PROCESS DESCRIPTION

When using high purity starting materials, such as copper cathodes or high quality scrap, the feed material can be melted in special shaft furnaces using burners instead of wind blowers; after passing through a holding furnace the melt can be cast continuously (Southwire-, Contirod- or Asarco-process). These methods are therefore also called "melt to cast" processes and are used especially for the manufacture of wire or pipes, which accounts for about 50 % of the total copper produced.