Owner |
Glencore
- Altonorte Smelter |
 |
Location |
La Negra, Antofagasta
Chile |
Background |
1995
- Noranda acquired 25% of the Refimet Smelter with the strategy to
have a small presence in the Chilean smelter business.
1998 - Noranda acquired 100% of Refimet
Formerly Xstrata Copper |
Website |
www.xstrata.com |
Plant |
No. 1 Plant
Monsanto Plant |
No. 2 Plant
Lurgi Plant |
No. 3 Plant
Outotec Plant |
No. 1 Plant
(New) |
Coordinates |
23º 49' 37" S, 70º 19' 5" W |
23º 49' 36" S, 70º 19' 2" W |
23º 49' 35" S, 70º 18' 59" W |
- |
Type of Plant |
Metallurgical |
Metallurgical |
Metallurgical |
Gas Source |
Copper |
Copper |
Copper
Noranda Reactor
Peirce-Smith Converters (4) |
Plant
Capacity |
541 MTPD |
127,000 Nm3/h, 11.4% SO2 |
2040 MTPD
175,000 Nm3/h, 12% SO2 |
2040 MTPD |
SA/DA |
SA |
4 SA |
4 SA |
3/1 DA |
Status |
Shutdown 2003
Demolished |
Shutdown
Demolished 2009 |
Operating |
Operating |
Year Built |
1970 |
1993 |
2003 |
2008 |
Technology |
MECS |
Lurgi (Outotec) |
Lurgi (Outotec) |
Lurgi (Outotec) |
Contractor |
- |
- |
- |
Xstrata |
Remarks |
The plant was
originally
built by Monsanto as a single absorption plant and operated by ASARCO,
Corpus Christi, Texas, USA. |
1982
- The plant was orginally built for Rio Tinto in Huelva, Spain.
1996 - The plant was relocated to its present location
2000 - When Noranda Reactor installed, FCII was awarded job to upgrade the
acid plant |
- |
Plant design is essentially a copy of No. 3 plant but double absorption.
Quench tower has a different design than No. 3 plant. |
Pictures |
 |
- |
 |
 
|
 |
General |
ca 2000 -
Reverbatory Furnace replaced with an oxygen enriched Noranda Reactor.
2007 - The operational upgrade, with an original investment estimate of
US$58 million, will increase production capacity by almost one-third from
around 290,000 tonnes a year of copper in anodes to 380,000 tonnes a year.
Sulphuric acid production will increase from 800,000 to 1.1 million tonnes a
year. In addition, as part of Xstrata Copper’s commitment to being an
environmental leader in the mining industry, Altonorte will voluntarily
invest a further US$14 million to install double contacts in the new
sulphuric acid plant, with the objective of increasing emissions capture
from 93% to 95.5%. This will take the total expansion capital to US$72
million.Altonorte is
a custom copper smelting operation located near the port of Antofagasta in
northern Chile. The smelter has the capacity to process 900,000 tonnes of
copper concentrate per year, yielding 290,000 tonnes of anode copper and
800,000 tonnes of sulphuric acid annually.
Altonorte began as a
concentrate roasting operation in 1988 under the name of Refimet. The
company was owned 66.6% by Inversiones del Pacifico and 33.4% by Minera
Barrick Chile. In 1993, a copper smelter was built with a design capacity of
235,000 tonnes per annum of concentrate. Four years later the capacity was
raised to 390,000 tonnes per annum of concentrate.
In 1998, Refimet was
acquired by Noranda. The company was renamed Noranda Chile and the smelter
became known as Altonorte. A major expansion project costing US$170 million
was completed in 2003. The project included the installation of a new
concentrate dryer, the replacement of the reverberatory furnace with a
continuous reactor, new converters and acid plant, an additional anode
furnace, a second casting wheel, and a slag flotation plant. Following the
project, sulphur dioxide capture increased to more than 93%. In 2005,
Altonorte started to process molybdenum concentrate.
In August 2006, Altonorte
was acquired by Xstrata as part of the Falconbridge assets. A new expansion
is underway to increase capacity to 1.2 million tonnes per annum of copper
concentrate. |
References |
Carrasco, J. and
Pierre, B., "Optimization Initiatives at Altonorte on the Path to Becoming a
World Class Smelter", Copper 2019, Vancouver, Canada. |
News |
March
26, 2025 - London-listed miner
Glencore has declared force majeure on copper shipments from its Chilean
Altonorte smelter, where production has been suspended, two industry sources
said. Companies declare force
majeure when unexpected circumstances prevent them from meeting contractual
obligations. The sources did
not know how long operations at Altonorte, which has capacity to produce
350,000 metric tons of copper a year in anode form, would be suspended.
Glencore declined to comment.
Altonorte’s output is a fraction of refined global copper supplies
estimated at around 26 million tons, but a long suspension could widen the
deficit some analysts are expecting this year.
Much of the copper produced in Chile is shipped to the U.S., where
prices on COMEX have soared to record highs on worries about shortages due
to tariffs on imports of the metal used in the power and construction
industries. The most active
copper contract on COMEX for settlement in May hit $5.3740 a lb or $11,847 a
ton on Wednesday. The force
majeure was first reported by Bloomberg on Tuesday. |