Characterization of Copper Electrorefining Anode Slime From Sarcheshmeh Copper Complex

Anode slime is the main product of the electrorefining cells at sarcheshmeh copper complex that is produced at electrorefining plant. the recovery of valuable elements (gold, silver, copper, selenium, tellurium, etc.) form the slime is a well-known process and is adding extra credit to the copper production economy. in this research, phase, elemental, morphological and microstructural analysis of the copper anode and anode slime were investigated by x-ray diffraction (xrd), x-ray fluorescence (xrf), spark emission spectroscopy (ses) and optical and scanning electron microscopies (sem). on the other hand, this type of analysis can show the compounds with different morphologies, shapes, and sizes that can enter the slime over the dissolution process. this metallurgical identification may lead to modification of the design processes before the production of the copper anode as well as following processes, such that an ideal anode slime is produced for the purpose of higher recovery rate for precious metals and subsequent downstream process. xrd results showed that copper anode and anode slime phases. it can be found from xrd results that dominated phase of the anode was, copper, and the anode slime phases cu2o, sio2, cuagse, asse9cu0.9, as and bao2. sem results indicated that the morphology of impurities around the boundary of copper anode and the morphology of agcuse, pbso4 and cuag(se,te) phases in anode slime.