174-621: Mount Isa Mines Limited ("MIM") operates the Mount Isa copper , lead , zinc and silver mines near Mount Isa , Queensland , Australia as part of the Glencore group of companies. For a brief period in 1980, MIM was Australia's largest company. It has pioneered several significant mining industry innovations, including the Isa Process copper refining technology , the Isasmelt smelting technology, and
348-573: A Gilman reagent . These can undergo substitution with alkyl halides to form coupling products ; as such, they are important in the field of organic synthesis . Copper(I) acetylide is highly shock-sensitive but is an intermediate in reactions such as the Cadiot–Chodkiewicz coupling and the Sonogashira coupling . Conjugate addition to enones and carbocupration of alkynes can also be achieved with organocopper compounds. Copper(I) forms
522-637: A Neutrality Pact in April 1941, and Japan adopted the doctrine of Nanshin-ron , promoted by the Navy, which took its focus southward and eventually led to war with the United States and the Western Allies. In Europe, Germany and Italy were becoming more aggressive. In March 1938, Germany annexed Austria , again provoking little response from other European powers. Encouraged, Hitler began pressing German claims on
696-564: A cautious French probe into the Saarland . The Western Allies also began a naval blockade of Germany , which aimed to damage the country's economy and war effort. Germany responded by ordering U-boat warfare against Allied merchant and warships, which would later escalate into the Battle of the Atlantic . On 8 September, German troops reached the suburbs of Warsaw . The Polish counter-offensive to
870-696: A covalent character and are relatively weak. This observation explains the low hardness and high ductility of single crystals of copper. At the macroscopic scale, introduction of extended defects to the crystal lattice , such as grain boundaries, hinders flow of the material under applied stress, thereby increasing its hardness. For this reason, copper is usually supplied in a fine-grained polycrystalline form, which has greater strength than monocrystalline forms. The softness of copper partly explains its high electrical conductivity ( 59.6 × 10 S /m ) and high thermal conductivity, second highest (second only to silver) among pure metals at room temperature. This
1044-580: A nickel ) consists of 75% copper and 25% nickel in homogeneous composition. Prior to the introduction of cupronickel, which was widely adopted by countries in the latter half of the 20th century, alloys of copper and silver were also used, with the United States using an alloy of 90% silver and 10% copper until 1965, when circulating silver was removed from all coins with the exception of the half dollar—these were debased to an alloy of 40% silver and 60% copper between 1965 and 1970. The alloy of 90% copper and 10% nickel, remarkable for its resistance to corrosion,
1218-425: A spin of 3 ⁄ 2 . The other isotopes are radioactive , with the most stable being Cu with a half-life of 61.83 hours. Seven metastable isomers have been characterized; Cu is the longest-lived with a half-life of 3.8 minutes. Isotopes with a mass number above 64 decay by β , whereas those with a mass number below 64 decay by β . Cu , which has
1392-513: A 120 kg/h test rig in the Mount Isa lead smelter in 1980 and then to a five tonne per hour ("t/h") pilot plant in the lead smelter in 1983. This was followed by the development of a copper smelting process in the Mount Isa test rig and the construction of a 15 t/h copper ISASMELT™ demonstration plant in the copper smelter in 1987. With the success of lead pilot plant and the copper demonstration plant, both of which boosted MIM's metal output by being run by operations' personnel, MIM decided to market
1566-451: A Mitsui-design anode casting wheel were commissioned in the Mount Isa smelter. The move to end exporting cold blister copper from the Mount Isa smelter resulted in substantial energy savings, because the anode furnaces received molten blister copper from the converters, meaning that cold blister copper did not have to be reheated and melted before being cast into anodes for electrolytic refining. Activity at Hilton ramped up again in 1981, when
1740-399: A blast furnace. A potential source of copper is polymetallic nodules, which have an estimated concentration 1.3%. Like aluminium , copper is recyclable without any loss of quality, both from raw state and from manufactured products. In volume, copper is the third most recycled metal after iron and aluminium. An estimated 80% of all copper ever mined is still in use today. According to
1914-459: A blue crystalline penta hydrate , the most familiar copper compound in the laboratory. It is used in a fungicide called the Bordeaux mixture . Polyols , compounds containing more than one alcohol functional group , generally interact with cupric salts. For example, copper salts are used to test for reducing sugars . Specifically, using Benedict's reagent and Fehling's solution the presence of
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#17328487010002088-415: A consequence of a decision to reduce output in the face of a global oversupply of lead metal. In 1957, a third roaster was added in the copper smelter and the width of the reverberatory furnace was expanded. In 1960, two large roasters and a second, larger, reverberatory furnace were constructed to expand the copper smelter capacity to 70,000 tons of blister copper per year. The original reverberatory furnace
2262-718: A founding sponsor of the Australian Minerals Industry Research Association ("AMIRA") P9 mineral processing research project at the University of Queensland , which proved to be the foundation of the Julius Kruttschnitt Mineral Research Centre . Then, in the 1970s through to the 1990s, it became a world leader in developing new mining techniques and processing technologies as a response to declining metal prices and rising costs. In 1978, MIM's copper refining subsidiary developed
2436-406: A fourth Peirce-Smith converter and a second oxygen plant. In 1985, MIM commissioned Professor Graeme Jameson of the University of Newcastle (Australia) to improve sparger design in flotation columns used as zinc concentrate cleaners in the zinc circuit of the lead–zinc concentrator. Arising from this work, Jameson developed the idea of mixing air and concentrate slurry in a pipe, referred to as
2610-457: A green patina of compounds called verdigris . Copper is sometimes used in decorative art , both in its elemental metal form and in compounds as pigments. Copper compounds are used as bacteriostatic agents , fungicides , and wood preservatives . Copper is essential to all living organisms as a trace dietary mineral because it is a key constituent of the respiratory enzyme complex cytochrome c oxidase . In molluscs and crustaceans , copper
2784-495: A half-life of 12.7 hours, decays both ways. Cu and Cu have significant applications. Cu is used in Cu Cu-PTSM as a radioactive tracer for positron emission tomography . Copper is produced in massive stars and is present in the Earth's crust in a proportion of about 50 parts per million (ppm). In nature, copper occurs in
2958-403: A key role in consolidating the ground under MIM, investing his own funds and persuading the state government to extend the railway from Duchess . He resigned as general manager in 1927 but remained a major shareholder. The early years were characterized by the struggle to develop the lead–zinc ore bodies, including the need to finance drilling, metallurgical test work and shaft sinking, and there
3132-683: A layer of brown-black copper oxide which, unlike the rust that forms on iron in moist air, protects the underlying metal from further corrosion ( passivation ). A green layer of verdigris (copper carbonate) can often be seen on old copper structures, such as the roofing of many older buildings and the Statue of Liberty . Copper tarnishes when exposed to some sulfur compounds, with which it reacts to form various copper sulfides . There are 29 isotopes of copper. Cu and Cu are stable, with Cu comprising approximately 69% of naturally occurring copper; both have
3306-532: A natural color other than gray or silver. Pure copper is orange-red and acquires a reddish tarnish when exposed to air. This is due to the low plasma frequency of the metal, which lies in the red part of the visible spectrum, causing it to absorb the higher-frequency green and blue colors. As with other metals, if copper is put in contact with another metal in the presence of an electrolyte , galvanic corrosion will occur. Copper does not react with water, but it does slowly react with atmospheric oxygen to form
3480-456: A permanent headframe was erected over the P49 shaft, but the project was again slowed due to another decline in lead prices and the increase of lead metal production from the Mount Isa operations due to the installation of a heavy medium plant in 1982. The new heavy medium plant increased the capacity of the lead–zinc concentrator from 2.5 million t/y in the 1981–1982 financial year to 4.2 million t/y in
3654-514: A pretext to initiate the invasion. The first German attack of the war came against the Polish defences at Westerplatte . The United Kingdom responded with an ultimatum for Germany to cease military operations, and on 3 September, after the ultimatum was ignored, Britain and France declared war on Germany. During the Phoney War period, the alliance provided no direct military support to Poland, outside of
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#17328487010003828-765: A pretext to worsen relations. On 29 August, Hitler demanded that a Polish plenipotentiary immediately travel to Berlin to negotiate the handover of Danzig , and to allow a plebiscite in the Polish Corridor in which the German minority would vote on secession. The Poles refused to comply with the German demands, and on the night of 30–31 August in a confrontational meeting with the British ambassador Nevile Henderson , Ribbentrop declared that Germany considered its claims rejected. On 1 September 1939, Germany invaded Poland after having staged several false flag border incidents as
4002-407: A red-brown precipitate with copper(II) salts. Compounds that contain a carbon-copper bond are known as organocopper compounds. They are very reactive towards oxygen to form copper(I) oxide and have many uses in chemistry . They are synthesized by treating copper(I) compounds with Grignard reagents , terminal alkynes or organolithium reagents ; in particular, the last reaction described produces
4176-451: A rich variety of compounds, usually with oxidation states +1 and +2, which are often called cuprous and cupric , respectively. Copper compounds promote or catalyse numerous chemical and biological processes. As with other elements, the simplest compounds of copper are binary compounds, i.e. those containing only two elements, the principal examples being oxides, sulfides, and halides . Both cuprous and cupric oxides are known. Among
4350-469: A secret protocol that defined German and Soviet "spheres of influence" (western Poland and Lithuania for Germany; eastern Poland , Finland, Estonia , Latvia and Bessarabia for the Soviet Union), and raised the question of continuing Polish independence. The pact neutralised the possibility of Soviet opposition to a campaign against Poland and assured that Germany would not have to face the prospect of
4524-517: A significant quantity of high-grade ore not to be recovered. A new concentrator, which became known as the "No. 3 concentrator", was commissioned in 1963 to treat chalcocite ore from the Black Rock open cut. Some of the ore mined from the Black Rock open cut could not be treated economically in the No. 3 concentrator, and about 750,000 tons of this low-grade material, containing an average grade of 1.5% copper,
4698-743: A similar pact and rejected ceding part of its territory to the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union invaded Finland in November 1939, and was subsequently expelled from the League of Nations for this crime of aggression. Despite overwhelming numerical superiority, Soviet military success during the Winter War was modest, and the Finno-Soviet war ended in March 1940 with some Finnish concessions of territory . In June 1940,
4872-523: A third blast furnace and additional sintering machines. The recovery of valuable minerals in the concentrator was less than expected, and the metal prices were depressed by the Great Depression of the 1930s. The poor recoveries were found to be caused by the unusually (for the time) fine nature of the mineral grains in the Mount Isa ore. While the metal prices eventually recovered as the Depression passed,
5046-519: A two-front war, as it had in World War I. Immediately afterwards, Hitler ordered the attack to proceed on 26 August, but upon hearing that the United Kingdom had concluded a formal mutual assistance pact with Poland and that Italy would maintain neutrality, he decided to delay it. In response to British requests for direct negotiations to avoid war, Germany made demands on Poland, which served as
5220-424: A variety of minerals, including native copper , copper sulfides such as chalcopyrite , bornite , digenite , covellite , and chalcocite , copper sulfosalts such as tetrahedite-tennantite , and enargite , copper carbonates such as azurite and malachite , and as copper(I) or copper(II) oxides such as cuprite and tenorite , respectively. The largest mass of elemental copper discovered weighed 420 tonnes and
5394-436: A variety of weak complexes with alkenes and carbon monoxide , especially in the presence of amine ligands. Copper(III) is most often found in oxides. A simple example is potassium cuprate , KCuO 2 , a blue-black solid. The most extensively studied copper(III) compounds are the cuprate superconductors . Yttrium barium copper oxide (YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7 ) consists of both Cu(II) and Cu(III) centres. Like oxide, fluoride
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5568-562: A very low level. In 1978, MIM built a new 270 m stack for its lead smelter, to reduce the effect of the AQC system on lead smelter production using the previous 76 m stack. From its inception, the copper smelter had been producing blister copper, originally for sale and then for refining at MIM's copper refinery in Townsville. This changed in June 1979, when two 320 tonne capacity rotary "anode furnaces" and
5742-579: Is a constituent of the blood pigment hemocyanin , replaced by the iron-complexed hemoglobin in fish and other vertebrates . In humans, copper is found mainly in the liver, muscle, and bone. The adult body contains between 1.4 and 2.1 mg of copper per kilogram of body weight. In the Roman era , copper was mined principally on Cyprus , the origin of the name of the metal, from aes cyprium (metal of Cyprus), later corrupted to cuprum (Latin). Coper ( Old English ) and copper were derived from this,
5916-405: Is a highly basic anion and is known to stabilize metal ions in high oxidation states. Both copper(III) and even copper(IV) fluorides are known, K 3 CuF 6 and Cs 2 CuF 6 , respectively. Some copper proteins form oxo complexes , which, in extensively studied synthetic analog systems, feature copper(III). With tetrapeptides , purple-colored copper(III) complexes are stabilized by
6090-497: Is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity . A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish-orange color . Copper is used as a conductor of heat and electricity, as a building material , and as a constituent of various metal alloys , such as sterling silver used in jewelry , cupronickel used to make marine hardware and coins , and constantan used in strain gauges and thermocouples for temperature measurement. Copper
6264-401: Is because the resistivity to electron transport in metals at room temperature originates primarily from scattering of electrons on thermal vibrations of the lattice, which are relatively weak in a soft metal. The maximum possible current density of copper in open air is approximately 3.1 × 10 A/m , above which it begins to heat excessively. Copper is one of a few metallic elements with
6438-529: Is melted in a furnace and then reduced and cast into billets and ingots ; lower-purity scrap is refined by electroplating in a bath of sulfuric acid . The environmental cost of copper mining was estimated at 3.7 kg CO2eq per kg of copper in 2019. Codelco, a major producer in Chile, reported that in 2020 the company emitted 2.8t CO2eq per ton (2.8 kg CO2eq per kg) of fine copper. Greenhouse gas emissions primarily arise from electricity consumed by
6612-762: Is one of the few metals that can occur in nature in a directly usable metallic form ( native metals ). This led to very early human use in several regions, from c. 8000 BC . Thousands of years later, it was the first metal to be smelted from sulfide ores, c. 5000 BC ; the first metal to be cast into a shape in a mold, c. 4000 BC ; and the first metal to be purposely alloyed with another metal, tin , to create bronze , c. 3500 BC . Commonly encountered compounds are copper(II) salts, which often impart blue or green colors to such minerals as azurite , malachite , and turquoise , and have been used widely and historically as pigments. Copper used in buildings, usually for roofing, oxidizes to form
6786-444: Is one of the most important constituents of silver and karat gold solders used in the jewelry industry, modifying the color, hardness and melting point of the resulting alloys. Some lead-free solders consist of tin alloyed with a small proportion of copper and other metals. The alloy of copper and nickel , called cupronickel , is used in low-denomination coins, often for the outer cladding. The US five-cent coin (currently called
6960-437: Is recovered from mine tailings and heaps. A variety of methods are used including leaching with sulfuric acid, ammonia, ferric chloride. Biological methods are also used. A significant source of copper is from recycling. Recycling is facilitated because copper is usually deployed in its metallic state. In 2001, a typical automobile contained 20–30 kg of copper. Recycling usually begins with some melting process using
7134-411: Is used for various objects exposed to seawater, though it is vulnerable to the sulfides sometimes found in polluted harbors and estuaries. Alloys of copper with aluminium (about 7%) have a golden color and are used in decorations. Shakudō is a Japanese decorative alloy of copper containing a low percentage of gold, typically 4–10%, that can be patinated to a dark blue or black color. Copper forms
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7308-588: The Anglo-German Naval Agreement and the German–Polish declaration of non-aggression . The situation became a crisis in late August as German troops continued to mobilise against the Polish border. On 23 August the Soviet Union signed a non-aggression pact with Germany, after tripartite negotiations for a military alliance between France, the United Kingdom, and Soviet Union had stalled. This pact had
7482-675: The British Geological Survey , in 2005, Chile was the top producer of copper with at least one-third of the world share followed by the United States, Indonesia and Peru. Copper can also be recovered through the in-situ leach process. Several sites in the state of Arizona are considered prime candidates for this method. The amount of copper in use is increasing and the quantity available is barely sufficient to allow all countries to reach developed world levels of usage. An alternative source of copper for collection currently being researched are polymetallic nodules , which are located at
7656-566: The German Revolution of 1918–1919 , and a democratic government, later known as the Weimar Republic , was created. The interwar period saw strife between supporters of the new republic and hardline opponents on both the political right and left. Italy, as an Entente ally, had made some post-war territorial gains; however, Italian nationalists were angered that the promises made by the United Kingdom and France to secure Italian entrance into
7830-588: The Great Lakes may have also been mining copper during this time, making it one of the oldest known examples of copper extraction in the world. There is evidence from prehistoric lead pollution from lakes in Michigan that people in the region began mining copper c. 6000 BC . Evidence suggests that utilitarian copper objects fell increasingly out of use in the Old Copper Complex of North America during
8004-536: The International Resource Panel 's Metal Stocks in Society report , the global per capita stock of copper in use in society is 35–55 kg. Much of this is in more-developed countries (140–300 kg per capita) rather than less-developed countries (30–40 kg per capita). The process of recycling copper is roughly the same as is used to extract copper but requires fewer steps. High-purity scrap copper
8178-514: The IsaMill fine grinding technology, and it also commercialized the Jameson Cell column flotation technology. In 1923 the orebody containing lead , zinc and silver was discovered by the miner John Campbell Miles . Prominent mining engineer William Henry Corbould was invited to the field by Douglas MacGilvray, who held options over several tenements, and immediately noted similarities between
8352-468: The IsaMill . The IsaMills typically use an inert grinding medium (such as ceramic balls, smelter slag or silica sand) and avoid the problem of inhibiting flotation of the fine particles with iron deposits. After testing prototypes at various scales, the first full-scale IsaMill was installed in the Mount Isa lead–zinc concentrator in 1994, followed by others at Mount Isa and at the McArthur River mine in
8526-683: The Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935. The British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the forces of Mongolia and the Soviet Union from May to September 1939. Others view the Spanish Civil War as the start or prelude to World War II. The exact date of the war's end also is not universally agreed upon. It
8700-682: The League of Nations as a force to preserve peace. Both Italy and Ethiopia were member nations, but the League did little when the former clearly violated Article X of the League's Covenant . The United Kingdom and France supported imposing sanctions on Italy for the invasion, but the sanctions were not fully enforced and failed to end the Italian invasion. Italy subsequently dropped its objections to Germany's goal of absorbing Austria . When civil war broke out in Spain, Hitler and Mussolini lent military support to
8874-693: The Nationalist rebels , led by General Francisco Franco . Italy supported the Nationalists to a greater extent than the Nazis: Mussolini sent more than 70,000 ground troops, 6,000 aviation personnel, and 720 aircraft to Spain. The Soviet Union supported the existing government of the Spanish Republic . More than 30,000 foreign volunteers, known as the International Brigades , also fought against
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#17328487010009048-699: The Neolithic period and the Bronze Age was formerly termed the Chalcolithic period (copper-stone), when copper tools were used with stone tools. The term has gradually fallen out of favor because in some parts of the world, the Chalcolithic and Neolithic are coterminous at both ends. Brass, an alloy of copper and zinc, is of much more recent origin. It was known to the Greeks, but became a significant supplement to bronze during
9222-574: The Paris Peace Conference . The organisation's primary goals were to prevent armed conflict through collective security, military, and naval disarmament , as well as settling international disputes through peaceful negotiations and arbitration. Despite strong pacifist sentiment after World War I , irredentist and revanchist nationalism had emerged in several European states. These sentiments were especially marked in Germany because of
9396-677: The Rome–Berlin Axis . A month later, Germany and Japan signed the Anti-Comintern Pact , which Italy joined the following year. The Kuomintang (KMT) party in China launched a unification campaign against regional warlords and nominally unified China in the mid-1920s, but was soon embroiled in a civil war against its former Chinese Communist Party (CCP) allies and new regional warlords . In 1931, an increasingly militaristic Empire of Japan , which had long sought influence in China as
9570-581: The Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact in April 1941. By contrast, the Germans were steadily making preparations for an attack on the Soviet Union, massing forces on the Soviet border. Hitler believed that the United Kingdom's refusal to end the war was based on the hope that the United States and the Soviet Union would enter the war against Germany sooner or later. On 31 July 1940, Hitler decided that
9744-530: The Stresa Front in April 1935 in order to contain Germany, a key step towards military globalisation ; however, that June, the United Kingdom made an independent naval agreement with Germany, easing prior restrictions. The Soviet Union, concerned by Germany's goals of capturing vast areas of Eastern Europe , drafted a treaty of mutual assistance with France. Before taking effect, though, the Franco-Soviet pact
9918-689: The Sudetenland , an area of Czechoslovakia with a predominantly ethnic German population. Soon the United Kingdom and France followed the appeasement policy of British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and conceded this territory to Germany in the Munich Agreement , which was made against the wishes of the Czechoslovak government, in exchange for a promise of no further territorial demands. Soon afterwards, Germany and Italy forced Czechoslovakia to cede additional territory to Hungary, and Poland annexed
10092-682: The Tanggu Truce was signed in 1933. Thereafter, Chinese volunteer forces continued the resistance to Japanese aggression in Manchuria , and Chahar and Suiyuan . After the 1936 Xi'an Incident , the Kuomintang and CCP forces agreed on a ceasefire to present a united front to oppose Japan. The Second Italo-Ethiopian War was a brief colonial war that began in October 1935 and ended in May 1936. The war began with
10266-568: The Trans-Olza region of Czechoslovakia. Although all of Germany's stated demands had been satisfied by the agreement, privately Hitler was furious that British interference had prevented him from seizing all of Czechoslovakia in one operation. In subsequent speeches Hitler attacked British and Jewish "war-mongers" and in January 1939 secretly ordered a major build-up of the German navy to challenge British naval supremacy. In March 1939, Germany invaded
10440-601: The Treaty of Craiova . The loss of one-third of Romania's 1939 territory caused a coup against King Carol II, turning Romania into a fascist dictatorship under Marshal Ion Antonescu , with a course set towards the Axis in the hopes of a German guarantee. Meanwhile, German-Soviet political relations and economic co-operation gradually stalled, and both states began preparations for war. In April 1940, Germany invaded Denmark and Norway to protect shipments of iron ore from Sweden , which
10614-521: The Vinča culture date to 4500 BC. Sumerian and Egyptian artifacts of copper and bronze alloys date to 3000 BC. Egyptian Blue , or cuprorivaite (calcium copper silicate) is a synthetic pigment that contains copper and started being used in ancient Egypt around 3250 BC. The manufacturing process of Egyptian blue was known to the Romans, but by the fourth century AD the pigment fell out of use and
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#173284870100010788-426: The Wehrmacht rapidly advanced to the Channel and cut off the Allied forces in Belgium, trapping the bulk of the Allied armies in a cauldron on the Franco-Belgian border near Lille. The United Kingdom was able to evacuate a significant number of Allied troops from the continent by early June, although they had to abandon almost all their equipment. On 10 June, Italy invaded France , declaring war on both France and
10962-418: The "downcomer", that was inserted into the flotation column. Further research showed that mixing the slurry and the air in the downcomer meant that much of the height of traditional flotation columns was unnecessary and the concept of the short " Jameson Cell " was born. Jameson patented the idea in 1986 and a two tonne per hour ("t/h") pilot cell was tested in Mount Isa in 1986. In 1988, MIM decided to increase
11136-419: The 1917 Bolshevik seizure of power in Russia , which led to the founding of the Soviet Union. Meanwhile, the victorious Allies of World War I , such as France, Belgium, Italy, Romania, and Greece, gained territory, and new nation-states were created out of the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian, Ottoman, and Russian Empires. To prevent a future world war, the League of Nations was established in 1920 by
11310-402: The 1984–1985 financial year. It achieved this by removing lighter (unmineralised) rock fragments and rejecting them from the concentrator before they reached the grinding mills that were the bottleneck for the plant. The rejection rate was 30–35% of the incoming ore. Copper Copper is a chemical element ; it has symbol Cu (from Latin cuprum ) and atomic number 29. It
11484-583: The 660,000 tonnes per year level that had been maintained since production began in 1931. Both the copper and lead-zinc ores were treated in separate circuits in the same concentrator, which was later referred to at the "No. 1 concentrator". Initial copper production used two multiple-hearth roasters, a single coal-fired reverberatory furnace and two Peirce-Smith converters to produce a design 1,500 tons of blister copper per month (18,000 tons per year). The copper smelter produced 15,000 tons of copper during 1953. Exploration activities between 1952 and 1960 expanded
11658-440: The 9th or 10th century AD. Carbon dating has established mining at Alderley Edge in Cheshire , UK, at 2280 to 1890 BC. Ötzi the Iceman , a male dated from 3300 to 3200 BC, was found with an axe with a copper head 99.7% pure; high levels of arsenic in his hair suggest an involvement in copper smelting. Experience with copper has assisted the development of other metals; in particular, copper smelting likely led to
11832-409: The Allies were attempting to cut off . Denmark capitulated after six hours , and despite Allied support , Norway was conquered within two months. British discontent over the Norwegian campaign led to the resignation of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain , who was replaced by Winston Churchill on 10 May 1940. On the same day, Germany launched an offensive against France . To circumvent
12006-410: The Asia-Pacific , and by 1937 was at war with the Republic of China . In December 1941, Japan attacked American and British territories in Southeast Asia and the Central Pacific , including Pearl Harbor in Hawaii , which resulted in the US and the UK declaring war against Japan, and the European Axis declaring war on the US. Japan conquered much of coastal China and Southeast Asia , but its advances in
12180-400: The Axis war against the Soviet Union, in Romania's case partially to recapture territory ceded to the Soviet Union . In early June 1940, the Italian Regia Aeronautica attacked and besieged Malta , a British possession. From late summer to early autumn, Italy conquered British Somaliland and made an incursion into British-held Egypt . In October, Italy attacked Greece , but the attack
12354-421: The Blitz , but largely ended in May 1941 after failing to significantly disrupt the British war effort. Using newly captured French ports, the German Navy enjoyed success against an over-extended Royal Navy , using U-boats against British shipping in the Atlantic . The British Home Fleet scored a significant victory on 27 May 1941 by sinking the German battleship Bismarck . In November 1939,
12528-512: The Bronze Age and a shift towards an increased production of ornamental copper objects occurred. Natural bronze, a type of copper made from ores rich in silicon, arsenic, and (rarely) tin, came into general use in the Balkans around 5500 BC. Alloying copper with tin to make bronze was first practiced about 4000 years after the discovery of copper smelting, and about 2000 years after "natural bronze" had come into general use. Bronze artifacts from
12702-471: The Copper Refineries Pty Ltd ("CRL") refinery was 40,000 tons per year of refined cathode, but further construction commenced in 1960 to expand this capacity to 60,000 tons per year. A new smelter was built on the same site in Mount Isa and commissioned in March 1962, lifting the copper smelting capacity to 100,000 tonnes of blister copper per year. In response to the increasing power demand from
12876-773: The French possessions of Syria and Lebanon , assisted by the Free French . With the situation in Europe and Asia relatively stable, Germany, Japan, and the Soviet Union made preparations for war. With the Soviets wary of mounting tensions with Germany, and the Japanese planning to take advantage of the European War by seizing resource-rich European possessions in Southeast Asia , the two powers signed
13050-480: The Germans, and the last large operational unit of the Polish Army surrendered on 6 October . Despite the military defeat, Poland never surrendered; instead, it formed the Polish government-in-exile and a clandestine state apparatus remained in occupied Poland. A significant part of Polish military personnel evacuated to Romania and Latvia; many of them later fought against the Axis in other theatres of
13224-594: The Holocaust of European Jews, as well as from massacres, starvation, and disease. Following the Allied powers' victory, Germany , Austria , Japan , and Korea were occupied, and war crimes tribunals were conducted against German and Japanese leaders . The causes of World War II included unresolved tensions in the aftermath of World War I and the rise of fascism in Europe and militarism in Japan . Key events leading up to
13398-452: The ISASMELT™ technology. By 2013, there were 15 ISASMELT™ plants operating in 10 countries, including in the Mount Isa copper smelter. In 1992, MIM commissioned an ISASMELT™ furnace in the Mount Isa copper smelter to treat 104 t/h of concentrate containing 180,000 t/y of copper. Its throughput was initially constrained because MIM chose to keep one of the two reverberatory furnaces operating and
13572-538: The Isa Process copper refining technology, which is now marketed as the IsaKidd process and globally regarded as the preferred copper refining technology, with over 100 licensees using the technology around the world. The Isa Process technology revolutionized copper refining by replacing copper cathode-starter-sheets with stainless steel sheets and allowing what had been a very labour-intensive process to be mechanised. At
13746-457: The MIM application and also that the high consumption rate of the steel grinding medium resulted in iron contamination of the mineral surfaces, making them less susceptible to flotation recovery. Consequently, MIM sought to develop a better grinding technology, and the result was the joint development with Netzsch-Feinmahltechnik GmbH of a highly energy-efficient horizontal stirred-mill that became known as
13920-548: The MIM operations and from the growing city of Mount Isa, MIM constructed in 1960 a new power station near Mica Creek to add to the capacity of the Mines Power Station, which was located adjacent to the copper smelter. The Mines Power Station had itself been augmented over the years, starting with an output of five MW in 1931. It also, in 1958, constructed a new dam on the Leichhardt River to supply water to Mount Isa and
14094-464: The MIM operations and thus Lake Moondarra was created. The Black Rock open cut began operating in March 1957 to produce copper ore. Until 1963, the Black Rock open cut produced copper oxide ore that was used as a flux in the copper smelter. Mining chalcocite ore started in 1963. The Black Rock open cut was closed prematurely in 1965 due to instability in its western wall. Mining was stopped 40 feet short of its planned final depth of 520 feet, causing
14268-535: The Middle East; a copper pendant was found in northern Iraq that dates to 8700 BC. Evidence suggests that gold and meteoric iron (but not smelted iron) were the only metals used by humans before copper. The history of copper metallurgy is thought to follow this sequence: first, cold working of native copper, then annealing , smelting , and, finally, lost-wax casting . In southeastern Anatolia , all four of these techniques appear more or less simultaneously at
14442-453: The Mount Isa ore reserves from 9.9 million tons of lead-zinc-silver ore to 25.6 million tons, and from 3.8 million tons of copper ore to 24.2 million tons. As a consequence of the expansion of reserves, MIM decided to expand production. The quantity of copper produced rose from zero in 1952 to 60,000 tons in 1960, while the lead bullion output increased from about 36,860 tons in 1952 to 60,000 tons in 1959 and then reduced to 52,000 tons in 1960 as
14616-568: The Mount Isa orebodies and those of Broken Hill, New South Wales . Corbould secured an option over 400 acres (160 ha) and in January 1924 floated Mount Isa Mines Ltd (MIM) in Sydney with himself as director and general manager. MIM was one of three companies founded in 1924 to develop the minerals discovered by Miles, but production did not begin until May 1931. The other two companies were Mount Isa Silver Lead Proprietary and Mount Isa South. These were both acquired by MIM by late 1925. Corbould played
14790-505: The Nationalists. Both Germany and the Soviet Union used this proxy war as an opportunity to test in combat their most advanced weapons and tactics. The Nationalists won the civil war in April 1939; Franco, now dictator, remained officially neutral during World War II but generally favoured the Axis . His greatest collaboration with Germany was the sending of volunteers to fight on the Eastern Front . In July 1937, Japan captured
14964-478: The Northern Territory in 1995. MIM decided to license the technology to other users in 1999, and the latest information available states there are 121 IsaMills installed in concentrators around the world. After the completion of the P49 shaft at Hilton in 1975, the project there was wound down due to a decline in the world prices for lead, zinc and silver. Some mine development activities were continued, but at
15138-708: The Pacific were halted in mid-1942 after its defeat in the naval Battle of Midway ; Germany and Italy were defeated in North Africa and at Stalingrad in the Soviet Union. Key setbacks in 1943—including German defeats on the Eastern Front, the Allied invasions of Sicily and the Italian mainland , and Allied offensives in the Pacific—cost the Axis powers their initiative and forced them into strategic retreat on all fronts. In 1944,
15312-713: The Roman Empire. The Second World War Asia-Pacific Mediterranean and Middle East Other campaigns Coups World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Axis powers . Nearly all the world's countries —including all the great powers —participated, with many investing all available economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities in pursuit of total war , blurring
15486-505: The Royal Navy putting three Italian battleships out of commission after a carrier attack at Taranto , and neutralising several more warships at the Battle of Cape Matapan . Italian defeats prompted Germany to deploy an expeditionary force to North Africa; at the end of March 1941, Rommel 's Afrika Korps launched an offensive which drove back Commonwealth forces. In less than a month, Axis forces advanced to western Egypt and besieged
15660-584: The Soviet Union occupied the entire territories of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, as well as the Romanian regions of Bessarabia, Northern Bukovina, and the Hertsa region . In August 1940, Hitler imposed the Second Vienna Award on Romania which led to the transfer of Northern Transylvania to Hungary. In September 1940, Bulgaria demanded Southern Dobruja from Romania with German and Italian support, leading to
15834-474: The Soviet Union and Mongolia . The Japanese doctrine of Hokushin-ron , which emphasised Japan's expansion northward, was favoured by the Imperial Army during this time. This policy would prove difficult to maintain in light of the Japanese defeat at Khalkin Gol in 1939, the ongoing Second Sino-Japanese War and ally Nazi Germany pursuing neutrality with the Soviets. Japan and the Soviet Union eventually signed
16008-738: The Soviet Union should be eliminated and aimed for the conquest of Ukraine , the Baltic states and Byelorussia . However, other senior German officials like Ribbentrop saw an opportunity to create a Euro-Asian bloc against the British Empire by inviting the Soviet Union into the Tripartite Pact. In November 1940, negotiations took place to determine if the Soviet Union would join the pact. The Soviets showed some interest but asked for concessions from Finland, Bulgaria, Turkey, and Japan that Germany considered unacceptable. On 18 December 1940, Hitler issued
16182-587: The Soviet Union was ever signed, although the state of war between the two countries was terminated by the Soviet–Japanese Joint Declaration of 1956 , which also restored full diplomatic relations between them. World War I had radically altered the political European map with the defeat of the Central Powers —including Austria-Hungary , Germany , Bulgaria , and the Ottoman Empire —and
16356-568: The United Kingdom and France guaranteed their support for Polish independence ; when Italy conquered Albania in April 1939, the same guarantee was extended to the Kingdoms of Romania and Greece . Shortly after the Franco - British pledge to Poland, Germany and Italy formalised their own alliance with the Pact of Steel . Hitler accused the United Kingdom and Poland of trying to "encircle" Germany and renounced
16530-538: The United Kingdom attacked on 3 July in an attempt to prevent its seizure by Germany. The air Battle of Britain began in early July with Luftwaffe attacks on shipping and harbours . The German campaign for air superiority started in August but its failure to defeat RAF Fighter Command forced the indefinite postponement of the proposed German invasion of Britain . The German strategic bombing offensive intensified with night attacks on London and other cities in
16704-455: The United Kingdom. The Germans turned south against the weakened French army, and Paris fell to them on 14 June. Eight days later France signed an armistice with Germany ; it was divided into German and Italian occupation zones , and an unoccupied rump state under the Vichy Regime , which, though officially neutral, was generally aligned with Germany. France kept its fleet, which
16878-689: The United States was assisting China and the Western Allies, and had amended the Neutrality Act to allow "cash and carry" purchases by the Allies. In 1940, following the German capture of Paris, the size of the United States Navy was significantly increased . In September the United States further agreed to a trade of American destroyers for British bases . Still, a large majority of the American public continued to oppose any direct military intervention in
17052-566: The Western Allies and the Soviet Union, culminating in the fall of Berlin to Soviet troops; Hitler's suicide ; and the German unconditional surrender on 8 May 1945 . Following the refusal of Japan to surrender on the terms of the Potsdam Declaration , the US dropped the first atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6 and 9 August. Faced with an imminent invasion of the Japanese archipelago ,
17226-468: The Western Allies invaded German-occupied France at Normandy , while the Soviet Union regained its territorial losses and pushed Germany and its allies westward. At the same time, Japan suffered reversals in mainland Asia, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy and captured key islands . The war in Europe concluded with the liberation of German-occupied territories ; the invasion of Germany by
17400-590: The Yellow River ; this manoeuvre bought time for the Chinese to prepare their defences at Wuhan , but the city was taken by October. Japanese military victories did not bring about the collapse of Chinese resistance that Japan had hoped to achieve; instead, the Chinese government relocated inland to Chongqing and continued the war. In the mid-to-late 1930s, Japanese forces in Manchukuo had sporadic border clashes with
17574-556: The aerial Battle of Britain and the Blitz , and naval Battle of the Atlantic . Through a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany took control of much of continental Europe and formed the Axis alliance with Italy , Japan , and other countries. In June 1941, Germany led the European Axis in an invasion of the Soviet Union , opening the Eastern Front and initially making large territorial gains. Japan aimed to dominate East Asia and
17748-521: The affected areas is highly acidic, with a pH range of 2.1–4.9, and shows elevated electrical conductivity levels between 280 and 1561 mS/cm. These changes in water chemistry make the environment inhospitable for fish, essentially rendering the water uninhabitable for aquatic life. Numerous copper alloys have been formulated, many with important uses. Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc . Bronze usually refers to copper- tin alloys, but can refer to any alloy of copper such as aluminium bronze . Copper
17922-531: The atmosphere; 150 mg/kg in soil; 30 mg/kg in vegetation; 2 μg/L in freshwater and 0.5 μg/L in seawater. Most copper is mined or extracted as copper sulfides from large open pit mines in porphyry copper deposits that contain 0.4 to 1.0% copper. Sites include Chuquicamata , in Chile, Bingham Canyon Mine , in Utah, United States, and El Chino Mine , in New Mexico, United States. According to
18096-686: The beginning of the Neolithic c. 7500 BC . Copper smelting was independently invented in different places. The earliest evidence of lost-wax casting copper comes from an amulet found in Mehrgarh , Pakistan, and is dated to 4000 BC. Investment casting was invented in 4500–4000 BC in Southeast Asia Smelting was probably discovered in China before 2800 BC, in Central America around 600 AD, and in West Africa about
18270-616: The beginning of the Pacific War include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or the earlier Japanese invasion of Manchuria , on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor , who stated that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred simultaneously, and the two wars became World War II in 1941. Other proposed starting dates for World War II include
18444-554: The capacity of its heavy medium plant slimes flotation circuit to improve lead recovery and, following investigations of various alternatives, installed two full-scale Jameson Cells in the lead–zinc concentrator in 1989. In April 1989, MIM Holdings acquired the world rights to the metallurgical applications of the Jameson Cell, began marketing the technology and continued to develop it. By 2005, there were 228 Jameson Cells operating globally in coal and base metal flotation circuits. From
18618-456: The capital Nanking in December 1937. After the fall of Nanking, tens or hundreds of thousands of Chinese civilians and disarmed combatants were murdered by the Japanese . In March 1938, Nationalist Chinese forces won their first major victory at Taierzhuang , but then the city of Xuzhou was taken by the Japanese in May. In June 1938, Chinese forces stalled the Japanese advance by flooding
18792-461: The company's formation. That same year, exploration began north of the Mount Isa ore bodies, in an area that later became the Hilton mine and, following the discovery of an outcrop of rocks similar to the host rocks of the Mount Isa ore bodies, diamond drilling began in August 1948. That first drill hole intersected a small amount of zinc mineralization. From then until 1957, a significant drilling program
18966-527: The company, especially when sourced from fossil fuels, and from engines required for copper extraction and refinement. Companies that mine land often mismanage waste, rendering the area sterile for life. Additionally, nearby rivers and forests are also negatively impacted. The Philippines is an example of a region where land is overexploited by mining companies. Copper mining waste in Valea Şesei, Romania, has significantly altered nearby water properties. The water in
19140-403: The conflict well into 1941. In December 1940, Roosevelt accused Hitler of planning world conquest and ruled out any negotiations as useless, calling for the United States to become an " arsenal of democracy " and promoting Lend-Lease programmes of military and humanitarian aid to support the British war effort; Lend-Lease was later extended to the other Allies, including the Soviet Union after it
19314-414: The converters became a bottleneck. The ISASMELT™ plant's throughput had to be restrained to allow enough material to flow through the reverberatory furnace to prevent the matte freezing in the bottom of the furnace. It was decided in 1997 to shut down the fluidized bed roaster and the reverberatory furnace, and the ISASMELT™ furnace throughput was boosted to more than 160 t/h of concentrates by the addition of
19488-413: The copper content ("matte grade") of the reverberatory furnace matte from 33–35% copper to 40–42% copper. This higher matte grade meant that less sulfur per tonne of concentrate treated in the smelter had to be eliminated in the converters, thus raising their effective capacity and allowing higher copper production from the smelter without adding additional converters. The rate of ore production expanded in
19662-700: The copper ore with little modification, but the lead smelter required the addition of second-hand equipment lying idle at the Kuridala, Mount Cuthbert and Mount Elliott mines. Lead smelting ceased on 9 April 1943 and sintering of copper concentrate commenced on the same day. While the copper had the potential to be more profitable, MIM's run of bad luck did not end then: the Australian Government's Department of Supply and Shipping decided that it no longer needed MIM's copper and recommended returning production to lead and zinc as from January 1944, without compensation for
19836-515: The creation of a " New Roman Empire ". Adolf Hitler , after an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow the German government in 1923, eventually became the Chancellor of Germany in 1933 when Paul von Hindenburg and the Reichstag appointed him. Following Hindenburg's death in 1934, Hitler proclaimed himself Führer of Germany and abolished democracy, espousing a radical, racially motivated revision of
20010-522: The deprotonated amide ligands. Complexes of copper(III) are also found as intermediates in reactions of organocopper compounds, for example in the Kharasch–Sosnovsky reaction . A timeline of copper illustrates how this metal has advanced human civilization for the past 11,000 years. Copper occurs naturally as native metallic copper and was known to some of the oldest civilizations on record. The history of copper use dates to 9000 BC in
20184-454: The depths of the Pacific Ocean approximately 3000–6500 meters below sea level. These nodules contain other valuable metals such as cobalt and nickel . Copper has been in use for at least 10,000 years, but more than 95% of all copper ever mined and smelted has been extracted since 1900. As with many natural resources, the total amount of copper on Earth is vast, with around 10 tons in
20358-550: The discovery of iron smelting . Production in the Old Copper Complex in Michigan and Wisconsin is dated between 6500 and 3000 BC. A copper spearpoint found in Wisconsin has been dated to 6500 BC. Copper usage by the indigenous peoples of the Old Copper Complex from the Great Lakes region of North America has been radiometrically dated to as far back as 7500 BC. Indigenous peoples of North America around
20532-402: The distinction between military and civilian resources. Tanks and aircraft played major roles , with the latter enabling the strategic bombing of population centres and delivery of the only two nuclear weapons ever used in war. World War II was the deadliest conflict in history, resulting in 70 to 85 million deaths , more than half being civilians. Millions died in genocides , including
20706-533: The end of May completed the German conquest of the Balkans. Partisan warfare subsequently broke out against the Axis occupation of Yugoslavia , which continued until the end of the war. In the Middle East in May, Commonwealth forces quashed an uprising in Iraq which had been supported by German aircraft from bases within Vichy-controlled Syria . Between June and July, British-led forces invaded and occupied
20880-524: The expense of converting the operations to copper production. After much discussion between MIM and the Australian government, MIM was permitted to continue to produce copper until six months after the end of the Pacific War . The last copper was produced on 2 May 1946 and lead production resumed at a time of rising lead prices. In 1947, MIM paid its first dividend, signaling an end to its early troubles, after 16 years of continuous production and 23 years after
21054-545: The fastest water exchange rate (speed of water ligands attaching and detaching) for any transition metal aquo complex . Adding aqueous sodium hydroxide causes the precipitation of light blue solid copper(II) hydroxide . A simplified equation is: Aqueous ammonia results in the same precipitate. Upon adding excess ammonia, the precipitate dissolves, forming tetraamminecopper(II) : Many other oxyanions form complexes; these include copper(II) acetate , copper(II) nitrate , and copper(II) carbonate . Copper(II) sulfate forms
21228-482: The fine mineral grains were to plague the Mount Isa lead–zinc operations for the rest of their days. By June 1933, the debt owed by MIM to creditors around the world, £2.88 million, was equal to 15% of all income tax paid in Australia in 1932. It was not until the 1936–1937 financial year that MIM made its first profit and the company could begin to pay down its burden of debt. However, the outbreak of The Second World War
21402-566: The first step of what its government saw as the country's right to rule Asia , staged the Mukden incident as a pretext to invade Manchuria and establish the puppet state of Manchukuo . China appealed to the League of Nations to stop the Japanese invasion of Manchuria. Japan withdrew from the League of Nations after being condemned for its incursion into Manchuria. The two nations then fought several battles, in Shanghai , Rehe and Hebei , until
21576-843: The former Chinese imperial capital of Peking after instigating the Marco Polo Bridge incident , which culminated in the Japanese campaign to invade all of China. The Soviets quickly signed a non-aggression pact with China to lend materiel support, effectively ending China's prior cooperation with Germany . From September to November, the Japanese attacked Taiyuan , engaged the Kuomintang Army around Xinkou , and fought Communist forces in Pingxingguan . Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek deployed his best army to defend Shanghai , but after three months of fighting, Shanghai fell. The Japanese continued to push Chinese forces back, capturing
21750-443: The furnace. MIM changed its converter slag copper-recovery practice in 1971, and instead of returning all the hot converter slag to the reverberatory furnace, allowed some of the slag to cool slowly and then treated it in the copper concentrator to produce a converter slag concentrate. This improved operating conditions within the reverberatory furnace. In 1972, MIM instituted an air quality monitoring system in Mount Isa, shutting down
21924-512: The invasion of the Ethiopian Empire (also known as Abyssinia ) by the armed forces of the Kingdom of Italy ( Regno d'Italia ), which was launched from Italian Somaliland and Eritrea . The war resulted in the military occupation of Ethiopia and its annexation into the newly created colony of Italian East Africa ( Africa Orientale Italiana , or AOI); in addition it exposed the weakness of
22098-511: The later spelling first used around 1530. Copper, silver , and gold are in group 11 of the periodic table; these three metals have one s-orbital electron on top of a filled d- electron shell and are characterized by high ductility , and electrical and thermal conductivity. The filled d-shells in these elements contribute little to interatomic interactions, which are dominated by the s-electrons through metallic bonds . Unlike metals with incomplete d-shells, metallic bonds in copper are lacking
22272-419: The level of <1% Cu. Concentration of the ore is required, which begins with comminution followed by froth flotation . The remaining concentrate is the smelted, which can be described with two simplified equations: Cuprous oxide reacts with cuprous sulfide to convert to blister copper upon heating This roasting gives matte copper, roughly 50% Cu by weight, which is purified by electrolysis. Depending on
22446-514: The mid-1980s, there was a decline in the performance of the lead–zinc concentrator because the grain size of the ore was getting progressively finer. This meant that the ore needed to be ground even finer than it was to achieve separation of the valuable mineral particles from the unwanted ("gangue") minerals, and to separate the lead mineral particles from the zinc minerals. MIM investigated various existing fine grinding technologies (such as ball mills and tower mills) but found them to be uneconomic in
22620-429: The mine was mechanized to an extent not previously seen in Australia, with mechanized drilling and mechanical shovels rather than "hammer and tap" hand drilling and hand shovels. The initial mine production was 660,000 tonnes per year ("t/y") of ore and stayed at about this level until 1953. Even after the first ore had been mined and processed, the Mount Isa operations struggled. The smelter proved inadequate and required
22794-472: The modern world. The price of copper is volatile . After a peak in 2022 the price unexpectedly fell. The global market for copper is one of the most commodified and financialized of the commodity markets , and has been so for decades. The great majority of copper ores are sulfides. Common ores are the sulfides chalcopyrite (CuFeS 2 ), bornite (Cu 5 FeS 4 ) and, to a lesser extent, covellite (CuS) and chalcocite (Cu 2 S). These ores occur at
22968-516: The numerous copper sulfides , important examples include copper(I) sulfide ( Cu 2 S ) and copper monosulfide ( CuS ). Cuprous halides with fluorine , chlorine , bromine , and iodine are known, as are cupric halides with fluorine , chlorine , and bromine . Attempts to prepare copper(II) iodide yield only copper(I) iodide and iodine. Copper forms coordination complexes with ligands . In aqueous solution, copper(II) exists as [Cu(H 2 O) 6 ] . This complex exhibits
23142-471: The operation into production. The project was running behind schedule and over budget, which ultimately resulted in ASARCO sending its own man, Julius Kruttschnitt II , to take charge. Kruttschnitt arrived in 1930 to find that bills were going unpaid because there was no money to pay them, the shafts were flooding, and the construction of the surface plants was months behind schedule. When mining commenced in 1931,
23316-428: The ore, sometimes other metals are obtained during the electrolysis including platinum and gold. Aside from sulfides, another family of ores are oxides. Approximately 15% of the world's copper supply derives from these oxides. The beneficiation process for oxides involves extraction with sulfuric acid solutions followed by electrolysis. In parallel with the above method for "concentrated" sulfide and oxide ores, copper
23490-583: The port of Tobruk . By late March 1941, Bulgaria and Yugoslavia signed the Tripartite Pact ; however, the Yugoslav government was overthrown two days later by pro-British nationalists. Germany and Italy responded with simultaneous invasions of both Yugoslavia and Greece , commencing on 6 April 1941; both nations were forced to surrender within the month. The airborne invasion of the Greek island of Crete at
23664-414: The possibility of further atomic bombings, and the Soviet declaration of war against Japan and its invasion of Manchuria , Japan announced its unconditional surrender on 15 August and signed a surrender document on 2 September 1945 , marking the end of the war. World War II changed the political alignment and social structure of the world, and it set the foundation of international relations for
23838-693: The remainder of Czechoslovakia and subsequently split it into the German Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia and a pro-German client state , the Slovak Republic . Hitler also delivered an ultimatum to Lithuania on 20 March 1939, forcing the concession of the Klaipėda Region , formerly the German Memelland . Greatly alarmed and with Hitler making further demands on the Free City of Danzig ,
24012-408: The rest of the 20th century and into the 21st century. The United Nations was established to foster international cooperation and prevent conflicts, with the victorious great powers—China, France, the Soviet Union, the UK, and the US—becoming the permanent members of its security council . The Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers , setting the stage for the Cold War . In
24186-416: The reverberatory furnaces to recover the contained copper was discontinued. The slag return was a problem because of the high level of magnetite ("Fe 3 O 4 ") in the slag. Magnetite has a higher liquidus temperature than the iron oxide ("FeO") normally found in the reverberatory furnace slag and it precipitated, causing a growing accretion in the reverberatory furnace, thus reducing the storage capacity of
24360-429: The same time as it was developing the Isa Process tank house technology, MIM was starting the joint development, with the Australian government's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (" CSIRO "), of the energy-efficient ISASMELT ™ smelting technology, based on the CSIRO's Sirosmelt lance . After laboratory testing of a potential lead smelting process at the CSIRO's Melbourne facilities, MIM moved to
24534-430: The secret to its manufacturing process became lost. The Romans said the blue pigment was made from copper, silica, lime and natron and was known to them as caeruleum . The Bronze Age began in Southeastern Europe around 3700–3300 BC, in Northwestern Europe about 2500 BC. It ended with the beginning of the Iron Age, 2000–1000 BC in the Near East, and 600 BC in Northern Europe. The transition between
24708-410: The significant territorial, colonial, and financial losses imposed by the Treaty of Versailles . Under the treaty, Germany lost around 13 percent of its home territory and all its overseas possessions , while German annexation of other states was prohibited, reparations were imposed, and limits were placed on the size and capability of the country's armed forces . The German Empire was dissolved in
24882-413: The smelter operations whenever the meteorological conditions were considered likely to lead the sulfur dioxide levels to exceed the USEPA standards within the city of Mount Isa. The air quality control system (known as the "AQC system") resulted in the loss of about 15% of the lead smelter's production and about 7.7% of copper production. In 1973, a new copper concentrator, known as the "No. 4 concentrator"
25056-415: The strong Maginot Line fortifications on the Franco-German border, Germany directed its attack at the neutral nations of Belgium , the Netherlands , and Luxembourg . The Germans carried out a flanking manoeuvre through the Ardennes region, which was mistakenly perceived by the Allies as an impenetrable natural barrier against armoured vehicles. By successfully implementing new Blitzkrieg tactics,
25230-438: The sugar is signaled by a color change from blue Cu(II) to reddish copper(I) oxide. Schweizer's reagent and related complexes with ethylenediamine and other amines dissolve cellulose . Amino acids such as cystine form very stable chelate complexes with copper(II) including in the form of metal-organic biohybrids (MOBs). Many wet-chemical tests for copper ions exist, one involving potassium ferricyanide , which gives
25404-420: The time of the discovery of the ore body that was to support it. The sinking of a 4.3 meter ("m") diameter exploration shaft (known as "J53") began in June 1970 and was completed to a depth of 630 m in June 1973. Sinking the "P49" service and hoisting shaft (8 m in diameter) began in 1971, and this shaft was completed to a depth of 1040 m in December 1975. In March 1971, the practice of returning converter slag to
25578-399: The top kilometer of Earth's crust, which is about 5 million years' worth at the current rate of extraction. However, only a tiny fraction of these reserves is economically viable with present-day prices and technologies. Estimates of copper reserves available for mining vary from 25 to 60 years, depending on core assumptions such as the growth rate. Recycling is a major source of copper in
25752-433: The wake of European devastation, the influence of its great powers waned, triggering the decolonisation of Africa and Asia . Most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery and expansion . World War II began in Europe on 1 September 1939 with the German invasion of Poland and the United Kingdom and France 's declaration of war on Germany two days later on 3 September 1939. Dates for
25926-441: The war allowed MIM to repay its debts, including those to ASARCO. ASARCO used the money it received from MIM to buy shares, and owned 53% of MIM's shares by 1960. MIM was also able to construct a copper concentrator and copper smelter, and copper production resumed in January 1953. Later that year, Kruttschnitt resigned as Chairman of MIM's Board of Directors. With the recommencement of copper mining, total ore production doubled from
26100-401: The war included Japan's invasion of Manchuria , the Spanish Civil War , the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War , and Germany's annexations of Austria and the Sudetenland . World War II is generally considered to have begun on 1 September 1939, when Nazi Germany , under Adolf Hitler , invaded Poland , prompting the United Kingdom and France to declare war on Germany. Poland
26274-407: The war were not fulfilled in the peace settlement. From 1922 to 1925, the Fascist movement led by Benito Mussolini seized power in Italy with a nationalist, totalitarian , and class collaborationist agenda that abolished representative democracy, repressed socialist, left-wing, and liberal forces, and pursued an aggressive expansionist foreign policy aimed at making Italy a world power, promising
26448-475: The war. Germany annexed western Poland and occupied central Poland ; the Soviet Union annexed eastern Poland ; small shares of Polish territory were transferred to Lithuania and Slovakia . On 6 October, Hitler made a public peace overture to the United Kingdom and France but said that the future of Poland was to be determined exclusively by Germany and the Soviet Union. The proposal was rejected and Hitler ordered an immediate offensive against France, which
26622-404: The west halted the German advance for several days, but it was outflanked and encircled by the Wehrmacht . Remnants of the Polish army broke through to besieged Warsaw . On 17 September 1939, two days after signing a cease-fire with Japan , the Soviet Union invaded Poland under the supposed pretext that the Polish state had ceased to exist. On 27 September, the Warsaw garrison surrendered to
26796-483: The world order , and soon began a massive rearmament campaign . France, seeking to secure its alliance with Italy, allowed Italy a free hand in Ethiopia , which Italy desired as a colonial possession. The situation was aggravated in early 1935 when the Territory of the Saar Basin was legally reunited with Germany, and Hitler repudiated the Treaty of Versailles, accelerated his rearmament programme, and introduced conscription. The United Kingdom, France and Italy formed
26970-433: The years between 1953 and 1973, rising to 2.74 million tonnes in 1960, 3.65 million tonnes in the 1965–66 financial year, and plateauing for a time at 7.2 million tons per year (2.6 million tons per year of lead–zinc ore and 4.6 million tons per year of copper ore) in 1973. The difficult nature of the Mount Isa ore bodies has meant that the company had always needed to be at the forefront of mining technology. It was, in 1962,
27144-554: Was invaded by Germany. The United States started strategic planning to prepare for a full-scale offensive against Germany. At the end of September 1940, the Tripartite Pact formally united Japan, Italy, and Germany as the Axis powers . The Tripartite Pact stipulated that any country—with the exception of the Soviet Union—that attacked any Axis Power would be forced to go to war against all three. The Axis expanded in November 1940 when Hungary , Slovakia , and Romania joined. Romania and Hungary later made major contributions to
27318-407: Was a major modernization of the lead smelter, with the eight small sinter plants being replaced by a single updraft sinter plant, and a new shaft, originally known as the "K57" shaft but later renamed the "R62" shaft, was commissioned. Until 1966, the zinc concentrate produced in the No. 1 concentrator was solar dried by pumping it to open drying dams and allowing the water to evaporate in the sun. It
27492-466: Was a very good grade, MIM did not have the financial resources to develop the copper, and it was not until global copper prices increased in 1937 that there was an incentive for further copper exploration. These efforts were initially unsuccessful, but yielded fruit in 1940 and 1941. However, it was not until 1941–1942 that mining of the No. 7 level of the Black Star lead-zinc ore body allowed the existence of an economic copper deposit to be established. MIM
27666-407: Was brought into permanent operation to treat additional calcine produced by the new roaster. With the commissioning of the new roaster, the practice of adding hot converter slag to the reverberatory furnace ceased completely. The replacement of the hearth roasters with the fluid-bed roaster meant that the amount of sulfur eliminated from the concentrate during the roasting process increased, raising
27840-416: Was commissioned to treat the copper ore (at a rate of six million tons per year of ore containing 3% copper and 55–60% silica) and the old No. 1 concentrator was shut down, and a new fluidized-bed roaster was installed in the copper smelter to replace the multiple hearth roasters that had been used since 1953. This raised the production of blister copper to 155,000 tons per year. The second reverberatory furnace
28014-420: Was divided between Germany and the Soviet Union under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact , in which they had agreed on " spheres of influence " in Eastern Europe. In 1940, the Soviets annexed the Baltic states and parts of Finland and Romania . After the fall of France in June 1940, the war continued mainly between Germany and the British Empire , with fighting in the Balkans , Mediterranean, and Middle East ,
28188-408: Was found in 1857 on the Keweenaw Peninsula in Michigan, US. Native copper is a polycrystal , with the largest single crystal ever described measuring 4.4 × 3.2 × 3.2 cm . Copper is the 26th most abundant element in Earth's crust , representing 50 ppm compared with 75 ppm for zinc , and 14 ppm for lead . Typical background concentrations of copper do not exceed 1 ng/m in
28362-485: Was generally accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 15 August 1945 ( V-J Day ), rather than with the formal surrender of Japan on 2 September 1945, which officially ended the war in Asia . A peace treaty between Japan and the Allies was signed in 1951. A 1990 treaty regarding Germany's future allowed the reunification of East and West Germany to take place and resolved most post–World War II issues. No formal peace treaty between Japan and
28536-447: Was not kind to MIM, because it could no longer find markets for all its production, and the price of lead did not increase as it had during the First World War . While some copper mineralization had been discovered during drilling in the late 1920s, the major find did not come until 1930, when drilling to explore the lead–zinc ore body passed through almost 38 meters of copper mineralization with an average grade of 4.3% copper. While this
28710-403: Was postponed until the spring of 1940 due to bad weather. After the outbreak of war in Poland, Stalin threatened Estonia , Latvia , and Lithuania with military invasion, forcing the three Baltic countries to sign pacts allowing the creation of Soviet military bases in these countries; in October 1939, significant Soviet military contingents were moved there. Finland refused to sign
28884-436: Was recovered for shipment once it was sufficiently dry. A zinc concentrate filtration plant was commissioned in September 1966. Treatment of lead–zinc ore in the No. 1 concentrator ceased in May 1967, with all of the lead–zinc ore subsequently being treated through the No. 2 concentrator. In May 1969, MIM decided to proceed with the "Hilton mine", named in honour of Charles R. Hilton, an American who had been General Manager at
29058-450: Was reluctant to invest in a railway to what might be a mine of limited life. After the mining company guaranteed to cover any losses, construction of the railway from Cloncurry to Mount Isa began in 1926, and the line opened on 27 May 1929, giving Mount Isa an essential link to Queensland's eastern seaboard. The cost of developing the Mount Isa ore body was so high that the owners had to turn to ASARCO to obtain sufficient finance to bring
29232-657: Was repulsed with heavy Italian casualties; the campaign ended within months with minor territorial changes. To assist Italy and prevent Britain from gaining a foothold, Germany prepared to invade the Balkans, which would threaten Romanian oil fields and strike against British dominance of the Mediterranean. In December 1940, British Empire forces began counter-offensives against Italian forces in Egypt and Italian East Africa . The offensives were successful; by early February 1941, Italy had lost control of eastern Libya, and large numbers of Italian troops had been taken prisoner. The Italian Navy also suffered significant defeats, with
29406-441: Was required to go through the bureaucracy of the League of Nations, which rendered it essentially toothless. The United States, concerned with events in Europe and Asia, passed the Neutrality Act in August of the same year. Hitler defied the Versailles and Locarno Treaties by remilitarising the Rhineland in March 1936, encountering little opposition due to the policy of appeasement . In October 1936, Germany and Italy formed
29580-404: Was retained as a spare to be used in case of major maintenance of the new furnace. The new furnace was referred to as the "No 1 furnace" and the older, spare, furnace was named the "No. 2 furnace". MIM had been selling blister copper, but in 1960 it started refining blister copper to produce copper cathode at its new electrolytic copper refinery at Stuart, near Townsville . The initial capacity of
29754-412: Was significant doubt that Miles' discovery would ever amount to much. However, by the end of 1928, the drilling had allowed an estimate of reserves of 21.2 million tons, which were at the time the largest in Australian history, and rose to an estimate of 32 million tons in 1930. Crucial to the success of any mining venture was a rail line connecting the area to the coast. However, the Queensland Government
29928-413: Was still not in a position to mine the copper, because it had stockpiles of lead bullion and zinc concentrate that could not be sold due to the war. However, the Australian government needed copper for its war effort and lent MIM £50,000 to allow the mining to proceed. Further drilling expanded the copper reserves and MIM decided to switch from lead to copper production. The lead–zinc concentrator could treat
30102-424: Was stockpiled. In March 1966, MIM consolidated its mining lease holdings by taking up all the territory between Hilton and the Mount Isa operations within a single Special Mining Lease and diamond drilling recommenced at Hilton. The Hilton reserve increased to 37 million tonnes. Also in 1966, lead–zinc ore treatment was transferred to a new concentrator, referred to as the "No. 2 concentrator". That same year, there
30276-453: Was undertaken and by 1950, the Hilton ore reserves stood at 26 million tonnes. The drilling program was curtailed in 1957 due to a fall in metal prices and heavy capital expenditure in the existing operations. To ensure adequate supplies of coal for its power station, which supplied both MIM's operations and the city of Mount Isa, MIM bought a controlling interest in Bowen Consolidated Coals Mines Limited in 1951. The profitable years following
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