Hydrometallurgy, 6 (1980) 189--191 189 Elsevier Scientific Publishing Company, Amsterdam -- Printed in The Netherlands

B o o k Reviews

Complex Metallurgy '78, edited by M.J. Jones, Published by the Institution Mining and Metallurgy, London, 1978, £ 20.00/US $40.00

This very interesting I.M.M. publication contains a collection of papers presented in Bad Harzburg, Federal Republic of Germany, on September 20 -- 22, 1978, and sponsored jointly by the Institution of Mining and Metallurgy (U.K.) and the Gesellschaft Deutscher Metallhutten und Bergleute e.V. (F.R.G.).

The volume consist of 18 papers, of which 10 may be regarded as essentially pyrometallurgical, 6 are hydrometallurgical (including two solvent extraction papers), two fall into the general area of beneficiation, and one is a more gen- eral paper covering combinations of hydrometallurgy and beneficiation. How- ever, this type of division does not do these papers justice. They also vary from papers describing the versatility of a selected unit operation (such as the top- blown rotary furnace), to general principles in smelting complex materials containing lead, copper, nickel, tin, zinc, and lead, to trying novel processes such as the cupric chloride leach for complex sulphides.

Ten of the papers originate in Germany, while 3 originate in Great Britain and one each came from the U.S.A., France, the Netherlands, and Belgium. One paper had three authors from three different countries: Germany, Aus- tralia, and England (Applications of the Imperial Smelting Process).

In his in t roductory paper, "A discussion of fully integrated flowsheets in complex extractive metallurgy", Mr. J.S. Jacobi chose a lighter vein for a subject heavily emphasizing economics and profits. It did not deal with en- vironmental concerns at all, and only touched on the subject of maximum resource utilization, both social issues that impact seriously on "Complex Metallurgy", as some of the papers indicate. However, in his closing paragraph, his special plea for openmindedness and collaboration in facing the challenges of complex metallurgy deserves to be heeded.

The majority of papers did well in responding to the title subject, namely, complex materials that contain a variety of metal values, especially in mixtures that cannot be regarded as "s tandard" ores, concentrates, or intermediate materials commonly traded in smelting or refining contracts. For example, the paper on the uses of the T.B.R.C. (Top Blown Rotary Coverter) by A.W. Fletcher and D.A. Harrison described the smelting of nickel sulphide to metal (the first use of this furnace), followed by (a) smelting of high bismuth con- centrates, (b) copper converter slag retreatment, (c) smelting of primary lead concentrates and secondary lead-bearing materials, (d) smelting of copper concentrates to matte and metal, (e) fuming of tin chloride, and (f) secondary copper smelting and refining. A comparable paper on the Imperial Smelting Furnace (by A.O. Adami, G.R. Firkin, and A. W. Robson) did not address the possibility of versatility in the same way, but showed how mixed lead-- zinc--silver residues and oxide materials could be incorporated with the regu- lar charge of the furnace. In general, the pyrometallurgy papers were up to

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date and dealt with a full range of problems in terms of thermodynamic the- ory, process control, and flowsheet development.

There were four papers on leaching -- one on ammonia, leaching of deep- sea manganese nodules (by K. Osseo-Asare and D.W. Fuerstenau), one on the Lurgi-Mitterburg process for copper concentrates (by W. Turke and P. Fischer), one on the cupric chloride leach for zinc, copper, and lead sulphide com- pounds (by J.M. Demarthe and A. Georgeaux), and one on a specialized type of leaching reactor -- the VAW tube digestor (by F. Kampf and H.B. Pietsch). Two of these papers, the first and the third, deal specifically with complex materials within the title theme of the volume. The remaining two were defi- nitely worth reading for their innovative ideas, notwithstanding their depar- ture form the conference theme in dealing with standard feed materials.

The two beneficiation papers dealt with particularly complex materials -- automobi le scrap, and aluminum-melting salt slags. These papers were par- ticularly welcome to this reviewer, dealing as they do with recycled materials previously discarded. Recycled scrap and discard materials are destined to play an increasing role in metal supplies, and are indeed among the most com- plex of feed materials.

Both flotation and leaching methods were studied by M. Clement, R. Ham- mani and N. Galitis in seeking a method for treating copper- and lead--zinc- containing shales of Central Europe. This paper presents a good lesson in clas- sical complex metallurgy for low grade materials, covering microscopy, gravity separation, flotation, and leaching. They were able to make useful recommen- dations regarding the most effective t reatment methods for both the silicious and the shale and limestone zones of these ore bodies.

It is interesting that both solvent extraction papers dealt primarily with di-(2-ethylhexyl)-phosphoric acid associated with sulphate solutions. The paper by D.S. Flet t and D.W. West was concerned mainly with improved cobalt removal from cobalt--nickel feed streams by adjustment of concentrations and temperature. The other paper (by G. Barthel, H. Fischer and U. Scheffler) was more of a summary of the "state of the art" with special emphasis on extrac- tion of zinc leading to electrowinning.

In general, this reviewer considers the publication as a wor thy document , to be read by all persons engaged in this fascinating field. His only regret is that he did not a t tend the conference at which these useful papers were pre- sented. He hopes there will be another such conference in due time, to which he can also make a contribution.

ERNEST PETERS Dept. of Metallurgical Engineering, The University of B.C., Vancouver, B.C.