COPENHAGEN: The Danish engineering company FLSmidth has developed a new technology that has huge economic potential for copper production. Technology could make mines an extra 40 million dollars per year. The new method of leaching the process for extracting copper from the ore can extract more copper from poor quality ore, increasing output by as much as 3 percent. This could mean an extra 40 million US dollars per year for an average copper mine.
Jens Almdal, the head of research and development at FLSmidth, explained that the 3 percent increase in production is massive by industry standards. “That is indeed a significant contribution to profitability in an industry that normally chases a 0.1-0.2 percent increase in copper recovery,” he said.
