world. It is too soft to use for structural elements or weapons, though its high density relative to other metals makes it ideal for sling projectiles. However, since it was easy to cast and shape, workers in the classical world of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome used it extensively to pipe and store water. They also used it as a mortar in stone buildings. Tin was much less common than lead,
5060-399: The angle from axial to tangential thus creating a strong vortex. The vortex helps mix liquids and solids with oxygen in the bath. The cooling effect results in a layer of slag "freezing" on the outside of the lance. This layer of solid slag protects the lance from the high temperatures inside the furnace. The tip of the lance that is submerged in the bath eventually wears out, and the worn lance
5170-664: The baghouse. The lead ISASMELT demonstration plant was mothballed in 1995 because there was insufficient concentrate to keep both it and the rest of the lead smelter operating. It was too small to treat all the Mount Isa lead concentrate by itself. The first commercial primary-lead ISASMELT furnace was installed at the Yunnan Chihong Zinc and Germanium Company Limited (YCZG) greenfield zinc and lead smelting complex at Qujing in Yunnan Province in China. This furnace
5280-461: The base metal ore. For example, aluminum smelters typically generate fluoride , benzo(a)pyrene , antimony and nickel, as well as aluminum. Copper smelters typically discharge cadmium, lead, zinc , arsenic and nickel, in addition to copper. Lead smelters may discharge antimony , asbestos, cadmium, copper and zinc, in addition to lead. Labourers working in the smelting industry have reported respiratory illnesses inhibiting their ability to perform
5390-420: The bottom of the furnace. A steel lance is lowered into the bath through a hole in the roof of the furnace, and air or oxygen-enriched air that is injected through the lance into the bath causes vigorous agitation of the bath. Mineral concentrates or materials for recycling are dropped into the bath through another hole in the furnace roof or, in some cases, injected down the lance. These feed materials react with
5500-604: The city. The first railway in Port Pirie opened in 1875 when the South Australian Railways 1,067 mm ( 3 ft 6 in ) gauge Port Pirie-Cockburn line opened to Gladstone , ultimately being extended to Broken Hill . The original Ellen Street station was located on the street with the track running down the middle. The station today is occupied by the Port Pirie National Trust Museum. In 1937, it became
5610-562: The completion of a narrow gauge railway from Port Pirie to close to the Broken Hill field in 1888, the economic activities of the town underwent profound change. In 1889 a lead smelter was built by the British Blocks company to treat the Broken Hill ore. BHP initially leased the smelter from British Blocks but began constructing its own smelter from 1892. In 1913, the Russian consul-general Alexander Abaza reported that Port Pirie had
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#17327837947705720-425: The construction of an A$ 65 million demonstration plant, capable of producing 60,000 t/y of lead bullion. This plant operated from early 1991 until 1995. It was initially designed to treat 20 t/h of lead concentrate using lance air enriched to 27%. However, the oxygen originally designated for its use was diverted to the more profitable copper smelting operations, and the feed rate to the lead ISASMELT demonstration plant
5830-603: The construction of the Solomontown Beach Plaza, opening up Beach abroad to through traffic, replacing lighting along the beach and improving security. Lead smelters contribute to several environmental problems, especially raised lead levels in the blood of some of the town population. The problem is particularly significant in many children who have grown up in the area. A state government project addressed this. Nyrstar plans to progressively reduce lead in blood levels such that ultimately 95% of all children meet
5940-496: The continuous operation of lead concentrate to produce high-lead slag, the pilot plant was used to produce lead metal from batches of the slag, investigate the wear rates of the furnace's refractory lining and lances, and initial work aimed at developing a low-pressure version of the Sirosmelt lance. The result was a lance design that allowed operation at significantly lower pressure than the initial values of about 250 kilopascal (gauge) ("kPag"), thus reducing operating costs. MIM built
6050-408: The copper ISASMELT demonstration plant was integrated into copper smelter operations and justified by the 20% (30,000 t/y) increase in copper production that it provided. It quickly treated the entire backlog of converter slag concentrate, which could not be treated at high rates in the reverberatory furnaces without generating magnetite ("Fe 3 O 4 ") accretions that would necessitate shutting down
6160-408: The discovery happened several millennia before the invention of writing, there is no written record of how it was made. However, tin and lead can be smelted by placing the ores in a wood fire, leaving the possibility that the discovery may have occurred by accident. Recent scholarship however has called this find into question. Lead is a common metal, but its discovery had relatively little impact in
6270-419: The energy needed to heat and melt the feed materials is derived from the reaction of oxygen with the sulfur and iron in the concentrate. However, a small amount of supplemental energy is required. ISASMELT furnaces can use a variety of fuels, including coal, coke, petroleum coke, oil and natural gas. The solid fuel can be added through the top of the furnace with the other feed materials, or it can be injected down
6380-513: The establishment of trade networks that spanned large areas of Europe and Asia and had a major effect on the distribution of wealth among individuals and nations. The earliest known cast lead beads were thought to be in the Çatalhöyük site in Anatolia ( Turkey ), and dated from about 6500 BC. However, recent research has discovered that this was not lead, but rather cerussite and galena, minerals rich in, but distinct from, lead. Since
6490-477: The existing plant, which used a short rotary furnace to produce 10,000 t/y of lead. The new plant increased annual production to 30,000 t/y of recycled lead, and was commissioned in 1991. The ISASMELT furnace was used to produce low-antimony lead bullion from the battery paste and an antimony-rich slag that contained 55–65% lead oxide. While it was possible to recover the lead from the slag in the ISASMELT furnace by
6600-412: The first stage of the process in continuous operation and for testing the reduction step using batches of high-lead slag. One of the key features of the pilot plant was that it was run by operations’ personnel in the lead smelter as though it was an operations’ plant. The high lead slag produced by the continuous smelting of the lead concentrate was subsequently treated in the sinter plant, thus increasing
6710-429: The first step of smelting: forming two liquids, one an oxide slag containing most of the impurities, and the other a sulfide matte containing the valuable metal sulfide and some impurities. Such "reverb" furnaces are today about 40 meters long, 3 meters high, and 10 meters wide. Fuel is burned at one end to melt the dry sulfide concentrates (usually after partial roasting) which are fed through openings in
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#17327837947706820-454: The first-century .) in northwest Tanzania , based on complex preheating principles. These discoveries are significant for the history of metallurgy. Most early processes in Europe and Africa involved smelting iron ore in a bloomery , where the temperature is kept low enough so that the iron does not melt. This produces a spongy mass of iron called a bloom, which then must be consolidated with
6930-444: The furnace through one or more "tap holes" in a process called "tapping". This can be either continuous removal or in batches, with the tap holes being blocked with clay at the end of a tap, and then reopened by drilling or with a thermic lance when it is time for the next tap. The products are allowed to separate in a settling vessel, such as a rotary holding furnace or an electric furnace. While smelting sulfide concentrates, most of
7040-609: The lance. Liquid and gaseous fuels are injected down the lance. The advantages of the ISASMELT process include: The ISASMELT process began with the invention in 1973 of the Sirosmelt lance by Drs Bill Denholm and John Floyd at the CSIRO. The lance was developed as a result of investigations into improved tin-smelting processes, in which it was found that the use of a top-entry submerged lance would result in greater heat transfer and mass transfer efficiencies. The idea of top-entry submerged lances goes back to at least 1902, when such
7150-472: The largest polling booth in Port Pirie, which is at the SA TAFE Campus. Port Pirie is part of the federal division of Grey , and has been represented by Liberal MP Rowan Ramsey since 2007. Grey is held with a margin of 4.43% but is considered a safe Liberal seat. The city is part of the state electoral district of Frome , which had been held since 1993 by former Liberal Premier, Rob Kerin , with
7260-446: The lead ISASMELT demonstration plant suffered from constraints imposed by the waste gas handling system. In the case of the demonstration plant, the problem was caused by sticky fume that formed an insulating layer on the convection tube bundles of the waste heat boilers, significantly reducing the heat transfer rates and thus the ability of the boilers to reduce the waste gas temperature. As the plant used baghouses to filter lead fume from
7370-586: The location was Matthew Flinders in 1802, as he explored the Spencer Gulf by boat. The first land discovery of the location by a European was by the explorer Edward Eyre , who explored regions around Port Augusta . John Horrocks also discovered a pass through the Flinders Ranges to the coast, now named Horrocks Pass . The town was originally called Samuel's Creek after the discovery of Muddy Creek by Samuel Germein . In 1846, Port Pirie Creek
7480-453: The matte to produce blister copper. The results of this work were sufficiently encouraging that MIM in 1983 undertook its own copper smelting test work program using its 120 kg/h test rig, which had by then been rerated to 250 kg/h. It was found that the process was easy to control and that copper loss to slag was low. It was also learned that the process could easily recover copper from copper converter slag concentrate, of which there
7590-450: The national goal of 10 micrograms per decilitre. This has been known as the "tenby10" project. Community lead in blood levels in children are now at less than half the level that they were in the mid 1980s. The Port Pirie smelter conducted a project to reduce lead levels in children to less than 10 micrograms per decilitre by the end of 2010. "The goal we are committed to achieving is for at least 95% of our children aged 0 to 4 to have
7700-722: The oldest evidence, now appears to be hammered, native copper. Combining copper with tin and/or arsenic in the right proportions produces bronze , an alloy that is significantly harder than copper. The first copper/arsenic bronzes date from 4200 BC from Asia Minor . The Inca bronze alloys were also of this type. Arsenic is often an impurity in copper ores, so the discovery could have been made by accident. Eventually, arsenic-bearing minerals were intentionally added during smelting. Copper–tin bronzes, harder and more durable, were developed around 3500 BC, also in Asia Minor. How smiths learned to produce copper/tin bronzes
7810-455: The ore and liberating the sulfur as sulfur dioxide gas. Smelting most prominently takes place in a blast furnace to produce pig iron , which is converted into steel . Plants for the electrolytic reduction of aluminium are referred to as aluminium smelters . Smelting involves more than just melting the metal out of its ore. Most ores are the chemical compound of the metal and other elements, such as oxygen (as an oxide ), sulfur (as
7920-430: The ore binds to carbon at high temperatures, as the chemical potential energy of the bonds in carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) is lower than that of the bonds in the ore. Sulfide ores such as those commonly used to obtain copper, zinc or lead, are roasted before smelting in order to convert the sulfides to oxides, which are more readily reduced to the metal. Roasting heats the ore in the presence of oxygen from air, oxidizing
8030-464: The ore during smelting to catalyze the desired reactions and to chemically bind to unwanted impurities or reaction products. Calcium carbonate or calcium oxide in the form of lime are often used for this purpose, since they react with sulfur, phosphorus, and silicon impurities to allow them to be readily separated and discarded, in the form of slag. Fluxes may also serve to control the viscosity and neutralize unwanted acids. Flux and slag can provide
8140-400: The ore, yielding the purified metal element as a product. The carbon source is oxidized in two stages. First, carbon (C) combusts with oxygen (O 2 ) in the air to produce carbon monoxide (CO). Second, the carbon monoxide reacts with the ore (e.g. Fe 2 O 3 ) and removes one of its oxygen atoms, releasing carbon dioxide (CO 2 ). After successive interactions with carbon monoxide, all of
8250-498: The other side of Port Pirie Creek. Construction cost $ 410,000 and lasted 26 weeks. It was officially named the John Pirie Bridge in 1980. The land across the bridge remains undeveloped. The main industries are the smelting of metals, and the operation of silos to hold grain. As of 2020 , Port Pirie is the locality of the largest lead smelter and refinery in the southern hemisphere; a lead smelter has been there since
8360-431: The oxygen in the injected gas, resulting in an intensive reaction in a small volume (relative to other smelting technologies). ISASMELT lances contain one or more devices called "swirlers" that cause the injected gas to spin within the lance, forcing it against the lance wall, cooling it. The swirler consists of curved vanes around a central pipe forming an annular flow. They are designed to minimize pressure losses changing
8470-431: The oxygen in the ore will be removed, leaving the raw metal element (e.g. Fe). As most ores are impure, it is often necessary to use flux , such as limestone (or dolomite ), to remove the accompanying rock gangue as slag. This calcination reaction emits carbon dioxide. The required temperature varies both in absolute terms and in terms of the melting point of the base metal. Examples: Fluxes are materials added to
8580-685: The physical tasks demanded by their jobs. In the United States, the Environmental Protection Agency has published pollution control regulations for smelters. Port Pirie#History Port Pirie is a small city on the east coast of the Spencer Gulf in South Australia , 223 km (139 mi) north of the state capital, Adelaide . Port Pirie is the largest city and the main retail centre of
8690-469: The population were female, 85.9% were Australian born, and 5.2% were Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people. Port Pirie has significant Italian and Greek communities. In 2021, the most popular industries for employment were copper, silver, lead and zinc smelting and refining (11.0%), non-psychiatric hospitals (6.0%), residential aged care (4.3%), other social assistance services (4.2%) and supermarket and grocery stores (3.9%). The unemployment rate
8800-430: The processed material to Adelaide. This line is managed by Bowmans Rail . Port Pirie's marine facilities, managed by Flinders Ports , handle up to 100 ship visits annually, up to Handymax size, for commodities such as mineral concentrates, refined lead and zinc, coal, grain, and general cargo. John Pirie Bridge, locally known as 'the bridge to nowhere', was built in the 1970s to encourage development of industry on
8910-415: The production of the lead smelter by up to 17%. This gave the operations’ people ownership of the plant and an incentive to make it work, thus ensuring management and maintenance priority. It also gave MIM assurance that the process was simple enough to be operable in a production environment, with normal staff and supervision, and that it was robust enough to withstand normal control excursions. In addition to
9020-489: The range of 47–52% lead during the lead ISASMELT development period). Trying to produce lead bullion in a single furnace with such low concentrate grades would result in excessive fuming of lead oxide with a huge amount of material that would have to be returned to the furnace to recover the lead and, consequently, a higher energy demand as that material had to be reheated to the furnace temperatures. Concentrates with higher lead contents can be smelted directly into lead metal in
9130-424: The reverberatory furnaces for their removal. The demonstration copper ISASMELT plant was used to further develop the copper process. Refractory life was initially shorter than expected and considerable effort was devoted to understanding the reasons and attempting to extend the life of the refractories. At the end of the life of the demonstration plant, the longest refractory life achieved was 90 weeks. Lance life
9240-401: The roof of the furnace. The slag floats over the heavier matte and is removed and discarded or recycled. The sulfide matte is then sent to the converter . The precise details of the process vary from one furnace to another depending on the mineralogy of the ore body. While reverberatory furnaces produced slags containing very little copper, they were relatively energy inefficient and off-gassed
9350-433: The same locomotives, trains began to operate via Coonamia station on the outskirts of the city. Mary Ellie Street station was eventually closed in the 1990s and in 2009 was redeveloped as the city's library. Until 2012, a GM class locomotive and three carriages were stabled at the platform. A freight line continues to operate into Port Pirie, feeding the metals plant with raw materials from Broken Hill, and transporting
9460-585: The second stage include fining in a finery forge . In the 13th century during the High Middle Ages the blast furnace was introduced by China who had been using it since as early as 200 b.c during the Qin dynasty . [1] Puddling was also introduced in the Industrial Revolution . Both processes are now obsolete, and wrought iron is now rarely made. Instead, mild steel is produced from
9570-651: The temperature needed, so some propose that the first smelting of copper may have occurred in pottery kilns . (The development of copper smelting in the Andes, which is believed to have occurred independently of the Old World , may have occurred in the same way. ) The earliest current evidence of copper smelting, dating from between 5500 BC and 5000 BC, has been found in Pločnik and Belovode, Serbia. A mace head found in Turkey and dated to 5000 BC, once thought to be
9680-470: The then process options except for the Kivcet process. At the same time, it had been aware of the use of top-jetting lances in the Mitsubishi and Kaldo processes, and of top-entry submerged combustion lance investigations undertaken by Asarco (which had a long association with MIM, including being a shareholder in MIM Holdings) in the 1960s. This stimulated MIM's interest in the Sirosmelt lance, which
9790-480: The town's population had grown to 9,801, living in 2,308 occupied dwellings. By this date, there were 62 boarding houses to cater for the labour demands at the smelter, and the increasingly busy waterfront. During World War II (1941-1943), a Bombing and Gunnery school (2BAGS) was established by the Royal Air Force at Port Pirie. 22 men lost their lives there during training exercises. It was re-designated
9900-496: The waste gas handling system, resulted in increasing the throughput of the plant from the initial design of 5 t/h to 10 t/h. The pilot plant had treated more than 125,000 t of lead concentrate by April 1989. The two furnaces were also used to develop a process to recover lead from the Mount Isa lead smelter's drossing operations. Based on the results of the pilot plant work, the MIM Holdings Board of Directors approved
10010-407: The waste gas, it was necessary to reduce the temperature of the gas below the point at which the bags would be damaged by high temperatures. The problem was solved by allowing cool air to mix with the hot waste gas to lower the temperature to a level at which the baghouse could operate. This reduced the ISASMELT plant's capacity because it was again limited by the volume of gas that could be filtered by
10120-644: The west, and the Flinders Ranges to the east. Port Pirie has a semi-arid climate ( Köppen: BSh), with hot, dry summers and cool, somewhat wetter winters. The town is above Goyder's Line , and is surrounded by mallee scrub. Temperatures vary throughout the year, with average maxima ranging from 32.0 °C (89.6 °F) in January to 16.4 °C (61.5 °F) in July, and average minima fluctuating between 17.9 °C (64.2 °F) in February and 7.7 °C (45.9 °F) in July. Annual precipitation
10230-471: Was 7.7%. The median weekly household income was A$ 1044 per week. 48.5% of the population identified with no religion, while 21.0% identified themselves as Catholic . Port Pirie is at an elevation of 4 metres above sea level . It is approximately 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) inland, on the Pirie River, which is a tidal saltwater inlet from Spencer Gulf . It is on the coastal plain between Spencer Gulf to
10340-406: Was 9.76 million tonnes per year of feed materials and 750 thousand tonnes per year across lead operating plants. Smelters based on the copper ISASMELT process are among the lowest-cost copper smelters in the world. An ISASMELT furnace is an upright-cylindrical shaped steel vessel that is lined with refractory bricks. There is a molten bath of slag, matte or metal (depending on the application) at
10450-454: Was a large stockpile at Mount Isa. Construction of a 15 t/h demonstration copper ISASMELT plant began in 1986. The design was based on MIM's 250 kg/h test work and operating experience with the lead ISASMELT pilot plant. It cost A$ 11 million and was commissioned in April 1987. The initial capital cost was recovered in the first 14 months of operation. As with the lead ISASMELT pilot plant,
10560-442: Was also low initially. Inexperienced operators could destroy a lance in as little as 10 minutes. However, as a result of modifications to the lance design, the development of techniques to determine the position of the lance in the bath, and a rise in the operating experience, the typical lance life was extended to a week. Smelting Smelting is a process of applying heat and a chemical reducing agent to an ore to extract
10670-585: Was commissioned at Kazzinc's smelting complex at Ust-Kamenogorsk in Kazakhstan in 2012. It is designed to treat 300,000 t/y of lead concentrate, again using an ISASMELT–blast furnace combination. YCZG is constructing another lead ISASMELT at a new greenfield smelter in Huize in China, and this is due to be commissioned in 2013. In June 2017, Glencore announced that Nyrstar NV had acquired an Isasmelt licence for its new Ausmelt furnace in Port Pirie . As part of
10780-464: Was commissioned in 2000 in Malaysia at Metal Reclamation Industries’ Pulau Indah plant. This ISASMELT plant has a design capacity of 40,000 t/y of lead bullion. Scientists at the CSIRO conducted small-scale test work on copper sulfide concentrate in 1979, using the CSIRO's 50 kg Sirosmelt test rig. These trials included producing copper matte containing 40–52% copper and, in some cases, converting
10890-536: Was fumed from pyritic tin ore and from mixed tin and copper concentrates. Aberfoyle was investigating the possibility of using the Sirosmelt lance approach to improve the recovery of tin from complex ores, such as its mine at Cleveland, Tasmania, and the Queen Hill ore zone near Zeehan in Tasmania . The Aberfoyle work led to the construction and operation in late 1980 of a four t/h tin matte fuming pilot plant at
11000-565: Was later shown online owing to the COVID-19 pandemic in South Australia . The town's main newspaper, The Recorder , was first published 21 March 1885 as The Port Pirie Advocate and Areas News . In 1971, a brief experiment, known as the Northern Observer (7 July - 30 August 1971), occurred when The Recorder and The Transcontinental from Port Augusta were published under a combined title in Port Pirie. The Recorder , which
11110-468: Was named by Governor Robe after the John Pirie , the first vessel to navigate the creek when transporting sheep from Bowman's Run near Crystal Brook. In 1848, Matthew Smith and Emanuel Solomon bought 85 acres (34 ha) and subdivided it as a township to be known as Port Pirie. Little development occurred on site and by the late 1860s there were only three woolsheds on the riverfront. The locality
11220-1041: Was one of the largest point sources of mercury in North America in the 20th century. Even after smelter releases were drastically reduced, landscape re-emission continued to be a major regional source of mercury. Lakes will likely receive mercury contamination from the smelter for decades, from both re-emissions returning as rainwater and leaching of metals from the soil. Air pollutants generated by aluminium smelters include carbonyl sulfide , hydrogen fluoride , polycyclic compounds , lead, nickel , manganese , polychlorinated biphenyls , and mercury . Copper smelter emissions include arsenic, beryllium , cadmium , chromium , lead, manganese, and nickel. Lead smelters typically emit arsenic, antimony , cadmium and various lead compounds. Wastewater pollutants discharged by iron and steel mills includes gasification products such as benzene , naphthalene , anthracene , cyanide , ammonia , phenols and cresols , together with
11330-457: Was part of a plant consisting of the ISASMELT furnace and a blast furnace specially designed to treat high-lead ISASMELT slag. The ISASMELT furnace was designed to produce both the slag and lead bullion, with about 40% of the lead in the concentrate being converted to lead bullion in the ISASMELT furnace. The ISASMELT–blast furnace combination was designed to treat 160,000 t/y of lead concentrate. The second commercial primary-lead ISASMELT furnace
11440-434: Was returned for lead recovery). The second stage was a reduction step in which the oxygen was removed from the lead to form lead metal. Following the 120 kg/h test work, MIM decided to proceed to install a 5 t/h lead ISASMELT pilot plant in its Mount Isa lead smelter. It bought Aberfoyle's matte fuming furnace and transported it from Kalgoorlie to Mount Isa, where it was rebuilt and commissioned in 1983 to demonstrate
11550-475: Was seen as a way to produce a robust submerged lance. Following the copper slag trials of 1976–1978, MIM initiated a joint project with the CSIRO in 1978 to investigate the possibility of applying Sirosmelt lances to lead smelting. The work began with computer modelling the equilibrium thermodynamics (1978) and was followed by laboratory bench-scale test work using large alumina silicate crucibles (1978–1979). The results were sufficiently encouraging that MIM built
11660-413: Was severely restricted. When there was sufficient oxygen available in 1993 to increase the enrichment level to 33–35%, treatment rates of up to 36 t/h of concentrate were achieved, with residual lead in the final reduction furnace slag being in the range of 2–5%. The two-stage approach to ISASMELT lead smelting was partly driven by the relatively low lead content of Mount Isa lead concentrates (typically in
11770-450: Was surveyed as a government town in December 1871 by Charles Hope Harris. The thoroughfares and streets were named after the family of George Goyder , Surveyor General of South Australia. In 1873, the land of Solomon and Smith was re-surveyed and named Solomontown. On 28 September 1876, with a population of 947, Port Pirie was declared a municipality. With the discovery of rich ore bearing silver, lead and zinc at Broken Hill in 1883, and
11880-525: Was the basis of the LD ( Linz-Donawitz ) steelmaking process. This does not produce the same intensity of mixing in the bath as a submerged lance. The CSIRO scientists first tried developing a submerged lance system using a water-cooled lance, but moved to an air-cooled system because "scale up of the water-cooled lance would have been problematic". Introducing any water to a system involving molten metals and slags can result in catastrophic explosions, such as that in
11990-526: Was the material of choice for weapons such as swords , daggers , battle axes , and spear and arrow points, as well as protective gear such as shields , helmets , greaves (metal shin guards), and other body armor . Bronze also supplanted stone, wood, and organic materials in tools and household utensils—such as chisels , saws , adzes , nails , blade shears , knives , sewing needles and pins , jugs , cooking pots and cauldrons , mirrors , and horse harnesses . Tin and copper also contributed to
12100-622: Was the short-lived Saturday Times (6 December 1913 – 15 August 1914), printed by Roy Harold Butler and closed at the start of the Great War . Television coverage in the city is provided by the ABC , SBS , Southern Cross (7, 9 and 10) and Austar . Several radio stations cover Port Pirie, including ABC 639AM , ABC 891AM , 1044 5CS, 1242 5AU, ABC Classic FM , Radio National , ABC NewsRadio , triple j , Magic FM and Trax FM (a community radio station). The results shown are from "Port Pirie West",
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